frannyan | Enviro-rant

Techknology does exist to make cars more eco friendly. Hybrids are the tip of that. There are small electric cars around, and there's a solar powered race car that can go 60MPG.

However, you cannot power an SUV with solar or electric. And that's what people want.

Cars continue to get bigger because people continue to want bigger cars. It's all nice and assuring to the individual to blame the oil industry, after all, that ARE the root of the cause.

But the instant you start blaming them, you're saying 'I can't do anything'

There are plenty of cars on the road today that get 25-35 MPG. REgular petrol/gas driven cars. However, most people don't want those cars. THey want the big arse huge things that get 5MPG (Little exaduration here. My neighbor's truck gets single digets in milage. He drove it to Florida.) that look awsome and that can bully that little car that gets 35-40 MPG off the road.

Noone cares about the planet because noone cares abotu anything but themselves. 'Not my problem' 'Doesn't effect me' 'Don't care' 'too much money' 'too much effort' ect ect. Human beings are lazy bums who hate to change.

While yes, big companies are often to blame [Lemme tell you a story about a little company called GE who bought out and then closed down all these mass transit thigns call trains to sell more automobiles...] that fact remains that WE BUY THIS STUFF. We all hide behind the banner of money to excuse our behaviors when there's so many things we could be doing.

And if we're not moaping about the money, it's astetic, [Wind power disfigures the landscape and, ya know, coal power plants are oh so pretty.] or it's about image. [I'm a MAN I need my TRUCK! I'm a POWERFUL woman, I need my SUV to show those clowns on the road that I'm just as powerful as they are] Or it's about pure ass lazyness. [I can't be bothered looking for a trash bin, I'm just gonna toss my bag of highly processed, over packaged snack foods on the ground.]

This stoner hippy in my Conservation class have the balls to tell me that he wasn't part of the problem because he was "Aware." This he tells me as he's eating a package of snack mix. As he's twirlig his plastic frisby, he's telling me that because he's taking a class about how humans are using up more of the Earth then it can suport, he's not "fucking up the Earth." He thinks that because he bikes to campus that he's not using up any resources (because, you know, the energy to actualy do that biking comes from nowhere and the bike itself? Found in nature, man.)

Noone wants to take any responsablity. Not for the Enviornment or anything else. The powercompany around here has this wonderful little program where you can opt to have your electic generated from the burning of methaine produced from cow menuer. It costs 4 cents more a killwhatt hour. Such a small price to pay for such an enviormentaly benifitial thing. But because it's an extra 4 cents, people don't do it. They buy stuff from Walmart that's made in countries with little Environmental controlls and shipped half way across the world because it's cheeper. Organic food costs too much and is for hippies anyway.

Noone thinks about consequences of any action. And if they do, most write it off as someone elses problem. Most people who go on and on about things other people should do often dont bother to do the things that they should.

Yes, the goverment and oil industry are going at it behind our backs. But it doesn't mean we have to buy into it and suport the petrolium culture. While most places it's pretty damned impossible to do most things with out a car [There's no freakign public transportation here! >< I can take at train to my parents but the only train to Rutland is that same line. It leaves Rutland at 7:30am, and the trip back in gets there at 8pm. Not at all a commuter line.] You don't need to hop in and drive 20 miles to get one thing from store inthe next town over that has it cheeper then the store up the block you can walk to. You also don't need to huge ass car for that either. I can fit 4 people and a load of groceries in my '89 Honda. Peopel who say they need an SUV to do the same thing are makign excuses for having a big car to make their egos feel big.

... Yeah, this is desolving and I need to eat something before class. Where I'll probally continue it as it's Eviormental Politics class. Ya know, Regan might be the one who reversed all the pro-enviormental things of the Carter administration, but we're the ones who freakign elected him in. (Not most of us personaly, as we were probally all still infants or not born then, but the general us as in the US).

Until people wake up and realize that yes, they ARE part of the problem and that they're basicly shitting in their own bedrooms, there will always be problems. Because unless it personaly affects someoen in a big way, convienace and ego will always override any "Should"s out there.

Ya know, Mars used to have an atmosphere and abundant water. Wonder if it had people who did the same shit we're doing now on it at one point too... >