that is folks - we belong to a strong and established democracy. While we can boycott one local resource to import it from places with less public involvement and questionable corporations etc, local harvesting of resources with its transparently agreed upon risks and benefits, might actually be the most ethical way to proceed. or we can import whatever we need and have no sense of the where it came from, who it impacted, or question why it is so cheap (i applaud the marcellus challenge, but only if it is explicit, transparent and binding to the same degree as the final state ruling that results from this discussion). this conversation is excellent bc it is forcing us to take responsibility for what we 'need' and connect our needs to our land base, our local home. and currently, our 'home' is leased land all over the world to bring us our products with little or no civic engagement with those communities. globalization has disconnected the communities from the products and the marcellus shale scenario gives people back the power to be locally self-serving, according to our collective democratic decisions. lets take the polarization out of politics and work with each other to meet our collective sense of responsibility.
this is not a hands up struggle. this is very much a beautiful opportunity to work w neighbors to set an example of how a fuel can be mined safely, a company can be kept accountable, and a community to be in the driver seat of real sustainability and insist on safe fuel removal and clean water preservation etc etc. it is hard work. but it is responsible work, like the integrity with which each one of us is voicing our views. i applaud this process.
mad love and a chipmunk. j On Dec 12, 2009, at 1:12 PM, Tony Del Plato wrote:
George,Your arguments are compelling but not persuasive to me. As modern industrial civilization comes down (if it really does come down voluntarily) from its fossil fuel addictions, how much of the water & land is to be plundered? Should we all be suffering the same catastrophic fate as those who had no choice or were ignorant of the hazards, or those who saw only the dollar signs in their mining & drilling? The cliches from Copenhagen, Leave the Oil in the Soil and the Coal in the Hole, I would add, let's pass on the gas. Moral righteouness is not enough to convince me that it's okay to drill and threaten what we have. We only compound the problem locally and then some when we transport the radioactive water to "where?" Let's hold our groundwith whatever "relatively" clean water & land we have, anywhere in the world. Tony Del PlatoOn Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 12:57 PM, George Frantz <[email protected]> wrote:--- On Wed, 12/9/09, Jan Quarles <[email protected]> wrote:"I hope you're not asking that question as a way, yet again, to say that protesting fracking is morally wrong as long as the protestors are heating with gas. That's a trap that could have a chilling effect on the learningcurve." +++++++Sorry, Jan, but that is exactly the point of my question regarding how ICheats its buildings. Who are we as a region to say NO!" to natural gas drilling,and itsassociated risks, when our robust economy and associated affluence are sodependent on burning natural gas? What give us the right, as a region, to continue to foist off theenvironmental externalities of our affluance on the poorer regions of theUnited States and the world? My questioning of the morality of blind opposition to drilling in ourregion, and my "lazy, crazy, deserves to die" leisure class environmentalismposition with regard to opposition to drilling remain on the table.So the new "green" building at IC is heated and cooled using geothermaltechnology. (If it is.) So is my home. But what about the other 75buildings on the I.C. campus, or the other 10,999 homes in the city and townof Ithaca? What about the Cornell campus, where they are nowconverting from a coal fired central heating plant to one burning naturalgas? Why in the Ithaca Times (12/2/09) is the mayor of Ithaca using as arationale for demolishing the Ithaca Commons the need to install largernatural gas service lines to enable more restaurants to open there?As far as my position having any chilling effect on any learning curves, we've been "learning" now for forty years. Where are we today as a result?As a nation we now burn up land for development at 8 times the rate of our underlying population growth. There is no evidence to indicate the Ithaca and Tompkins County areany different in this regard. On the contrary in Ithaca and Tompkins County it's not merely environmentally acceptable, but even environmentally chic to live 5, 10, 15 miles or more beyond the urban fringe and alternatives to the single-occupancy vehicle, and commute intoIthaca on a daily basis. (burning gallons of gasoline imported fromelsewhere and generating in the process a pound of greenhouse gases per milein the process) In 2007 Americans generated 26.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions perperson, versus 11 ton per person in Europe and 6 tons per person in China.Just how much more is there to learn, and when are we actually move beyond pious pronouncements like "Not in Anybody's Back Yard" and "Light in My BackYard" and make the necessary changes? George Frantz ____________For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org-- The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of thosecommitted to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources ofstrength and courage they did not know they had. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. _______________________________________________For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
_______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
