"I suggest that since recycling is less efficient and more pollutive than just trashing and getting new resources, we should stop recycling."
Recently a ProU blogger busted out some of the weirdest logic I've ever heard. Honestly, I can't remember ever hearing this. This doesn't make it false, of course, but it just blows my mind. I think it's taken two days for me to think of it, but it sounds more like an excuse than a solution.
Another blogger has suggested that immigration is one of the largest threats to the future sustainable system. This ties into what I think the essence of what embryowassup was saying--that no human crafted model for sustainability is truly sustainable by natural standards.
Perhaps that's what citizens have to establish first. We think of forest management, for example, as resistance theory-- lets trim national forests. Whereas resilient ecosystems naturally adapt to change; they absolutely do not resist change, as Senior Forest Ecologist Tom DeLuca said in his lecture last night ("Adapting to Climate Change: The importance of Wilderness in an Uncertain World").
[why aren't we talking about solar power, which is biomimicry proofed-- all organisms use sunlight.]
We will impact naturally resilient ecosystems in the foreseeable future. Whether we "disrupt aviary life in addition to being less safe than, say, nuclear energy, due to the nature of (windmill) construction" OR create toxic waste as a byproduct of nuclear power plants that has a half-life of 50+ years, we pose problems.
[there is no other organism that extracts carbon from the earth to generate movement.]
What I believe we have to enable is serious discussion on the issue. The majority of citizens has to develop a diverse portfolio of energy. Montana citizen groups are taking the steps. Google "AERO homespun energy" and you'll be amazed that the Alternative Energy Resources Organization has put great ideas out there.
I'm energized by blogger's ability to put ideas out there, even if some people believe raping natural ecosystems is more sustainable than recycling. Hey, I would never have thought this was a realistic belief, until wa-la, there it is, on my screen.
We need to move from science to solutions and the only way to do that is through public discourse. Why aren't more people writing about the way the environment effects them (maybe not even in a transcendental style) to highlight the importance of wilderness and public lands. One of the paths to knowledge is through engagement. I'm learning that more and more at ProgressiveU.
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New resources? What new resources? Wait, did we suddenly discover an endless series of Earths, all ready for us to use up?
Yep, we've discovered Heaven .
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly