[GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [California Greening] Whatever it takes

[Wes Rolley]

In seconding Gerry's request for time to discuss ethics and climate 
change.  This was my post at CAGREENING today.



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[California Greening] Whatever it takes
Date: 	Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:50:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: 	Wes <wrolley at charter.net>
To: 	wrolley at charter.net




I have spent time this week browsing through the essays in the book 
/*Moral Ground* Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril/. Browsing is a 
word chosen carefully as I can not really plow straight through a book 
of 80 plus essays focused on providing an answer to the same question: 
Do we have a moral obligation to take action to protect the future of a 
planet in peril? Obviously they all answer with an emphatic YES or there 
would be no reason to publish such a collection.

While there are many ways to say Yes.. almost like dialects of a common 
language, I would pick on two particular items to make my point. One by 
Derrick Jensen and the other by Barack Obama.

Jensen's vision is one of the darkest that I have read. He begins by 
asking a very different question: "Do you believe that this culture will 
undergo a voluntary transition to a sane and sustainable way of living?" 
He finds no indication that such a positive future is in store for us. 
Most of us who consider ourselves Green, or admit to being an "enviro" 
all know the word to the litany, we make our daily bended knee, but that 
is about it. Jensen demands more.

    Those who come after -- presuming anyone survives -- are going to
    wonder what the fuck was wrong with us that we didn't do whatever ot
    takes -- and I mean whatever it takes-- to stop industrial
    capitalism from killing the planet."


At the same time, Barack Obama's contribution is to describe "The Future 
I Want for my Daughters." This is not even his real work, but seems to 
be pulled together from three different sources, each footnoted and all 
attributed to *Senator* Barack Obama.

    We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of
    opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for
    businesses that will serve as a model for the world. Let's be the
    generation that makes future generations proud of what we diud here.
    The time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear,
    and make good on the debt we own past and future generations.

It is pretty clear that Obama and Jensen do not inhabit the same world. 
According to Jensen;

    When most people in this culture ask, "How can we stop global
    warming?" that's not really what they're asking. They're asking "How
    can we stop global warming, without significantly changing this
    lifestyle [or deatstyle,, as some call it] that is causing global
    warming in the first place?"

    The answer is that you can't.

So, let me post the future's question to now President Obama. "What the 
fuck is wrong with you that you are not doing whatever it takes to save 
a planet in peril."

I received an invitation to join in a protest against Canadian / US Tar 
Sands <http://www.tarsandsaction.org/> projects, especially the building 
of a long pipeline to carry Albert Tar Sands Crude to US refineries. The 
asked us to dig out Obama Buttons, if we had them from 2008, and to wear 
them. Given that Obama has backed this project, and is obviously NOT 
willing to "do whatever it takes" then it seems that the protest will 
turn out to be just another of those environmental feel good happenings. 
The only real reason to have anyone bring an Obama button is to gather 
them all and ship them to the white house... collect.

At some point, our progressive friend will learn that one part of 
"whatever it takes" is to divorce themselves from the idea that 
salvation lies with the Democratic Party.


--
Posted By Wes to California Greening 
<http://cagreening.blogspot.com/2011/07/whatever-it-takes.html> at 
7/21/2011 02:50:00 PM
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