we are very lucky here

Smooth Hound · we are very lucky here

when you see how this is effecting other parts of the worlld, it makes you realise how lucky we are,

so far

coire

Absolutely! By and large it's not the countries who caused the problem who are suffering the most. Has anyone seen the Oxfam report?

http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/bp130-suffering-the-science

I get so angry when people make quips about climate change 'improving' the British climate, or defend some of their more extravagent lifestyle choices. But it's hard for individuals to reduce their personal carbon emissions and consumption to appropriate levels.

We DO need to let the government know we want tough action at Copenhagen!

Martin

The present attitude by the government towards anyone wishing to "push" such a sensible agenda, particularly if they take to the streets to peacefully and legally make their point, is to set state-sanctioned murdering bully-boys on them - as witness this year's climate camp, and the murder and other assaults at the G20 demos by our Stassi.
I note that the G20 murderer is still free "on gardening leave" while they try to work out a way of exonerating him, despite the more than ample proof of his guilt........
If you'll excuse the atrocious pun, we haven't a snowball's chance in hell!

earthroots

and then of course there is the issue of environmental refugees and our responsibility to offer hospitality especially since it's the excesses of the global north that caused the problem in the first place - but don't see that being likely even with our wonderful heritage of Celtic hospitality - Dungavel is not exactly a fine example of that!!

Smooth Hound

reading the oxfam report, it says that 150 billion could make an enormous diference in the third world countries,
ive been thinking about this whilst sitting in traffic and hospital waiting rooms all day

and i find it completely mad,

how many billion world wide , has gone into propping up a system, that for all intents and purposes is failing, not through lack of finance ,

which is what they are saying, but because the resources have gone, weve scavenged the lot. which is basically one of the reasons the third world is so impoverished.

now heres the mad bit,

we bale the banks out, to enable us to continue to f ck the world up, and increase the world poverty, war, and so forth,
when what we should surely be doing, is baling the third world out.

Smooth Hound

lets just suppose, for a minute , that there is a god,

what the hell do they think of this

coire

Sometimes I feel I'm living in a fictional dystopia (this is so mad it can't be real) with most people going round in some sort of hypnotic daze. (Bit like the Matrix, really, 'cept I can't do all the funny bendy bullet dodging stuff).

Theologists have been arguing over the problem of suffering for generations. If the Old Testament is anything to go by, God's not a particularly nice entity (oops, that should be 'moves in mysterious ways').

Martin

Totally agree - if it's of any comfort, there are a few of us who've noticed too.......
At the moment, I'm having an acute dose of "why do I bother?" - the vast majority of people seem to think that they have a god-given right to certain things, without which their lives would be totally unliveable - hundreds of litres of scalding hot power showers twice a day, driving their blobboid infants a few hundred yards to school, keeping their under-insulated homes at tropical temperatures, and taking long haul flights several times a year because "they've earned it".........

I'm afraid I was born with one of those conscience things (there are times I could throttle it), and can't indulge in energy profligacy without seeing an emaciated polar bear cub sliding into the sea, unable to find the strength to crawl back out, or the people in the third world picking over a rubbish dump for food........
As for God, I'm hoping she's black (the Neocon republican racists are in for a helluva shock!) - apart from that, I suspect he's a sort of celestial Elton John - "that's it - more praise, more crap music - praising ME - I'm just SO wonderful - more jewels - ohhhhh I'm SO lovely - let's do something spiteful, wouldn't it be FUN........"
(probably best start making plans for emigration after that....)

Smooth Hound

and thats your cant be bothered version

yea i agree,

Maria

Smooth Hound

sure would, youve got to believe it

misteralz

Martin

"intelligent" - absolutely, along with compassionate, perceptive, kind and gentle.......

- a truly towering intellect that completely overlooks hundred of years of colonial exploitation, the "developed world's" exporting of global capitalism, general rape of the planet, and treating it as if we've got five of 'em.... couldn't agree more!

-if that be "intelligence", you'll find me with my thicket peers!

Smooth Hound

when you look at it , its not only past colonialism, but the moodern day equivelent still in action, just done in another way, you could call it cold colonialism,
as for rivers , the reason there so far away is that someone has built a big dam to produce some c razy item , so the rivers dried, people have been displaced, add to that the pollution being pumped back out of the factories, and you can see the problem,
they could move nearer the river granted, thats just supposing there isnt a war going on over oil pipes or whatever.
then theres the problem for them that i originally opened this thread about

and thats that global warming is effecting these places much more (so far) than it is us, which as we all know has been caused by us not them, and that whilst we daudle around talking about it for yrs , instead of actually do something, then the results are obvious. where as it is actually a much more desperate problem than we (where we are lucky) realise.

Martin

There were these ignorant, unintelligent savages, living a totally sustainable lifestyle, that had gone on for tens of thousands of years, and could have gone on for a similar period - and then along came us intelligent beings, who raped their countryside, captured many of them as slaves, forced them to grow crops that would deplete their natural resources, and generally showed them how to completely shaft a planet for all life within a few hundred years, and leave behind only a sterile, lifeless wasteland - that's civilisation and "intelligence" for you!

IainC

One of the main reasons that they keep getting pregnant (IMO) is that a) they don't have or use contraception (if you had the money for it, you'd buy food instead), and b) the more kids you try and have, the more likely one of them will still be alive to look after you when you turn into an old wreck who can't look after themselves.

At the same time, I can see the thought process of "too many people in the world" and "natural selection".

Smooth Hound

its not natural selection though,

Smooth Hound

theres nothing natural about dams blocking your river,

IainC