I've been reading this blog called PukeGreen and thought I'd mention it to the Tribe enviro-poli-types... good, honest writing by a guy named Gary from Toronto.
Here's an excerpt from his page:
Here's an excerpt from his page:
About Me
My name is Gary. I’m in my early 30s and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’m not a hippie, and I don’t wear sandals, live in a commune, or play the bongo drums in my spare time.
I live a normal life, and my intention here is not to preach to anyone about how they should live. I am aware that I have been as guilty as many people in our society when it comes to consuming, using, destroying, and generally wasting our resources. I believe that most individuals are well-meaning; it is our society that is structured in such a way that makes it very hard to live sustainably.
About This Blog
Our planet is dying, and we are killing it. In our collective fantasies, we always imagined that the greatest threats to humans would come from elsewhere: aliens, or maybe reanimated dinosaurs. In reality, however, we have turned out to be our own worst enemy.
Evidence that our behaviour is destroying our world has become very strong. Our behaviour is causing changes that will directly affect our lives in a serious way, and they are happening now, not in the far distant future. We are furiously consuming the very resources that allow us to live the way that we do, and we are giving little real thought to how our behaviour will affect our own futures.
The last decade has seen many of the worst hurricanes since weather events have been recorded. Almost every week, one region of our planet suffers deadly droughts while another drowns in massive floods. The recent rise in oil prices is only the beginning of a permanent trend: oil supplies will continue to dwindle even as demand for oil around the world increases dramatically. Right now, higher gasoline prices are a mere inconvenience for many people; in the near future, however, automobiles may become unaffordable to anyone but the most wealthy. Much of what we value in daily life — our cars, computers, electricity, consumer goods, long distance shipping, air travel, and corporate agriculture — will become unsupportable as oil prices rise from $60 a barrel to $100, $150, or $250 a barrel.
As a society, we are in mass denial. We think that the way we live is normal, that we can continue to live this way indefinitely, and that billions of others in China and India will be able to join us shortly. None of this is possible.
The time for debate about whether issues such as climate change and peak oil are “real” should end. These issues are all real. These problems are not myths or imaginary conspiracy theories. They were not dreamed up by evil hippies, communists, or terrorists hellbent on badmouthing our economy and lifestyles. In fact, ignoring these real and urgent problems will be the quickest way for our society to lose everything it values.
Thankfully, more and more people seem to be waking up to reality. Many journalists and authors who have been writing in obscurity about these issues for years are beginning to move out of the fringes and into the mainstream. To our horror, we are discovering that most of these people are not kooks: they are making good sense, and many of their predictions are beginning to come true already.
With this blog, my meager goal is to organize and share my personal readings and thoughts on various topics related to the environment, and issues that directly affect the quality of life of us humans on this planet. Perhaps this blog will turn some other people on to these issues; hopefully visitors will contribute and I will learn more. These issues are complex. They are not black and white, and there are no easy solutions.
I don’t know much, but I do know that no problem was ever solved by denying its existence. Now is the time for us to face reality, before it is too late."
My name is Gary. I’m in my early 30s and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’m not a hippie, and I don’t wear sandals, live in a commune, or play the bongo drums in my spare time.
I live a normal life, and my intention here is not to preach to anyone about how they should live. I am aware that I have been as guilty as many people in our society when it comes to consuming, using, destroying, and generally wasting our resources. I believe that most individuals are well-meaning; it is our society that is structured in such a way that makes it very hard to live sustainably.
About This Blog
Our planet is dying, and we are killing it. In our collective fantasies, we always imagined that the greatest threats to humans would come from elsewhere: aliens, or maybe reanimated dinosaurs. In reality, however, we have turned out to be our own worst enemy.
Evidence that our behaviour is destroying our world has become very strong. Our behaviour is causing changes that will directly affect our lives in a serious way, and they are happening now, not in the far distant future. We are furiously consuming the very resources that allow us to live the way that we do, and we are giving little real thought to how our behaviour will affect our own futures.
The last decade has seen many of the worst hurricanes since weather events have been recorded. Almost every week, one region of our planet suffers deadly droughts while another drowns in massive floods. The recent rise in oil prices is only the beginning of a permanent trend: oil supplies will continue to dwindle even as demand for oil around the world increases dramatically. Right now, higher gasoline prices are a mere inconvenience for many people; in the near future, however, automobiles may become unaffordable to anyone but the most wealthy. Much of what we value in daily life — our cars, computers, electricity, consumer goods, long distance shipping, air travel, and corporate agriculture — will become unsupportable as oil prices rise from $60 a barrel to $100, $150, or $250 a barrel.
As a society, we are in mass denial. We think that the way we live is normal, that we can continue to live this way indefinitely, and that billions of others in China and India will be able to join us shortly. None of this is possible.
The time for debate about whether issues such as climate change and peak oil are “real” should end. These issues are all real. These problems are not myths or imaginary conspiracy theories. They were not dreamed up by evil hippies, communists, or terrorists hellbent on badmouthing our economy and lifestyles. In fact, ignoring these real and urgent problems will be the quickest way for our society to lose everything it values.
Thankfully, more and more people seem to be waking up to reality. Many journalists and authors who have been writing in obscurity about these issues for years are beginning to move out of the fringes and into the mainstream. To our horror, we are discovering that most of these people are not kooks: they are making good sense, and many of their predictions are beginning to come true already.
With this blog, my meager goal is to organize and share my personal readings and thoughts on various topics related to the environment, and issues that directly affect the quality of life of us humans on this planet. Perhaps this blog will turn some other people on to these issues; hopefully visitors will contribute and I will learn more. These issues are complex. They are not black and white, and there are no easy solutions.
I don’t know much, but I do know that no problem was ever solved by denying its existence. Now is the time for us to face reality, before it is too late."