Eco-warnings from a long-haired Commie
Recently I was discussing with a friend of mine about a report put out by the World
Wild Life Federation. The report states that the human race is now consuming resources faster than the planet can replace them. They predict that at our present rate of consumption, the world will be out of resources in 2050.
I cited this as proof that the system of capitalism is in extreme crisis; We can not continue to consume at our present rate. My friend replied "I like your argument but what if the resources run out. Even if we have socialism , it will just prolong the suffering. Eventually the human race will overpopulate and then shit will go down the sinker, unless we've settled on other planets. No, humans are kinda like a parisite, and the earth has probably had enough. Or were just gonna destroy her."
I promised him that I would do a post on this topic on my blog, so that I don't send him a reply in installations in huge e-mail messages.
The first part of the problem, as I have already touched upon with him, is our current level of consumption. I've analyzed the way we consume products. I ask myself, how much of this is necessary? In addition to Marx's analysis of the crisis of overproduction inherent in capitalism,
there is also the question of how wisely we are using our resources. I used to work in a grocery store in the city of Edmonton, Alberta. Every day we would fill the dumpster in the back room with unsold loaves of bread. The thing is, these loaves of bread were not rotten; hell they weren't even stale. All of these loaves were only a day old, still indistinguishable from what they had been only a few hours ago, and yet they are sent to the city dump to rot every day.
Now consider if every grocery store in the city of Edmonton does this. Now Consider if every grocery store in the province of Alberta does this. Now, Consider if every grocery store in Canada does this. What if every grocery store in the US did this too? How about North America? Do you see where I'm going with this?
Do we really need to cultivate as much land, and burn as much fuel in harvesting machines as we do now? Do we really need as much wheat as we do now? Do other countries need to starve and ship all of their wheat to us? Maybe if we didn't throw away unsold bread EVERY DAY, we wouldn't have to grow so much wheat in the first place! We would save a lot of land, and a lot of
fuel.
A few years ago, I visited Los Angeles. The streets were congested with traffic. Myself and five of my family were all packed into a small car, so we got to use the "car pool lane"of the road, which was empty. If the car pool lane was empty the entire time that we were there, but the regular high way was hopelessly jammed with traffic, I think it's fair to say that not enough people were using their vehicles and fuel consumption wisely. How many barrels of oil could be saved every day if people took public transportation, or simply car pooled? Once again, we get back to the question of "How much do we need?"
As my friend pointed out, "Socialism will only help to prolong the suffering", as he sees overpopulation as an inevitability. Personally, this is a problem of our current society, not the new,socialist society. Consider if the economy was centrally planned; How difficult would it be for the national birth rate to also be controlled, or at least monitored. A big part of overpopulation is that it is a symptom of our society of individual centric hedonism, as personal pleasure is promoted as the ideal that all individuals should aspire to. When personal responsibility takes a back seat to personal pleasure, and the society is apathetic to the amount of procreation happening, overpopulation ensues. Don't get me wrong comrades; I'm not promoting some sort of baby-killing squad, or even promoting abortions. Contraception is a big part of it, and state organized initiatives, like in the peoples republic of China, encouraging couples to have fewer children.
Not all measures to manage the environment and consumption are so extreme. Personally, I walk everywhere. If there is somewhere I'm going, I walk. If it is too far to walk, I take public transportation, or catch a ride with a friend. I do not own a vehicle. Now consider that. I am just one person, but if I drive a vehicle for the rest of my adult life, how many barrels of oil will be consumed? By not owning a vehicle, and using fuel efficiently, over the course of my lifetime I will save many irreplaceable liters of gas. Not to sound like a self righteous hippie, but recycling does count, and so does buying post-consumer recycled products. Don't waste food; eat all that you take. Little things like this, in the scheme of things, help buy the planet time, at least.
The clock is ticking, comrades. Now, more than ever, the need for Socialism is a very clear and present need. If we can not manage the environment, our population, and our own desires, than we may be doomed to extinction. Humanity is at the crossroads; only the path of socialism leads to survival.
Wild Life Federation. The report states that the human race is now consuming resources faster than the planet can replace them. They predict that at our present rate of consumption, the world will be out of resources in 2050.
