<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for We must hit the streets to demand action on global warming]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by newsblaze http://www.grist.org/article/glick/ Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:25:10 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/glick/1 Further Reduction in Arctic Sea Ice

So many signs are building up that global warming should become so obvious that it can't be ignored or swept under the carpet.
Satellites See Further Reduction in Arctic Sea Ice in 2005
Researchers from NASA, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and others using satellite data detected a significant loss in Arctic sea ice in 2005...

]]> Further Reduction in Arctic Sea Ice

So many signs are building up that global warming should become so obvious that it can't be ignored or swept under the carpet.
Satellites See Further Reduction in Arctic Sea Ice in 2005
Researchers from NASA, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and others using satellite data detected a significant loss in Arctic sea ice in 2005...

]]> Comment #2 by Stentor http://www.grist.org/article/glick/ Sat, 01 Oct 2005 02:36:46 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/glick/2 useless gestures

So the anti-war protest -- which, like the anti-war protests before it, has accomplished exactly nothing -- is supposed to be evidence that an anti-global-warming protest will accomplish something?

]]> useless gestures

So the anti-war protest -- which, like the anti-war protests before it, has accomplished exactly nothing -- is supposed to be evidence that an anti-global-warming protest will accomplish something?

]]> Comment #3 by Hans Noeldner http://www.grist.org/article/glick/ Mon, 03 Oct 2005 13:54:34 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/glick/3 Rank & Rile

The Day of Action in the Grist article "Rank & Rile" sounds good -- provided it is not a day of millions of people flying and driving to protests hundreds or thousands of miles distant.  Guzzling gasoline and jet fuel to attend such events would entirely miss the point.  We must abandon centralized, big media-oriented protests in places like New York and Washington.  They are as unsustainable as the fossil fuel consumption that made them possible.

What about many small protests against the purchase of gasoline at filling stations in virtually every city and village in the United States?  Participants could walk or bicycle to protest sites nearby, and since we would be protesting against the behavior of friends and neighbors rather than trying to grab a few microseconds of televised Soma between SUV and beer advertisements, we might actually make a difference.  A massive number of local protests would get directly to the point: right now gas pumps ARE our primary voting machines, and every time we-the-people grab that nozzle we vote for global warming, sprawl, and wars for oil.  Blaming Big Oil is lame -- Big Oil could not afford to purchase Washington if several hundred million of us didn't willingly foot the bill.

I dismiss the article's reference to 94% of people being "on board" about global warming.  If 94% of us were "on board" then 94% of us wouldn't still be driving everywhere we go; 94% of us wouldn't be waiting for higher fuel prices to force OTHERS to do what needs to be done.  Sidewalks would be full of people walking to school, work, the grocery store, etc.  Ditto for streets full of bicyclists and public transit users.  Bus manufacturers would be booked out 5 years and hiring like crazy.  Detroit would be in the light rail business.  Suburban and exurban home construction would have ground to an absolute halt.  Now THAT would be evidence of 94% support!

Words and polls like this are no more meaningful than saying we're against tooth-aches.  All that matters is whether we choose lifestyles that do not DEMAND global warming.  That means giving up something -- i.e. choosing far lower levels of resource consumption if we are middle or upper-class.

And that leads to my last point.  We are not going to solve problems with global warming and depletion of oil by demanding action and changes from other people or government or businesses.  Such demands are yet another form of consumer behavior.  Our focus on consumption IS the problem.  We have to become citizens and creators instead.  We have to generate a transformed world from the inside out.  "I am cause."

]]> Rank & Rile

The Day of Action in the Grist article "Rank & Rile" sounds good -- provided it is not a day of millions of people flying and driving to protests hundreds or thousands of miles distant.  Guzzling gasoline and jet fuel to attend such events would entirely miss the point.  We must abandon centralized, big media-oriented protests in places like New York and Washington.  They are as unsustainable as the fossil fuel consumption that made them possible.

What about many small protests against the purchase of gasoline at filling stations in virtually every city and village in the United States?  Participants could walk or bicycle to protest sites nearby, and since we would be protesting against the behavior of friends and neighbors rather than trying to grab a few microseconds of televised Soma between SUV and beer advertisements, we might actually make a difference.  A massive number of local protests would get directly to the point: right now gas pumps ARE our primary voting machines, and every time we-the-people grab that nozzle we vote for global warming, sprawl, and wars for oil.  Blaming Big Oil is lame -- Big Oil could not afford to purchase Washington if several hundred million of us didn't willingly foot the bill.

I dismiss the article's reference to 94% of people being "on board" about global warming.  If 94% of us were "on board" then 94% of us wouldn't still be driving everywhere we go; 94% of us wouldn't be waiting for higher fuel prices to force OTHERS to do what needs to be done.  Sidewalks would be full of people walking to school, work, the grocery store, etc.  Ditto for streets full of bicyclists and public transit users.  Bus manufacturers would be booked out 5 years and hiring like crazy.  Detroit would be in the light rail business.  Suburban and exurban home construction would have ground to an absolute halt.  Now THAT would be evidence of 94% support!

Words and polls like this are no more meaningful than saying we're against tooth-aches.  All that matters is whether we choose lifestyles that do not DEMAND global warming.  That means giving up something -- i.e. choosing far lower levels of resource consumption if we are middle or upper-class.

And that leads to my last point.  We are not going to solve problems with global warming and depletion of oil by demanding action and changes from other people or government or businesses.  Such demands are yet another form of consumer behavior.  Our focus on consumption IS the problem.  We have to become citizens and creators instead.  We have to generate a transformed world from the inside out.  "I am cause."

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