*sigh*
When forests, rivers, or mountains are destroyed to make way for mining, logging, or hydroelectricity, it's not news - it's called production.
When the big three U.S. automakers show signs of having a malignant tumor, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people, that's news - and it's called a recession.
You know, if I had to explain to a child how our system works, I'd say, "What's good for industrial economies, is bad for Earth; what's good for Earth, is bad for industrialized economies."
The kicker is of course, given the choice between working a crappy factory job and saving our home (Earth), most Westernized people will pick the former option. I mean, it's really not even up for discussion. But, over time, as the Earth fights back against industrialization, it makes life that much harder for us humans anyway.
Quiet a predicament isn't it? I mean, you could make a very good case that that's precisely the point we are at now - Flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, landslides, tumors, these are all signs of a system trying to fight off another one. And that's not even counting the general social strife that comes with all class-based, industrial societies - i.e. poverty, murder, prisons, depression, domination.
What I find incredibly ironic about all this is that while human beings will probably never reach a consensus that makes us give up our teevees and cars in exchange for a green and wild earth, industrialization actually does provide for a soiled earth AND a soiled soul. Or to put it another way, as if 8-10 hours in a factory assembling cars wasn't horrible enough, you also, as an added bonus, get to live in a run-down (or at best deteriorating middle class) neighborhood with trace amounts of the very pollutants you've been working with. Industrialization is a cancer that just keeps on giving.
My thoughts after reading this article...
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-suppliers17-2008nov17,0,3945857.story?page=1&track=ntothtml
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