In preparation for the class debate on tar sands and mountain top removal mining. I was watching one of the videos and one quote stuck out to me 'destruction is by popular demand.' This may seem obvious but it made me think a lot about my current opinions. In all that I have learned concerning the cons of mining, MTR, burning of fossil fuels, the KeystoneXL pipeline and numerous other issues I find it hard to look at the big picture. All I do is blame the companies, blame the industry, blame the government, blame the miners as they are always made out to be the bad guys. But are they? "Destruction is by popular demand." It is the populations fault, with our on average enormous rates of consumption and unwillingness to sacrifice. If the United States wasn't so dependent on dirty energy the companies wouldn't keep blowing away the mountains because there wouldn't be any demand for oil. Yes there are activists and conservationists but on average as a population the United States has no concern because they consume the oil and they need it. It is because of the structure of society that companies like Massey keep blowing or the government still supports oil production instead of clean energy because we are resistant to change and as long as the majority continues to live this way these crimes against the environment will continue.
I suppose the best way to go about these issues is to not get angry because of what is being done because these industries are just doing what they have learned to work for them but rather focus on changing mindsets and behavior of community members around ourselves to make for a larger impact of less demand for destruction.
Uniquely Organic Blog: The world is being destroyed by popular demand
I agree with the 'destruction by popular demand'. In economics, I learned that we vote with our dollars, and because we are dependent on dirty energy the companies will continue to go about their routines with no one stopping them. Activists and the likes can protest and try to stop them but in reality until everyone makes changes and spends their money using clean energy and environmentally responsible sources the big bad corporations will continue to thrive because that is where the majority of American money is going.
ReplyDeleteThis is so profound... I fall into the same trap as well. It's easy to blame a single company; they ARE the one carrying out the environmental damage, but they wouldn't do it if their business wasn't profitable. I hope that soon America and the rest of the globe will tire of relentless environmental to extract dirty fuels. The system cannot change until the people begin to demand cleaner fuel sources. Hopefully with more environmental education offered to the public, this shift can happen sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteThis is a crucial issue "who stands behind the consumerism". Of course people are those who buy products. I don´t know what have to happen so that people change. People have always changed but only when some really big catastrophe happened. I hope that humanity will “wait” till the time when there is no way back.
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