Questions Sep 21-23

W 23

• The creatures of the Panthalassa Sea "believed their watery world to be the entire universe..." 100 Is this sense of cosmic breadth and importance a predictive symptom of dangerous self-importance? Is humility a condition of ecological responsibility?
• The world's total proven oil reserves constitute a fifty year supply, at present rates of consumption. 104 Why isn't this fact more alarming than it seems to be?
• Why isn't "the conversion of food for people into fuel" more controversial than it has been? 107
• "Today's cars are mostly made of oil"...  and our whole lives are stuffed with plastic. Should that embarrass us? 109 
• "We are using more and more energy" 114 -- If we could do it without fossil fuels, would that be unobjectionable? Or would our ever-growing energy use be a problem whatever its source?
• Nuclear energy: should we renounce it, or deploy it selectively? Is its non-emission of CO2 make the risk of accident worth considering?
• Do you worry about Homer Simpson at the helm of the nuclear plant? 119
• Does the cigarette analogy to wind turbines justify the statement that the majority of turbines are turned by fossil fuels? 120
• Do we really need a land mass the size of South Carolina covered in solar panels to generate our present level of energy consumption, given the fact that our roofs are (in principle) available? 122
• Can you imagine any American politician running successfully on a platform of Use Less and Share More? Is there a more marketable way to phrase that pitch?
• How do we stop "tethering" our phones, other appliances, and even electric cars to fossil fuels? 123
• Can you think of anything else that all of earth's life-forms have in common? 128
• Should we all be "freaking out"? 129 Can we do that without surrendering to panic and fear? 139-141
• Should the EPA be independent of the executive branch? Does the civil service generally need greater insulation from politics? 
• Are you surprised that Eunice Foot, John Tyndall, and Svante Arrhenius sounded the global warming alarm so long ago, or that their warnings fell on deaf ears? 131
• Is it still hard to persuade most people that a 1.5 degree warming is "a categorically bad thing"? 134
• Will global weirding be easier to sell to a skeptical public? 135
• Somebody should do something... Will UN panels, reports, and international protocol agreements make a difference? Does symbolism matter? 137-8
• "If everyone on our planet adopted an American lifestyle..." 140 Is the American way of life still not negotiable, as GHW Bush said? 
• Are we really still at "the crossroads of environmental history"? Do we have three generations to figure out our survival? 141
• Are you planning to visit Glacier National Park while you can? Or the Arctic, or Greenland? Or would that be too sad?

M 21

• Why were we so blase in 1978 about the future impact of High Fructose Corn Syrup ? 63
• Are you a big consumer of "pop"? 64 (Above average? 67) Is it "the real thing"? 67 Do you associate it with good times and happy memories? 64 Did Don Draper get you? (Do you get Don Draper?)

 

• Are you conscious of your sugar intake, and of the form and volume of sugar you ingest? Are you concerned for the personal/public health and environmental implications of sugar consumption? How about sugar substitutes? 
• What percentage of your diet would you estimate consists of "convenience foods"?  66 What's the true cost of convenience?
• The obesity epidemic is clearly a public health issue. Why is it also an environmental issue? 69-70
• Do you waste as much food, on average - 40%, 2/3 of a pound - as the rest of the U.S.? What can you do, and what can we do, to become more frugal and generous with our excess?
• "A larger number of people than ever before live with conditions of inadequate sanitation." 75 What can we do about that?
• "A very minor part of the population... is doing the majority of its damage." But does it follow that "much of the angst expressed about overpopulation is a red herring"? 76
• If "global food distribution" is possible because "we live in an age when we can order a pair of tennis shoes from a warehouse on the other side of the planet and have them shipped...in less than twenty-four hours," how do we impose the Amazon model on food for those who need it? 77
• "...our relentless pursuit of more has landed us...squarely in the middle of less." 78 Less is more was a popular slogan of the Voluntary Simplicity movement. Do you (so to speak) buy it?
• Are you too young to remember Schoolhouse Rock? Do you turn off lights etc.? 83
• Should our focus be more on conservation than energy efficiency? Can we blame Ronald Reagan for our culture's shift to the latter? Or did we never really value conservation in the first place? 83
• "Our pursuit of convenience, diversion, repose... yet another type of more..." 84 Is the fundamental problem that we have misconceived what it means to pursue happiness? 
• Half the people who die from communicable diseases are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the population has tripled in the last fifty years. So, is overpopulation not in fact a present problem, coordinate with the problem of mal-distribution of food, medicine, and resources generally?  86
• COMMENT: "All of the want and suffering in the world arises... from our inability to share." 88 Inability, or unwillingness?
• COMMENT: "Curbing consumption will be the ultimate trial of the 21st century." 89 Are we on trial? Is the "American way of life" (which the first President Bush said was "non-negotiable") on trial?
• Do you look forward to flying (more) frequently again? Will the pandemic force more of us to think more seriously about flying's carbon footprint? 91-3
• Should we invest heavily in high-speed rail? 92
• Would you drive a lot less, if you could? Will the pandemic force more of us to think more seriously about re-arranging our lives so that we can? 95
• Are cars a "murderous joy-sucking plague on the human species"? 96 
• What can be done to make public transport more appealing to more people? What would it take, for instance, to get you to ride the bus more and drive less? Or carpool? Or bike, or walk? 95 Or is that just "logistically impossible"? 96