More or less what I paid for them (usually less).
The big thing that bothers me in the green story if the involvement - and therefore justification, of 'political will'. There are others, but not nearly so serious. It would be nice o have the whole humanity gardening a perfect planet, but so far, the story doesn't sound nearly as good as the title to me.
Too bad, in fact. It would be nice to have a simple glitzy ideal to believe in. Maybe I do, even... but it ain't green and has nothing to do with any future generations: taking one at a time has proven to be hard enough.
Too bad that of a pearl forum, it is this stuff that makes the most read threads. It doesn't feel right to keep spoiling the party down here. Too bad...
Valeria, I have to say that I am puzzled and disappointed by your response. To take your statements in order:
Are the only things that you cherish the things that you buy? What about the climate that shapes the weather and therefore the environment where you live? What about the health of yourself and those you care about? Tropical and subtropical illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever are steadily moving into higher latitudes. What about the ability to have enough food for you and all the others of the earth to live? The rate at which drought and desertification of great areas of the earth is increasing is frightening. These are verified facts, not speculation. These facts can be found in the public record. They are not obscure and unverified thoughts. If you disagree with them, then I challenge you to do the work, the research of the media to show them to be wrong. I'm always willing to read, listen to and consider opinions that disagree with mine.
I have to say that I am puzzled by what you mean in your statement concerning political will. Perhaps you could explain further. What I am referring to is that politicians rarely seem to do things because they are the right thing to do, but rather because of the pressures upon them from people and organizations they are beholden to. As one wag stated: "If the people will lead, the politicians will follow." Ideally, elected officials are ultimately subject to the vote and this can, in theory at least, trump the pressure of coorporations, lobbyists and other money interests.
The issues being discussed here are not "glitzy ideals." Neither I nor, I think, most others working on these issues think in terms of how "It would be nice o have the whole humanity gardening a perfect planet..." as you state. This is a matter of having a planet on which we can survive, live tolerable and sustainable lives and don't loose many, many of the things that we value in life. Somehow, I think that a proper characterization of these ideals might be described more as reasonable, practical, adequate and appropriate.
I'm afraid that I find your statement that "...it ain't green and has nothing to do with any future generations..." to be simply absurd. The things that we do now will certainly affect those who come after us, just as those our predecessors affect how we live today. A clear example of this is illustrated by considering the the men and women who fought, died, were disabled and even lived through the fight to defeat the fascists of Japan and Germany in World War II. These people didn't usually go into that war thinking just about themselves. They were trying to save the right for the lives of future generations to be determined by something other than inhumane fascist ideals. Can you imagine what your life might be like if these persons hadn't been fighting for future generations?
Your statement that "...it ain't green..." puzzles me greatly. What I mean by using the term "green" in this context refers to stopping the drastic changes occurring to our environment, the ecology of living things that we depend on to live and hopefully prosper. What do you mean by this statement? If you disagree, then why?
Spoiling the party?!? For Pete's sake, if you don't want to confront these issues there is a simple solution. Stop reading these threads. No one is forcing you to do so. As for your worry that these threads dealing with the environment are the most read threads in the forum, with the exception of "Pollution in China" thread, you are simply wrong. There are many threads that have many, many times the number of hits that these posts have received. Spoiling the party? No one reads these threads that doesn't care to. Like I stated before, if you don't like these, then don't read them. Nobody is making you read them.
If you want to talk of spoiling the party, then it makes sense to confront these issues. The rise in oceanic acidity is a direct threat to the pearl "party." If this is not halted than reality will spoil this party with no assistance from the statements of those concerned. Some examples of this are addressed by Jerin in the "Pollution in China" thread:
"Here in Sweden we hav many lakes and some years we experience Algae blomming that is catastrophic on life in the lakes. This blue Algae is quite poisonous and chokes the life out of our poor fish and every other living animal in the lakes.
Also we experience the first consequences of the higher temperature in form of floodings and extreme weather storms in Germany, hot weather in Rumania and other countries here in Europe and bad summer weather here in Sweden. Probably the list goes on and on...
It is an easily tested and verifiable fact that oceanic acidity is rising. It is an easily verified fact that sea levels are rising. It is a verified fact that glaciers all over the earth are receding. It is a verified fact that the sheet ice that covers the arctic is getting much, much thinner with astonishing rapidity. It is a verified fact that creatures and plants that require warmer climates are moving into higher latitudes at an astounding rate. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera........ Without our doing something, reality, nature, climate change, acidification will spoil the "party."