I cited this as proof that the system of capitalism is in extreme crisis; We can not continue to consume at our present rate. My friend replied "I like your argument but what if the resources run out. Even if we have socialism , it will just prolong the suffering. Eventually the human race will overpopulate and then shit will go down the sinker, unless we've settled on other planets. No, humans are kinda like a parisite, and the earth has probably had enough. Or were just gonna destroy her."
I promised him that I would do a post on this topic on my blog, so that I don't send him a reply in installations in huge e-mail messages.
The first part of the problem, as I have already touched upon with him, is our current level of consumption. I've analyzed the way we consume products. I ask myself, how much of this is necessary? In addition to Marx's analysis of the crisis of overproduction inherent in capitalism,
there is also the question of how wisely we are using our resources. I used to work in a grocery store in the city of Edmonton, Alberta. Every day we would fill the dumpster in the back room with unsold loaves of bread. The thing is, these loaves of bread were not rotten; hell they weren't even stale. All of these loaves were only a day old, still indistinguishable from what they had been only a few hours ago, and yet they are sent to the city dump to rot every day.
Now consider if every grocery store in the city of Edmonton does this. Now Consider if every grocery store in the province of Alberta does this. Now, Consider if every grocery store in Canada does this. What if every grocery store in the US did this too? How about North America? Do you see where I'm going with this?
Do we really need to cultivate as much land, and burn as much fuel in harvesting machines as we do now? Do we really need as much wheat as we do now? Do other countries need to starve and ship all of their wheat to us? Maybe if we didn't throw away unsold bread EVERY DAY, we wouldn't have to grow so much wheat in the first place! We would save a lot of land, and a lot of
fuel.
A few years ago, I visited Los Angeles. The streets were congested with traffic. Myself and five of my family were all packed into a small car, so we got to use the "car pool lane"of the road, which was empty. If the car pool lane was empty the entire time that we were there, but the regular high way was hopelessly jammed with traffic, I think it's fair to say that not enough people were using their vehicles and fuel consumption wisely. How many barrels of oil could be saved every day if people took public transportation, or simply car pooled? Once again, we get back to the question of "How much do we need?"
As my friend pointed out, "Socialism will only help to prolong the suffering", as he sees overpopulation as an inevitability. Personally, this is a problem of our current society, not the new,socialist society. Consider if the economy was centrally planned; How difficult would it be for the national birth rate to also be controlled, or at least monitored. A big part of overpopulation is that it is a symptom of our society of individual centric hedonism, as personal pleasure is promoted as the ideal that all individuals should aspire to. When personal responsibility takes a back seat to personal pleasure, and the society is apathetic to the amount of procreation happening, overpopulation ensues. Don't get me wrong comrades; I'm not promoting some sort of baby-killing squad, or even promoting abortions. Contraception is a big part of it, and state organized initiatives, like in the peoples republic of China, encouraging couples to have fewer children.
Not all measures to manage the environment and consumption are so extreme. Personally, I walk everywhere. If there is somewhere I'm going, I walk. If it is too far to walk, I take public transportation, or catch a ride with a friend. I do not own a vehicle. Now consider that. I am just one person, but if I drive a vehicle for the rest of my adult life, how many barrels of oil will be consumed? By not owning a vehicle, and using fuel efficiently, over the course of my lifetime I will save many irreplaceable liters of gas. Not to sound like a self righteous hippie, but recycling does count, and so does buying post-consumer recycled products. Don't waste food; eat all that you take. Little things like this, in the scheme of things, help buy the planet time, at least.
The clock is ticking, comrades. Now, more than ever, the need for Socialism is a very clear and present need. If we can not manage the environment, our population, and our own desires, than we may be doomed to extinction. Humanity is at the crossroads; only the path of socialism leads to survival.
posted by RedJulie at 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
True that the USSR had a bad enviro record.
Cuba, on the other hand, has been named the only country in the world with sustainable development, by the WWF.
Venezuela also, while they have a long way to go, is putting forward a massive tree planting campaign, something that was never before attempted by any previous regime.
To the USSR's defence (and the GDR as well), the USSR was not producing for the USSR; Like the United States, the USSR began to produce for all of it's colonies,
and for it's various sattelite organizations around the world.
I'm sure that if Cuba was supplying wars in other countries, their enviro record would be horrendous too.
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