Now for some socially conscious, warm-fuzzy, positive stuff (no ranting tonight).
Fair trade is actually getting some real traction these days. Coffee is leading the way and many grocery store coffee shelves are offering more and more fair trade varieties. Light, medium, dark and espresso roasts from Africa, Indonesia, South and Central America are available from of host of custom roasters. If 250 or 300 gram containers won't cut it, Costco sells 2 pound (908 gram) bags of beans under their Kirkland house brand, roasted by Starbucks.
In Canada, Fair Trade goods are certified by TransFair and their website says they certify coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, fruit (bananas and mangos), cereals (rice and quinoa), spices, cotton garments, wine, roses, and sports balls. TransFair also has a program to declare a Town or City as a 'Fair Trade Town" if it qualifies by meeting six goals. Wolfville, located in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia, will most likely become the first Fair Trade Town in Canada, probably later this month. Wolfville is a very progressive place so its well worth taking a look at their website.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Friday, February 2, 2007
The 6.5 Billion Horsemen of the Apocalypse
It has taken a very long time for politicians to accept the obvious with respect to climate change. We must remember that, in our democratic system, politicians are elected by all of us to represent us and this is probably the main reason why they will never tackle any problem which requires a solution that creates even a small hardship for the majority of us. They fear, rightly so, that they will fail to be re-elected.
There are several of these unpopular issues which are pushing our world towards the point of not being able to sustain human life. These are 'Growth' factors, most of which are paradoxically looked at as increasing our quality and enjoyment of life. Population, economy, consumerism, jobs, wealth, all these have been looked at as being able to grow continuously and without end. Believing this is obviously even more ridiculous than denying the effects of climate change.
During my lifetime, world population has tripled from just over 2 billion to 6.5 billion. During that time, the earth has not become any bigger and, in fact, the basic resources which sustain life, arable land, drinkable water, oxygen producing plants, have all been decreasing. It seems obvious that we have already passed the point of sustainability and that only 2 strategies will help: population reduction, preferably by reducing the birth rate to below the death rate for the foreseeable future, or, reducing the world standard of living to subsistence level while holding the population steady and apportioning the existing resources evenly amongst all people.
Although this may sound like a 'socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing countries', I see it as a last ditch effort to produce a soft landing to the end of the capitalist dominated world order. Those of us fortunate enough to live in the 'wealth-producing countries' will probably feel the results of non-action even more that those who are currently at an economic disadvantage.
One of the most likely mechanisms for uncontrolled population reduction would be a massive pandemic and pandemics would be felt much more quickly by the travelers from the developed world than by nomads or villagers. In any case, such massive and uncontrolled depopulation would cause a complete breakdown of order and infrastructure throughout the world so no one would escape the chaos, anarchy and destruction.
Perhaps we should be looking for politicians who are touting 'population shrinkage', 'economic decline' or 'wealth redistribution'. Get out on the street now and campaign before governments start to rebuild the mental health institutions they closed to save your money. While they have now found that there is no where to put so many of the homeless and addicted who have mental health problems, there is also no where for them to put you, so you just might be able to get your message out without disappearing. Lots of luck.
There are several of these unpopular issues which are pushing our world towards the point of not being able to sustain human life. These are 'Growth' factors, most of which are paradoxically looked at as increasing our quality and enjoyment of life. Population, economy, consumerism, jobs, wealth, all these have been looked at as being able to grow continuously and without end. Believing this is obviously even more ridiculous than denying the effects of climate change.
During my lifetime, world population has tripled from just over 2 billion to 6.5 billion. During that time, the earth has not become any bigger and, in fact, the basic resources which sustain life, arable land, drinkable water, oxygen producing plants, have all been decreasing. It seems obvious that we have already passed the point of sustainability and that only 2 strategies will help: population reduction, preferably by reducing the birth rate to below the death rate for the foreseeable future, or, reducing the world standard of living to subsistence level while holding the population steady and apportioning the existing resources evenly amongst all people.
Although this may sound like a 'socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing countries', I see it as a last ditch effort to produce a soft landing to the end of the capitalist dominated world order. Those of us fortunate enough to live in the 'wealth-producing countries' will probably feel the results of non-action even more that those who are currently at an economic disadvantage.
One of the most likely mechanisms for uncontrolled population reduction would be a massive pandemic and pandemics would be felt much more quickly by the travelers from the developed world than by nomads or villagers. In any case, such massive and uncontrolled depopulation would cause a complete breakdown of order and infrastructure throughout the world so no one would escape the chaos, anarchy and destruction.
Perhaps we should be looking for politicians who are touting 'population shrinkage', 'economic decline' or 'wealth redistribution'. Get out on the street now and campaign before governments start to rebuild the mental health institutions they closed to save your money. While they have now found that there is no where to put so many of the homeless and addicted who have mental health problems, there is also no where for them to put you, so you just might be able to get your message out without disappearing. Lots of luck.
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