Okay, I admit it. I've been reading quietly for some months, never
posted anything (I have replied to a few individuals). Some of PEN-L is
interesting; I've picked up a few valuable resources; but increasingly I
do lean toward the delete button.
I worked on the staff of Dollars & Sense from 1974-82, and was active in
URPE in those days. Then, after a bit of wandering, I ended up at Tellus
Institute, an energy/environmental research and consulting group. In
some ways it feels to me like I got into environmentalism by accident,
and am still trying to understand it politically.
Lately I've been working in solid waste and recycling. The good news is
that this is an area of incredible grassroots activism, volunteer effort,
commitment to progressive change -- things that appear to have ebbed in
many areas. The bad news is that it is entirely coopted and separated
from other progressive movements. I've heard mid-level managers from Dow
and Dupont explaining at conferences that it's no longer possible to fight
recycling (and related) legislation, it's time to make money from
cooperating with it instead (my words, their sentiment).
Still, it poses an interesting question of its own. How lightly can we
tread on the earth and its ecosystem? How far in that direction can
recycling and "source reduction" take us? Since we constantly use
nonrenewable resources, how can there be a true long-run equilibrium level
or mix of production?
And how much difference does the social system make in answering the above
questions? Although I was far from the most critical observer of
"actually existing socialism", the environmental record of the Soviet
Union appears to have been one of its absolutely worst features, far more
damaging than capitalism. Feshbach and Friendly, "Ecocide
in the U.S.S.R." provide a detailed, horrifying account.
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In addition to responses to the substance of the above, I'd be interested
in hearing about other lists that might discuss these issues.
