<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Talking with voters in Portland about the environment and the election]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Wolverine http://www.grist.org/article/voters-voices-oregon/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:03:39 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/voters-voices-oregon/1 Less

Charlie Stephens has it right.  Until politicians, including Barak Obama, stop pandering to the public and start telling people to greatly reduce their opulent lifestyles, none of them will contribute to significant healing of our ecological and environmental problems.

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Charlie Stephens has it right.  Until politicians, including Barak Obama, stop pandering to the public and start telling people to greatly reduce their opulent lifestyles, none of them will contribute to significant healing of our ecological and environmental problems.

]]> Comment #2 by human power http://www.grist.org/article/voters-voices-oregon/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:49:03 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/voters-voices-oregon/2 Oregon green?

Oh give me a break. Here in Oregon we use over twice the electricity as CA and 5-10% more gasoline per capita. The vaunted bottle bill was 35 years ago and the deposit has not changed in all that time. This is the only state (of the dozen or so that I have cycled in extensively) where I have been told to, "Get the f**k off the road!" When my elderly father visited, he noted that we don't have any forests here, only tree farms. Corporations get a free pass to pollute the air, water and soil and cannot be held liable for the damage. If people think this state is green, then we are truly doomed.
Granted, I don't live in Portland. But I need to be there regularly. When I am there, the only people walking west of the river are orthodox Jews on Sabbath. Very few of the residential areas have sidewalks and many neighborhoods are used as short-cut routes for car-bound commuters who behave as terrorists.
Let's be honest about our situation. We have no green cities or states in America and our political class will not put forth plans that call for the kind of energy-use cuts necessary to prevent our ruin until we begin to live truly sustainable lifestyles. (That would include using the light-rail from PDX instead of renting a fossil-fool powered wheelchair. Or, better yet, conduct the interviews from afar and forgo the emissions of air travel.)

]]> Oregon green?

Oh give me a break. Here in Oregon we use over twice the electricity as CA and 5-10% more gasoline per capita. The vaunted bottle bill was 35 years ago and the deposit has not changed in all that time. This is the only state (of the dozen or so that I have cycled in extensively) where I have been told to, "Get the f**k off the road!" When my elderly father visited, he noted that we don't have any forests here, only tree farms. Corporations get a free pass to pollute the air, water and soil and cannot be held liable for the damage. If people think this state is green, then we are truly doomed.
Granted, I don't live in Portland. But I need to be there regularly. When I am there, the only people walking west of the river are orthodox Jews on Sabbath. Very few of the residential areas have sidewalks and many neighborhoods are used as short-cut routes for car-bound commuters who behave as terrorists.
Let's be honest about our situation. We have no green cities or states in America and our political class will not put forth plans that call for the kind of energy-use cuts necessary to prevent our ruin until we begin to live truly sustainable lifestyles. (That would include using the light-rail from PDX instead of renting a fossil-fool powered wheelchair. Or, better yet, conduct the interviews from afar and forgo the emissions of air travel.)

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