I'm not religious, but a line from Revelations has stuck with me: "Do not harm the air, neither the trees, nor the seas". Three strikes you're out and Mother Nature bats last. And the playing field is her home.

And yes, scientists are repeatedly dismayed to see their predictions have missed yet another unexpected positive feedback loop that is accelerating warming consequences. Are we getting nervous yet?

The last time I flew, the thought I had was "Greyhound of the skies" except a Greyhound bus was more comfortable.

Invading and occupying other countries comes to mind. Arming thugs and overthrowing democratically elected governments is another way the US & corporations have gained resources.

Bad behavior?

When there are spewing orifices like Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity and others ALLOWED ON PUBLIC AIRSPACE as COMMENTATORS is there any other possibility than a lack of concern for others and the planet?

When George W. Bush has caused more damage to America's environment and the country and world as a whole than 100 Bin Ladens and he is still in office, no wonder we are up the creek without a paddle.

Market based solutions might work if intangibles like clean air are factored in.

I think that while some responsibility does lie with the average american citizen, I don't think it is fair to place all the blame on individuals in a "me" society. I think that most people would be more than happy to engage in environmentally friendly practices if it were easier for them to do so.
A lot of responsibility lies with the corporations that have made desicions that have led to the unsustainability of our culture. Just look at automobiles. I drive one everyday, but if I could, I wouldn't. I would love to take the train/subway. But our entire infrastructure is now based around the automobile. And why? Because big car manufacturers like GM killed public transportation in this country. They bought them all and put them out of business in the early 20th century.

Sirota must be talking to the crowd out there who spends ample time on planes?
Who exactly burns up avgas frivolously flying around in planes? Sirota? Is he his own guilty audience?

What's the analogy? Reclined seats equate lifestyle decisions? We, the individual, are in control of the transportation options? If we all pay our fair share( taxes?), individually change our habits, perhaps fly and drive less (?), our world would consume less, but also consume more efficiently because mandates would incline us to behave more globally? Seems reasonable.

But, then I look to the I-5 Corridor between Vancouver, BC and Eugene, OR and in particular to the Seattle area populations fight for a mass transit fix as an indirect example of changing our commuter lifestyles. Who, what, and when exactly gave Rail the axe over OVR trucking and HWYs? FedEx loves Tom Hanks, but who else does that business love?

Anyway, one area we folks tend to over look is categorizing how our country consumes energy, resources, etc. Sirota pointed out more about the way we consume excessively and how that equates to eating off your friends plate, or invading their personal space and the overall cost in doing so. But, who exactly is the largest consumer in the US? Answer, the US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Anyone out there want to take a guess which federal agency is the largest consumer of all?

If you guessed DOD, you're right. How does the US MIL impact our country's overall carbon footprint? Is the energy and pollution of the US MIL acceptable for the final outcome? Do the means justify the ends?

I can commute to work on a pogo stick, eat recycled wood pulp, and use grey water to water the plants, but all my efforts are in vain when I compare my energy use to the amount of energy it took to transport to Iraq a HUMVEE and crew who's task of driving up and down a street is more important to their chain of command's power point presentation than it is to the security of johnny and tammy's 3rd grade class.

flying off the handle....
.

.

casual_jabber@yahoo.comm

After reading this article,I didn't want to jump to any conclusions about the author, so I checked out his blog. Unfortunately, David Sirota's blog confirms my suspicion. Sirota is a Democratic party hack. And this article is nothing but a thinly veiled press release for the upcoming release of a book. Plus, an exultation to vote Democrat, and a few slaps on the backs of corporations.

The trashing of Dennis Kucinich on his blog proves, that Sirota is just another Sheep in progressive clothing, meant to keep the Democrtatic base in line.

Fortunately, pretend progressives can't ruin my day, I'm still all aglow (pun intended) over the NIE Report.

Ramsay

I wish the idea of a carbon tax would disappear. How about good old fashioned rationing and make it fair so the rich can't buy there way out. We already know damn well that the poor and low income aren't flying anywhere.

scaredhippie asks a very relevant question. Who has the responsibility? The individual citizen or the giant corporation? It's true that most citizens will take action when that action is allowed to be reasonably effective. But corporations have been utilizing the mass media and other tools for decades to bend the culture around their profit agendas and make individual actions seem futile. nevertheless the power and responsibility remains in the hands of the people.

Like the Earth's climate itself, societies are driven by complex feedback loops. Cause and effect are often circular. So the citizen allows the corporation more power/control, the corporation takes it, and suggests nicely that the citizen give up even more... a negative feedback loop is thus spawned. The citizen retains the power and responsibility always, but remains vulnerable (due to human weakness) to beastly influences.

Enter the government, stage left. The government's role is to compensate for human weakness. Humans love to scrutinize each other so the negative is easily filtered out through concensus. So positive feedback loops are spawned, and positive policies are formulated, that is, until some beast starts violating the public SELF-DETERMINATION. This is when the government starts to FAIL MISERABLY in its charter mission, such garbage as the "me culture" are instituted, and the society's slow motion train wreck begins.

But the power and responsibility remain in the hands of the people always, and the feedback loops remain circular. So the giant corporations don't really have the responsibility. They are not people, they are not citizens. Corporations have no rights, no responsibilities. Corporations are machines and should be oiled and used responsibly to serve the public will. Corporations may not self-perpetuate, and may not influence, and may not do anything but fill orders. Corporations, as private property, may be limited in size or completely destroyed to serve the society's better interests.

War has to be the least acceptable global poison. It threatens and impoverishes everyone on earth at some level, even though it enriches the tiny number of arms traders. Every nation on Earth can benefit from the end of war, we have to find another way to negotiate conflicts and emnity.

The most (destructively) powerful nation on Earth has no notion of responsibility, it is still too primitive even to ensure its own long term survival.

Can anyone find U.S. air quality monitoring records online relating to before, and after 9/11 2001 when the skies were empty of aircraft?
I'm sure the figures were temporarily available but I believe they were removed due to the shocking evidence they provided of air polution by all airlines in the American skies.
This was the perfect chance to quantify airline air pollution over the U.S.A.

The airline decided on the cabin space and decided on the seat design. Of course people recline the seat on a transantlantic flight, assuming that if you weren't supposed to do that, the seat wouldn't recline...

Of course people drive to work when there are no good alternatives and buy at big box stores when the local businesses have been driven out of business. The primary solutions are not individual, they involve society as a whole. Individual courtesy and concern is an excellent thing and too much lacking in the world today, but it is not a solution, on the airplane or in the world at large.

ALL

Let's go even further with this thread's analogy, as KEM and I discussed here, and here.

Imagine that all 6 billion of us humans are inside Apollo 13's life boat, which is far less comfortable than coach.

Our Earth is much more fragile and dynamic than we can imagine, unless ones is aware of 4.5 billion years of major disasters and challenges that have killed off 99.9% of everything else that ever lived.

Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »

rtdrury,

I was with you until the last paragraph. The arguments against corporations are intended to motivate people to change corporations, or eradicate them, because they represent a problematic link in human feedback loops. The corporation may even be viewed as taking on a life of its own as the facilitator and originator of certain feedback loops within the greater human community. And the legal structure in the US which provides that corporations only exist to serve themselves and their shareholders, and that they have the rights of personhood without all the responsibilities and vulnerabilities, produces an unhealthy and unbalanced set of feedback loops that do not fit well with an evolving healthy human society. So it becomes imperative to alter the legal structure with respect to corporations, if not to eradicate them entirely.