Letters to the Editor

• @jkd

  [Read the article: My boyfriend has an abysmal environmental conscience]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  "Every trans-continental flight Al Gore takes outdoes my pollution total for the whole year."

  How in the world do you figure that? Do you think they fly the plane just for him?

  "There's nothing wrong with recycling, or driving a small car, or eating organic. I do all those things. But doing those things doesn't make you a better person."

  Yes, they do. It's the difference between being responsible and being irresponsible. The difference between being a good steward of what you have and wasting it.

  (At this point, some folks may recall the story of the Prodigal Son, who was given a feast upon his return home, while his non-prodigal brother was not. What they forget is that the Prodigal Son was truly sorry for his mistakes, and wanted only the status of a servant in his father's house.)

  "Not being wasteful is a virtue in the same sense that cleanliness is, but it is not a comment on someone's goodness as a person that they drive a car that gets 15 mpg. It just isn't."

  Yes, it is a comment, if the person doesn't *need* to drive the 15 mpg car. It says the person just doesn't care.

  "The miniscule difference in pollution produced v. a Prius means nothing in the grand scheme."

  That's just not correct. It's a matter of polluting less than half as much simply because less than half as much fuel is burned. It's also a matter of importing far less petroleum to run it.

  "The argument, well if "everyone" thought that way where would we be, is belied by the truth that most people DO think that way if you consider the world in toto."

  Most of the world's people don't have their own car, let alone one that gets 15 mpg. Like it or not, a lot of the world looks to the USA for an example of "the good life", at least as far as material goods are concerned.

  If Americans don't care how much pollution the spew into the environment, nor how much of the world's resources they gobble up, nor what future generations will have to deal with, why should anyone else?

  "China, India, and the rest of the developing world is not going to change its polluting ways until that choice becomes a luxury, not part of the necessity of scraping out a living. Is their thinking less "evolved" than ours? Yes, but not on the order of magnitude that the LW thinks it is."

  That's just a twist on the old kid's excuse 'everyone else is doing it!'. No responsible adult accepts that excuse.

  "She needs to get over herself."

  'get over yourself' is a code phrase for 'shut up and think my way', rather than looking at the actual issues.

  "Going green is a luxury and nothing else."

  Just the opposite - it's a necessity if we are to survive in the long term.

  What you are forgetting is that each person's actions *do* have an impact. Everything you buy or do not buy is an economic vote in the marketplace. Often the actions of a few have a big effect.

  For example, Detroit said for years that there was no market for small economy cars, so they didn't make them nor put serious research into them. A few people rejected that thinking, and began buying foreign cars, which started a trend when Americans saw the advantages. VW, Honda, Toyota, Datsun/Nissan and others got a foothold in the US market and Detroit is still playing catch-up. In fact, Toyota may soon top GM as the #1 carmaker *in the world*.

  Do you think the US would have been involved in either Iraq war, nor the Afghanistan war, if we'd followed Carter's plans for energy independence 30 years ago? I don't.

  Permalink Tuesday, May 13, 2008 07:32 AM