Carbon, specifically carbon from coal is something we should be very concerned about and I not really talking about "here" I'm talking about "over there". In this particular case "over there" is China. A recent LA Times article indicated that a growing about of pollution from China is reaching North American borders. The EPA estimates that on certain days of the year, up to 25% of the particulate matter in the LA skies can be traced back to China, yes I (they) said China. As a sim in LA I can tell you that we're doing a very good job of polluting our atmosphere on our own and don't need any help from a forgein power (I can hear the conspiracy theorists talking now...). But seriously, this goes back to my introductory post on sustainability. Particularly the following section:
Sustainability affects every level of organization; this really only reinforces the first point but emphasizes the impact regional events can have on a nation or global scale and visa versa. The most important part of this point is the impact it has on the human psyche: what they are doing over there affects me sitting over here so I should care about what they are doing over there.We should be very concerned and interested in China's activities, and I'm not talking about where they're putting their tanks, I'm talking about how they are treating our environment.
One concept that we (North Americans) seem to fail to grasp is that people elsewhere on the planet aspire to reach the same level of prosperity we enjoy (if by different means, or methods and even in different forms). The fact still remains that people on this planet want to prosper on their own cultural/social terms. In many ways I was taken back (and horrified) when I was in South Africa and discovered how much people look to the America as a yard stick to base one's standard of living.
So consider this, should resources be expended to influence developing nations to try and convince them to do as we say and not as we do, or should we rather look to ourselves to improve the role model that so many in the world emulate?
1 comment:
Good points. I'm no much for buying only local. Are we, as "liberals" saying that the rest of the world should go back to being poor so that we can donate crap to them? Better to build a stronger, sustainable economy and lead the way for everyone to follow. Also, im not much for quoting Bob Marley, since it makes you sound like a stoner, but this business about China's pollution reaching the U.S. reminds me of a Marley line: "When the rain falls, it don't fall on one man's house." So true.
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