[PLUG] PLUG meeting

Rich Shepard rshepard at appl-ecosys.com
Sat Dec 7 17:25:09 UTC 2002


On 6 Dec 2002, AthlonRob wrote:

> Well, I can't just let this one go... lol  :-)

  Me neither! Naivety can be so much fun.
 
> > the very cost of your vehicle is subsidized through corporate welfare and
> > inhumane "trade" agreements.  And last but not least by far, the cost of
> > cleaning up the waste from your vehicle from production, through its
> > useful life and maintenance, to its final resting place are covered, once
> > again, by the public as a whole.  If you were presented with the ACTUAL
> > cost of exclusive use and operation of a motor vehicle, you'd probably
> > say, "I can't afford to drive", too.

  Well, let's consider history. Are you aware that at the beginning of the
last century (that's the year 1900) the biggest urban polluter was the
horse? Yup, the darn things were processing hay and oats at such a high rate
that New York City was pushing 200-400 _tons_ of horse manure into the
Hudson and East Rivers each _day_. Yup. Really good for the environment that
was, and bound to end life on Earth as it was then known.

  And, of course, riding a bicycle -- or walking -- on unpaved, dirt roads
was a real joy, particulary during the rain and snow. Perhaps that's why so
many women died during childbirth: they couldn't get to the hospital on
time.

  Typhoid was killing thousands of people a year because of bacterial
contamination of public water supplies. It was those money-grabbing, greedy
capitalist dogs that produced the chemicals (what a nasty industry!) and
treatment facilities to clean the potable water supply. But, gee whiz! How
dare they make money from it?

  During cold weather people had the gall to heat their houses! How'd they
do this? By cutting down trees and mining coal. They did not know that killing
trees just for heat is anti-social and that mining -- the oldest industry on
earth (after politics, of course) should be banned forever; or, at least,
force off-shore to third-world countries where we cannot see it.

  Next time you're hugging a tree in an "Old Growth" forest, Jeme, take a
look around you. You will see a biological desert: no small mammals, no
large mammals, no birds -- except in the colosed canopy a few hundred feet
above your head. All nutrients are tied up in the living biomass and there's
no cover, browse or food on the forest floor. Sunlight can't penetrate that
far to provide energy and there only litter and duff slowly decomposes on
the ground.

  Please take politics and personal agenda off the main PLUG list. By now we
all know the opinions and beliefs of each other and we don't need to be
constantly reminded of them. It is just not part of being a good citizen in
a crowded societal bus.

Rich





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