10 replies to this topic

[Virogen]

This has been the intensity of the smog for the past two days in Beijing. View from my window. I changed my air mask filter last week and already it needs replacing again. The filters should normally last 6 weeks. China is repeating the mistakes that the first world nations made, rather than learning. The near impossibility of tackling climate change is apparent when looking at a photo like this. I'm incredibly saddened by the future we are shaping right now. This smog comes from the building of TVs, iPads, computers, toys, clothes, etc we all buy. It produces the electricity I use to type this post. Everything is connected.

This is about 2:30 in the afternoon...

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

That's gross! When we visited China ('07, I think), we must have been lucky. Beijing and Shanghai were both pretty clear when we were there but the signs of pollution were everywhere.

[Frontier]

This world is driven by one factor above all else: greed.

Greed softened to the word 'profit' to numb the truth of it.

And there is simply no profit in virtually anything good, either for man or nature.

All the doomsday prophets think the world will end in some monstrous cataclysm.

It won't.

It will not end with a bang, it will end with a whimper.

One we're already witnessing, slowly, in progress.

We're destroying ourselves, and our planet, and even when billions of us can see that... we're not the ones with the power (and by that I mean money) to do anything about it.

We're addicted. The same as any drug addict. Only instead of shooting a needle into our arm or snorting something up our noses, we're addicted to money, to luxury, to comfort. The more we have the more we want, the more we'll do wrong to obtain excess. And it's all provided by profit. Profit from fossil fuels and chemicals and waste.

In other words? We're screwed.

[Virogen]

Very well worded Frontier. Though I believe we do have the power, but there is no way to wield it. We are addicted, distracted, and most of the world is uneducated...

[Mishi]

Oh my gosh....What makes it really bad is the fact that people have to wear masks. You'd think that would wake them up, but Frontier posted my thoughts on this issue, so there's no sense in repeating what has been said (I agree whole heartily, Frontier).

I know they have the ability to cut down on that. Remember when they hosted the Olympics? They were able to do it then.

[Virogen]

They forced factories to close during the Olympics and seeded the skies to get the good weather. It was all smoke and mirrors, pardon the pun.

[Mishi]

Ah...the old Smoke and Mirrors trick; it just makes it that much more of a bummer. I guess the less we buy from there, the less hardship they put on their land, but...greed and creature comforts will always dominate. When I go to the store, I do look at where the item came from. I know it's not always possible to buy something that was made in a place with good working conditions, fair wages, and environmental sanctions in place, but every little bit may help at one point...I hope!

[Virogen]

Yup that's all we can try to do - and write to companies when you don't buy a product to let them know. Here's a photo from today - last night they likely seeded the skies to get the pollution to be precipitated:

[MadamHoney]

You're supposed to look to the future with hope at all the possibilities it could be filled with, instead I think it's depressing and scary. I dread to think what it's going to be like when I'm old and feel sorry for young people. The world has become a shit tip. So many people deny there's a problem because it would inconvenience them to actually do anything about it. Sometimes I feel like running away to the furthest away most deserted corner but I bet the effects of pollution and the modern world would follow me there. How cheery.

[Virogen]

Even the people that do recognize the problem do little of significance. People like to say they want to help the environment, but ultimately make as little change as possible in their lives to do something about it.

[MadamHoney]

Virogen, on 18 March 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:

Even the people that do recognize the problem do little of significance. People like to say they want to help the environment, but ultimately make as little change as possible in their lives to do something about it.

I think one of the biggest problems is you need everyone to make a united effort. If only some people do it 1. is it going to make much difference? and 2. they will feel resentful of the people just carrying on their hi-tec modern lives. If everyone made the same sacrifices it wouldn't feel as difficult to make them. But that is never going to happen because most people just can't be arsed and are happy to pass the problems onto the next generation.