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Powerful and honest, every blow hitting, the head of the nail square and driving into wood your meaning in truth. Its still their man's bounty if we share. Tony, I enjoyed your heart felt verse friend. Mike
posted by
lionladroar
on October 1, 2006 at 11:27 AM
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Thanks to all for their thoughts.
Troosha, I hope things improve and the next elections are more reflective of people's concerns about the environment, rather than the need to sustain the profits of the big oil companies, or any large corporation.
Bhaskar - Yes, I agree, everything is in fact one, moving, changing, but still just one.
Straightforward - Well to be honest, I stand by less is more, but this is because I think we need to prioritise the planet's wellbeing above human population growth. What actual good does continued population growth do? It puts more pressure on scarce resources such as water. At some point there will be a colossal shortage of vital commodities including water - even if that shortage is largely just down to unequal distribution due to the poor not being able to pay cost-effective prices - well that is the nature of being poor, they can't afford things - and the capitalist system is set up to make a profit or you fall by the wayside, so essential foodstuffs are not, and even more so in the future with more and more people, will not be delivered as needed. I can foresee in this scenario, millions of deaths. Is it really worth coming into life only to live in misery? And if somehow we solved these distribution problems, and many millions more are born each year, imagine the terrible cost in pollution, e.g. from distribution of the food and clothing etc, the loss of vital forests for living space and timber or crops. it goes on and on...... thanks for stopping by
posted by
Antonionioni
on October 1, 2006 at 10:16 AM
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I'm not sure if less is more. Sometimes more is more, if u go by Indian
wisdom. More hands more work more labour-intensive and less environment-destructive development. What say?
posted by
Straightforward
on October 1, 2006 at 1:41 AM
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Tonysonit
The heaven and earth are in harmony. Man is a discord. And not only is ha a discord in himself, he takes pleasure in multiplying them. Existence is non-dual. In each single detail, life moves through contradictions. That is why we call the world the universe; we don’t call it the multiverse. We call it the universe because it is one. Still the oneness has multiplicity in it – variety, distinctions, differences.
posted by
Bhaskar.ing
on September 30, 2006 at 10:47 PM
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Tony
You're right. The idea of a propertyless society is radical; but interesting. Perhaps that concept can flourish in cyberspace as opposed to the real world.
Provacative thoughts well expressed.
Be well,
-smartdog
posted by
smartdog_670
on September 30, 2006 at 8:43 PM
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No question about the greed and lack of concern for others, Tony,
It is unbelievably frustrating to live through this Administration, and see their manipulative ploys for what they are: greed wrapped in the flag. It will take poltical will to make the switch to ethanol and other alternative biofuels, and right now, sadly, it's lacking, but hopefully in 2008, some of that will be restored. It's the hope that I'm holding out for, the elections.
posted by
Blanche.
on September 30, 2006 at 4:58 PM
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Blanche
Yes, oil addiction is a major problem. But imagine if, as is happening, the States and the other western countries do progress the efforts to find alternatives such as fuel made from corn (biofuel) or hydrogen power. This would just mean they'd happily leave all the oil-producing countries to go to hell, unless of course those countries fell in with western policies. The problem is pure greed and lack of concern for others, i think.
posted by
Antonionioni
on September 30, 2006 at 4:55 PM
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Thanks all for your comments.
NC - No, I haven't read that publication. I should do, by the sound of it. I don't think the answer lies in charity - although charity isn't a bad thing. It lies in a massive increase in collective wisdom, leading to a truly internationalist world government with teeth. The problems with this, though, are almost impossible to solve at present - that's why we all need to get wiser first. For example, look at the petty disputes that always arise in the United Nations, the European Union, etc., about who is to lead. You always get selfish behind-the-scenes power-broking and argument between the big hitters, i.e. the rich countries, who never accept anything if it harms their 'interests' - which keeps the political and economic inequalities in the world unchanged.
posted by
Antonionioni
on September 30, 2006 at 4:51 PM
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We have collective ownership of this earth and you’re right – we’re not doing such a great job at preserving it. Baby steps taken by many communities/towns/cities just don’t seem aggressive enough given the state things are in. Frightens me.
posted by
Troosha
on September 30, 2006 at 4:30 PM
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Greed makes us megalomaniacs.
posted by
afzal50
on September 30, 2006 at 3:57 PM
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Very well said!! Also I agree with the other comments....
...Do you ever read New Internationalist? I used to and I have forgotten the numbers, but a huge proportion of peoples of the World are already living in shanty towns and makeshift homes. The forcasted number expected to be living like this in the not so distant future is astronomical according to their article. I think many people never give it all a second thought, never mind a donation to Oxfam or such. Also I am sure it is mostly poorer people who donate because of course they know what it means to be hard up. But the Widows Mite does not go far these days!
posted by
nonconformist
on September 30, 2006 at 2:19 PM
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posted by
Scramble
on September 30, 2006 at 2:02 PM
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Tonysonit, if we could get off this Big Oil addiction, we'd be miles ahead.
I can only hope, because it takes visionaries for leaders, and, right now, that's not what we've got.
posted by
Blanche.
on September 30, 2006 at 1:20 PM
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true true!
no human ever owned a single piece of mud.
That says it all. Any system no matter how good is only as good as the humans running it. What we need is the right attitude, not greed.
posted by
marieclaire66
on September 30, 2006 at 1:02 PM
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