tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post2680398197711068323..comments2024-03-28T22:02:16.520-04:00Comments on Politics and its Discontents: Facing HypocrisyLornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-39468143739965249232017-12-20T18:57:46.420-05:002017-12-20T18:57:46.420-05:00Thanks, Bill. I will check it out right away.Thanks, Bill. I will check it out right away.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-84868086899498358492017-12-20T17:04:41.022-05:002017-12-20T17:04:41.022-05:00Lorne you might like todays post on Charles Hugh s...Lorne you might like todays post on Charles Hugh smiths, of two minds blog. his description of the holiday season mirrors what you said and expands more. For many years now my best part of holidays was getting together with family and friends over good food. the rest was almost an annoyance. Now that I have a granddaughter the whole Santa thing is fun again but when I realize that the collective destruction of the planet in a few short days far exceeds anything we can do over the year to help still makes me a bit sad.billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-66795840284682616082017-12-20T12:02:08.370-05:002017-12-20T12:02:08.370-05:00I guess I have been aware of the greenhouse cost o...I guess I have been aware of the greenhouse cost of air travel for a few years, Mound, but it wasn't until reading the Monbiot piece that I saw my own modest environmental efforts as the shallow attempts they really are. Of course, I will continue to be mindful in my practices, but now I know how little they account for in the larger scheme of things. <br /><br />All of this goes to show that strong government action to force change is the only thing that has a chance of having any impact, but, of course, we know the dance of the seven veils the feds do on this issue ultimately reveals the nakedness of their most real and most prized goal, reelection. No balm in Gilead to be found there.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-24221938874261482752017-12-20T11:31:55.328-05:002017-12-20T11:31:55.328-05:00Hmmm, your hypocrisy is not unique nor is yours es...<br />Hmmm, your hypocrisy is not unique nor is yours especially egregious. I may have given up air travel but I got "my share" in during the late 60s to the late 90s. And, given the persistence of greenhouse gas emissions you may have been passing through my leavings as you winged your way to Cuba.<br /><br />Don't worry too much about "the collective." That's been bred out of us. We're all individuals now, don't you know? We have rights and steadily fewer responsibilities. Rights without commensurate freedoms. Interesting times.<br /><br />Monbiot has been warning about commercial aviation since 2006. http://www.monbiot.com/2006/02/28/we-are-all-killers/ and yet that hasn't kept him or others such as Naomi Klein grounded. <br /><br />When I was a kid, growing up in southwestern Ontario, all but a couple of my relatives - grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins - lived within a 30 mile radius. Hop in the car and 20 minutes later you would be on their doorstep. My siblings have settled further afield, a 3 hr. drive from where they were born and raised. I live on an island in the Pacific. Your son lives in Edmonton. And yet we're all diligent recyclers and environmentally conscious, I suppose. We try to eat locally, that sort of thing.<br /><br />I'm getting pressured to visit the kin in Ontario, the one last time arrangement. I've put it off for years but I think I'll go next year. Only I'm taking the train. A small compartment with privacy, a couple of good books, a glass of wine and a huge window from which to observe Canada as you'll never know it from the air. Now that's travel.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.com