tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post3063129429484108951..comments2024-03-13T18:55:49.391+00:00Comments on Energy Balance: George Monbiot: Cats, Pigeons, James Lovelock and Biochar.Professor Chris Rhodeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-34387945911955142652009-03-27T07:50:00.000+00:002009-03-27T07:50:00.000+00:00Hi Mark,a very salient point. The "throw-away soci...Hi Mark,<BR/><BR/>a very salient point. The "throw-away society." However, these goods will only remain cheap for as long as there are the cheap reserves of energy and raw-materials, principally derived from oil and natural gas.<BR/><BR/>As these wane and prices soar, harsh economy will make the accepted "buy another" cheap replacements less so, and then we will need to find localised alternatives, that are not supported by imports from China and as you say, a whole Walmart mentality that we can just carry on importing cheap goods from countries were conditions and wages are desperately poor.<BR/><BR/>I think it will be a stick rather than a carrot that drives the transition, but I doubt too that it will be easy.<BR/><BR/>There is no leadership at nation level because no one country wants to be the first to face the inevitable, or disadvantage itself while the rest of the world remains in denial.<BR/><BR/>Even for single governments, telling the electorate that it's bye-bye Walmart would be seen as a form of dictatorship, and get them kicked out at the next election.<BR/><BR/>And yet, the first government to lay out a clear plan of campaign would go down in history as a saviour body.<BR/><BR/>I use the word campaign deliberately as the present situation has been likened to an impending state of war (against a manner of living that is unsupportable)- and the scale of retooling necessary to re-engineer society to cope with that is indeed of wartime proportions.<BR/><BR/>That Walmart mentality is an addiction to cheap oil (and cheap energy; hence those cheap goods we all can throw away - for now, at least), and the sooner we adopt a programme of recovery the easier it will be to adapt, as eventually we must... or fight resource-wars to the bitter end.<BR/><BR/>Neither approach is easy, but only one is ultimately viable.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/><BR/>Chris.Professor Chris Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-71694763864227485022009-03-26T23:24:00.000+00:002009-03-26T23:24:00.000+00:00Chris,When you mentioned that we must live in a le...Chris,<BR/><BR/>When you mentioned that we must live in a less transportation intensive and globalized societies, how do you propose we wean ourselves from our disposable society mentality? <BR/><BR/>Western society in general and especially here in the United States we are addicted to cheap products that last only a year or two. Of course when these products breakdown it makes no sense to repair them because it is cheaper just to buy new ones. Also the vast majority of these products are just thrown away instead of being recycled. <BR/><BR/>My gut feeling is that as long we continue to have a Walmart philosophy where cheaper is always better and who cares about how Chinese workers are treated, switching to a localized economy will be incredibly difficult.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com