Webmaster said:
Sounds like typical NIMBY. Remember, our great cleanups have been largely in the last 35 years, with 150 years before that of pretty dirty chit.
Always keep in mind that a lot of that pollution which they are choking on is from making plastic toys for us to buy cheap.
Although we are now "a global economy", it is not a competition as to what countries we can blame for not being up to our current EPA standards. We have control over certain things, that being:
1. most of our domestic industries, autos, goods, etc.
2. our trade laws....
We look the other way (largely) while Wal-Mart and everyone else manufactures goods at factories that do not meet even basic international or environmental standards. Why are we not rising up against this? Is it not our problem? Aren't those goods "tainted" since we are in effect paying for the factory?
Tough calls......but the solutions are not in acting "holier than thou" and trying to prove that we are more evolved than someone else. Certainly it is true that China, India and similar countries are on a steep growth curve with all the attendant evils. BUT, underneath this all, a much larger % of their populations are thriving, living better, etc. -
In American we accept that we cannot swim in the river, eat the fish or exert ourselves outside on days when we are warned about it. We are addressing the problems - thank goodness! But we have a long way to go - check out the asthma rates in the US....and of course, the earlier posts about the % of tainted water in entire states from coal, etc.
As to where we are now, the EPA says "40 percent of our surveyed waterways are still too polluted for fishing and swimming.". While some may be proud about that number, I am not.
Our great solution to the garbage problem is to bury it, where it ends up leaching into our groundwater supplies!
In other words, we are nowhere NEAR a sustainable economy or ecology in this country. We are, however, headed in the right direction thanks to many forces which are making certain that business does not get away with the old status quo (not being responsible for their entire waste stream).
Web:
This is the problem. You try and make it too simple. We don't make them do anything, in fact we make them do nothing. We don't own the plants or the products. They can steal anything they want from us, and we are powerless, or are CD's, DVD's, Software not our property, let alone all the other pirated products.
Yes we have progressed in the last 50 years (more generous than your 35) because our knowledge and understanding have grown. We may have known a problem existed, but we actually worked at finding a problem and then went after it.
The NIMBY complaint doesn't work with me. Our worst problems are in my backdoor, but we are doing something with it. Remember we are destroying our chemical and biological warfare thirty miles from me.
If you and I want to stop things, stop being greedy. Stop buying the crap. Stop getting the good deal cause you don't want to waste your hard earned money. The third world in not in a steep growth curve???? The exploiters of the system are well aware of what can be done and needs to be done, but they are only concerned about their own profits. Those are the few in the billions. GREED
I am not looking the other way. I do not shop at the big box stores, only when there is no alternative. like buying stove gaskets, or "Made in America Pellets". I can't afford the fancy cars or designer clothing or most modern appliances, so I am stuck buying things that work and do a great job but were mostly made in North America.
Our standards are so high, that in many places in the world our worst is their best. When we can't safely use resources, we are basing that on standards that only Northern Europe has set for themselves. 80% of the world would like to have water as clean as ours. I will say the river two miles away would yield a carp or catfish I could not eat, but three miles away there are ponds with rainbow trout that are clean and edible and fun to catch. How many in Asia can say that, how many in Africa can say they have clean water to drink?
You are trying to paint a one scheme picture, it can't be done. The only thing that each of us can do is keep the environment in our sphere of influence as clean as possible. I can not change what they are doing in the Far East, but if they have no market for their product, they will stop making it. I needed a pair of shop shoes, I knew I had some old Redwings, somewhere, so instead of going out a buying a new piece of crap, I dug them out. Works great, cost me some time, no polyesters gave up their lives to put covers on my feet.
I personally would re-think defending the world against the USA. We are not anywhere near perfect, but each time I get someone to do a little better, I have made a step in the right direction. Blasting a system may raise the flag, but reaching out to someone and changing their patterns works wonders.
I did something I never thought I would do last week. I joined a food Co-op. Yep, a good old hippie co-op. Thought there were folks there who knew better what I should be eating than me. But most importantly they draw upon resources locally. I might not ever see arrugala on the list, but I will see local produce and meats and beans that I can not buy in the big box groceries. I will share some time and pack the sacks and boxes and feel better that I am not contributing to trucking produce across the planet. That's a little step, but I was very proud after so many years that I will pick up my share and be happy with what I have.
