It was posted to Youtube for free viewing for a while - that link is now dead. If you can find a way to watch it, its worth your time.
One of the most striking parts is where Greg Mankiw the Harvard Economics guy talks about a carbon tax and how to sell it to the people around the 56 min mark. He points out how we resist the idea of a carbon tax, but we disregard the bigger cost of the damage we're doing. He also talks about how the people have to lead the politicians. There's an interesting clip about Obama's about-face on gay marriage - yes he did speak out against it. Mankiw's point is that we can make the politicians do what we need them to do.
Another good part is where Sunita Narain talks about the energy needs in India where 700,000,000 households still use cow dung cakes as their energy source for cooking. She then goes on to talk about US consumption levels - around 36 minutes into the movie - and the numbers are upsetting. I wonder how where Canadian consumption levels fit in.
We try to do our share right? I compost and recycle, so throw out very little garbage - maybe one small bag every two to three weeks. I never leave lights on or have the heat on in a room not being used, I dry my clothes on a rack instead of using the dryer, I eat less and less meat. That's actually as much about how animals are treated as it is about the environment - but that's another blog post. I had a garden plot this summer and grew a lot of my own vegetables. I don't do take out because I don't want the packaging - and I'm good at whipping up dinner really quickly and I'm cheap - so there's a lot of reasons I don't do take-out. Around here, everything gets darned multiple times instead of replacing it - again, also because I'm cheap, but I try to not throw stuff out. I really do. I take my own coffee cup, put on a sweater before turning on the heat. These are my attempts to reduce my carbon footprint. We all try to make good choices ... most of the time.
But then there's the other side. When I want to go somewhere, I never think twice about getting into my car and going. When I'm meeting friends for something, I usually take my own car so I can leave on my own schedule. So for my selfish convenience, I'm happy to burn that fuel. Yet I don't want more pipelines.
I spent three weeks in India in September and consumed 2-3 bottles of water a day. Mostly those bottles went into the garbage because recycling programs aren't well established across India. It pained me to drink bottled water - but not enough to give up my trip. What about my carbon footprint flying halfway around the world - directly over the north pole? So are my environmental efforts only limited to my convenience?
And then you see the pollution being created by industry - and wonder if our individual efforts even make a difference. We can't shut down industry - we need goods, we need the jobs of creating and moving those goods. But maybe we can make stuff differently. Maybe we can find alternatives that cost a little more but do less damage? Maybe we can buy less stuff - that just ends up in the garbage anyway.
That rings especially true during the Christmas season where consumerism is the one ring to rule them all. "Must buy more stuff" seems to be the mantra. And then there's the wrapping paper. Consider for a moment spending money on something created for the single purpose of being ripped to shreds days later. Just because it is recyclable doesn't make it ok to consume more and create more output. But I get it ... just like I want to drive my car when I want, you want to wrap your presents.
Watching Before the Flood filled me with despair. We've seen the signs, we see the forecasts, we see the evidence, and still we shuffle our feet reluctantly towards progress. Am I even making a difference with the effort to reduce waste, recycle and upcycle -when it works for me, but not if it's too convenient.
One of the most striking parts is where Greg Mankiw the Harvard Economics guy talks about a carbon tax and how to sell it to the people around the 56 min mark. He points out how we resist the idea of a carbon tax, but we disregard the bigger cost of the damage we're doing. He also talks about how the people have to lead the politicians. There's an interesting clip about Obama's about-face on gay marriage - yes he did speak out against it. Mankiw's point is that we can make the politicians do what we need them to do.
Another good part is where Sunita Narain talks about the energy needs in India where 700,000,000 households still use cow dung cakes as their energy source for cooking. She then goes on to talk about US consumption levels - around 36 minutes into the movie - and the numbers are upsetting. I wonder how where Canadian consumption levels fit in.
We try to do our share right? I compost and recycle, so throw out very little garbage - maybe one small bag every two to three weeks. I never leave lights on or have the heat on in a room not being used, I dry my clothes on a rack instead of using the dryer, I eat less and less meat. That's actually as much about how animals are treated as it is about the environment - but that's another blog post. I had a garden plot this summer and grew a lot of my own vegetables. I don't do take out because I don't want the packaging - and I'm good at whipping up dinner really quickly and I'm cheap - so there's a lot of reasons I don't do take-out. Around here, everything gets darned multiple times instead of replacing it - again, also because I'm cheap, but I try to not throw stuff out. I really do. I take my own coffee cup, put on a sweater before turning on the heat. These are my attempts to reduce my carbon footprint. We all try to make good choices ... most of the time.
But then there's the other side. When I want to go somewhere, I never think twice about getting into my car and going. When I'm meeting friends for something, I usually take my own car so I can leave on my own schedule. So for my selfish convenience, I'm happy to burn that fuel. Yet I don't want more pipelines.
I spent three weeks in India in September and consumed 2-3 bottles of water a day. Mostly those bottles went into the garbage because recycling programs aren't well established across India. It pained me to drink bottled water - but not enough to give up my trip. What about my carbon footprint flying halfway around the world - directly over the north pole? So are my environmental efforts only limited to my convenience?
And then you see the pollution being created by industry - and wonder if our individual efforts even make a difference. We can't shut down industry - we need goods, we need the jobs of creating and moving those goods. But maybe we can make stuff differently. Maybe we can find alternatives that cost a little more but do less damage? Maybe we can buy less stuff - that just ends up in the garbage anyway.
That rings especially true during the Christmas season where consumerism is the one ring to rule them all. "Must buy more stuff" seems to be the mantra. And then there's the wrapping paper. Consider for a moment spending money on something created for the single purpose of being ripped to shreds days later. Just because it is recyclable doesn't make it ok to consume more and create more output. But I get it ... just like I want to drive my car when I want, you want to wrap your presents.
Watching Before the Flood filled me with despair. We've seen the signs, we see the forecasts, we see the evidence, and still we shuffle our feet reluctantly towards progress. Am I even making a difference with the effort to reduce waste, recycle and upcycle -when it works for me, but not if it's too convenient.
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