Time to Stop Digging

[ysabetwordsmith]

I was intrigued by this article:

Bob Herbert | Yes We Can
Bob Herbert of The New York Times: "The moment is ripe for exactly the kind of challenge issued by Mr. Gore on Thursday. It doesn't matter if his proposal is less than perfect, or can't be realized within 10 years, or even it if is found to be deeply flawed. The goal is the thing. The fetish for drilling for ever more oil is the perfect metaphor these days. The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."㕲

I think the most important part is that last line: The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging. In order for our civilization to survive, we need to shift from the current unsustainable model of business to something sustainable, including renewable resources.

Comments

[bearleyport.livejournal.com]

Who knows? Oil may be to humanity what trees were to Easter Islanders, and by trying to appease the gods of auto-eroticism and cheap "goods" we're stranding future generations -- depriving our children of a precious resource they may need to create a _sustainable_ civilization. Be rational and call for a more truly conservative approach to natural resources and so-called conservatives will call you a watermelon; red on the inside, an enemy to business, endangering the jobs and livelihoods of billions. When investing tax-dollars in expensive recycling programs, raiding the landfills and oceans for plastic, and more labor-intensive alternatives to fossil fuels and plastic merchandise could generate far more and better paying jobs, along with a boom in "green" businesses. In other words, it would shake up if not equalize the distribution of wealth and power.

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

"Who knows? Oil may be to humanity what trees were to Easter Islanders,"

That is exactly what I'm afraid of.

"Be rational and call for a more truly conservative approach to natural
resources and so-called conservatives will call you a watermelon; red on
the inside, an enemy to business, endangering the jobs and livelihoods of
billions."

Gods know, conservatives call me worse things than that, unless we're discussing gun control or something else we agree on.