Cumberland BC: The Cumberlander Articles Section
Uncategorized · 24th April 2007
Norberto Rodriguez Dela Vega
Like many of you, every year I try to celebrate Earth Day in some way, but each year I realize that we need to do more, much more !
Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich, from WorldChanging, have written a powerful piece about Earth Day called Make This Earth Day Your Last! I invite everyone to a few minutes to read it. It begins like this:
"Most of the time, we go far out of our way to blog from the sunny side of the street, but today we have something important to say that involves some strong words: Sunday should be the last Earth Day."
"This weekend, throughout much of North America and across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people who care about the environment will get together at protests, concerts, neighborhood clean-ups and tree-plantings... and accomplish almost nothing. Earth Day, which every year has become less and less the revolutionary event it once was, seems this year to have entered a new phase of meaninglessness. Indeed, this year it appears to have gone into a form of retrograde motion and begun to move actively away from the concept of comprehensive sustainability that drives all rational environmentalism. In short, Earth Day has served its time, and it must go."
"The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we're told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well. The strategy of recycling as a gateway drug get them hooked on it and we can move them on to harder stuff has failed miserably. We can do better."
The The complete article is here:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006520.html
EDITOR'S NOTE: The image used with this article is from Neighborhood Ecological Footprint. Click HERE to read the complete article.
Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich, from WorldChanging, have written a powerful piece about Earth Day called Make This Earth Day Your Last! I invite everyone to a few minutes to read it. It begins like this:
"Most of the time, we go far out of our way to blog from the sunny side of the street, but today we have something important to say that involves some strong words: Sunday should be the last Earth Day."
"This weekend, throughout much of North America and across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people who care about the environment will get together at protests, concerts, neighborhood clean-ups and tree-plantings... and accomplish almost nothing. Earth Day, which every year has become less and less the revolutionary event it once was, seems this year to have entered a new phase of meaninglessness. Indeed, this year it appears to have gone into a form of retrograde motion and begun to move actively away from the concept of comprehensive sustainability that drives all rational environmentalism. In short, Earth Day has served its time, and it must go."
"The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we're told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well. The strategy of recycling as a gateway drug get them hooked on it and we can move them on to harder stuff has failed miserably. We can do better."
The The complete article is here:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006520.html
EDITOR'S NOTE: The image used with this article is from Neighborhood Ecological Footprint. Click HERE to read the complete article.