Dear Readers,


I now consider this blog to be my Juvenelia. Have fun perusing the archives, and find me at my new haunt, here.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Live Earth

7.7.07

Just got back from the NY show. It was super incredible. My favorite acts were Kanye, Melissa Etheridge, Roger Waters and the Smashing Pumpkins and s bunch of others I can't name right now. Basically I loved everyone except Bon Jovi, who was sending the Jersey crowd into conniptions.

Anyway, I have to start thinking about how to help save the environment, and so do you. So go sign the pledge. And visit www.liveearth.org to check out other stuff you can change in your daily life. But more than that, as RFK jr. and Melissa Etheridge said at the concert, we have to find our voices and stand up to the corporations and powerbrokers that don't give a shit about our future.

One thing I'm already planning to do is buy a nalgene and stop wasting plastic with my constant water bottle purchases. What are you gonna do, readership?

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:28 AM

    como no te pudo gustar el show de bon jovi si fue mucho mejor que los otros no entiendo hahaha xD pero bueno cada quien

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:48 PM

    fellowette, you wrote:

    "Just got back from the NY show."

    In other words, your trip added combustion effluents to the atmosphere. From this exercise, it's obvious that music concerts like this silly exhibition contribute to the increase of unwanted molecules in the atmosphere.

    You wrote:

    "Anyway, I have to start thinking about how to help save the environment, and so do you."

    I did my part -- yesterday. I went for a walk. No car. I did ride the subway. But it was operating whether I was riding it or not.

    You wrote:

    "visit www.liveearth.org to check out other stuff you can change in your daily life."

    There's nothing that we can change in our daily lives that will reduce aggregate energy consumption in the world. Nothing. The vast percentage of energy use in this country is necessary. Not discretionary.

    Frankly, if the people of the US were willing to start an energy revolution, the first step would be depopulating New York City. Our per-capita energy consumption is stunningly high.

    You wrote:

    "But more than that, as RFK jr. and Melissa Etheridge said at the concert, we have to find our voices and stand up to the corporations and powerbrokers that don't give a shit about our future."

    Look in the mirror. The idea that conniving and nefarious corporations are duping us into consuming energy we don't want is a plot line for a lousy novel.

    There are 300 million Americans. We own well over 100 million cars. Every year about 15 million new vehicles hit the roads, some adding to the total, some replacing old vehicles. We need cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships.

    As the population grows, we will need more of them. As the prosperity of the world increases, the numbers of cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships will multiply.

    Even if fuel efficiency improves every year, the overall increase in the number of transport vehicles will increase faster, leading to an ever-increasing aggregate amount of energy consumed to give humans what they want.

    Many agonize about the plight of people in a number of African thugocracies and kleptocracies. If the world intervenes and drives out the thugs and thieves, replacing them with governments that actually build modern societies, energy consumption in those countries will skyrocket.

    Energy consumption is already skyrocketing in China and India. One measure of prosperity is energy use. No energy use, no prosperity. Thus, yesterday's concert goers should really cheer for the thugs and thieves who run the African continent. Those tyrants have done more to reduce energy consumption than any other governments on Earth.

    You wrote:

    "One thing I'm already planning to do is buy a nalgene and stop wasting plastic with my constant water bottle purchases."

    I hope you have the capacity to laugh at yourself.

    It's unfortunate that a person would believe he/she is saving the planet by carrying a canteen. Funny and sad at the same time.

    If humans were to cut petroleum use by several percentage points, the price of oil would drop.

    If the price of oil drops, its use would increase if the new lower price were less than the price of some other product with which oil competes.

    You asked:

    "What are you gonna do, readership?"

    If you really want to change patterns of energy consumption and use, then support the re-start of our nuclear power program. Nuclear power is the only large-scale alternative to oil.

    Anyone who tells you power from wind, water and tides can make a difference is probably working on commission for one of those evil corporations that profits from selling equipment that turns wind, water and tides into useful energy. But those sources are, and will remain, a drop in the bucket of energy production.

    There are 6.5 billion people in the world today. They all want the benefits that we derive from plentiful and cheap energy. You will never succeed in forcing billions of people to live with minimal energy unless you support a global conversion to islam.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:52 PM

    For Saturday's concerts to have demonstrated some worthwhile energy sensibilities, the performers should have performed in their studios and all concert-goers should have watched the event in their homes.

    If no one had clogged the air with more combustion products to perform and attend concerts aimed at convincing people to stop clogging the air with pollution, the whole affair might have risen above its farcical reality.

    But, that's show-biz!

    ReplyDelete