Whudduhya Mean the Sky Isn't Falling?!
In an update to disappoint the Humans-Are-The-Scourge-of-the-Galaxy crowd of self-haters and species-ists, [yes, I mean you; and you and you, too.] the Ozone Layer is on the mend. ThanQ! Xrlqpersonally, i’d eye that finding with a lot of suspicion.
even if it is true that some progress is being made, it is *because of* those people [earthfirst, animal liberation,etc...] that you choose to criticize, rather than *despite* of them. they’re the ones that have put enviornmentalism on the agenda.
finally, even though the ozone layer may be improving, what about everything else that is going wrong with the environment?
k.s.Posted by kaveh on 08/04/03 at 08:29 AMk.s.
The Journal of Geophysical Research seems to disagree with you.
To address your second point; this viscious bunch of fools didn’t put anything on any legitimate agenda any more than Al Qaida put peace in the Middle East on any agenda. They simply destroy property and hurt people. That is what defines “terrorists.”
On your third point; could you be a little more specific?
Posted by Claire on 08/04/03 at 08:40 AM1 - The finding (and I’d like to see it backed up by at least a dozen more...) only states that the rate of ozone destruction is slowing down.
This is kind of like coming home, catching your wife in bed with some other guy, and being told it’s not so bad because they did it *twice* yesterday. The damage is already done - the fact that it’s slowing down is hardly a sign that shit is getting better.
2 - The study, even the meagre portion of it reproduced in the online version of The Christian Science Monitor (viz., your primary source) also states that a number of factors, including the greenhouse effect which has been *the* major environmental issue for the past decade, could forestall any progress. In fact, they could make things a lot worse, a lot faster. At any rate, the sparse quotes from scientists in the article suggest that it would probably be hard to tell whether or not things are going to get better.
3 - I’m still combing the web for responses by scientists to this article. I’m sure not everyone gives it the optimistic spin lent to it by the CSM. And I will be sure to let y’all know what I find. Watch this space.
4 - Your equation of groups like EarthFirst! with Al Qaeda is so facile and empty-headed that it doesn’t *really* merit a serious response. But in the interest of edyukatin’ y’all:
I don’t condone violence, and I think that tree-spiking in particular is a really vicious practice. On the other hand, if you can’t see the difference between (A) destroying private property (e.g. fur traplines, machinery for cutting down trees, etc.) to attract attention to a cause and (B) murdering thousands of innocent people, then you must own some *really* nice stuff ... maybe one of them big screen T.V.s, a complete John Mellencamp CD collection, and an Escalada S.U.V. that gets 30 ft. to the gallon.
4 - What else is going wrong with the environment (a selected list):
- mercury poisoning
- PCBs
- synthetic estrogens
- gasoline additives
- antibiotics & steroids from cattle entering the water system
- depletion of the rain forest
- the dramatic loss of biodiversity
- rising oceansand, oh yeah, what’s that other thing?
Right ... GLOBAL WARMING.
One last thing (since I’ve done my duty by trying to respond to you on an intellectual level, for what it’s worth, which is probably 40%-60% of *piss all*) ...
What’s more self-hating: (A) wilfully engaging in behaviour that fouls the environment, dramatically increases your risk of cancer and other illnesses, virtually assures a worse planet for your children and grandchildren, and even drives up the cost of living or (B) trying to do something to avert these fates, even if it involves messing up somebody’s chainsaw when they aren’t looking, liberating some “animal property,” attacking illegal whaling operations, and shamelessly and stridently reminding people that they can’t ruin the world we all share and expect us to “respect” it as just “another lifestyle choice.”
When your “lifestyle choice” harms my health, chokes my children, and ruins the economy in my nation, you can bet I’ll be one royal a-hole of a neighbour, and you can bet you’ll hear about it from me. It’s just a question of self-respect.
Y’na’w’mean?
Posted by Thom on 08/04/03 at 12:59 PMhe stole the words out of my mouth....(and then arranged them much nicer than i could’ve.)
k.s.
Posted by kaveh on 08/04/03 at 03:26 PM
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