I think most of my readers who have been here from the beginning KNOW my feelings on the tree people. (Click here for a really obnoxious rant from me.) I felt them to be misguided, ill-informed, and amusingly hypocritical. But I read something today that really makes me think that the tree-people might actually be evil or truly mentally ill.
Here's the scenario: if you are some sort of rich person who feels guilty about all the fossil fuels you are burning up with your fancy jets and heating/cooling your bazillion square foot home, you can donate some money to a "carbon offsetting" company. The carbon offsetting company then turns around and promotes non-carbon activities. Sounds very benign and green and warm and fuzzy, no? NO!!!
Here is what they promote. They go to places like India where people are extraordinarily poor and uneducated. Do they give them super efficient, green loving technologies to enrich and enhance their lives. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Here is what they do:
"The latest wheeze of this carbon-offsetting company is to provide ‘treadle pumps’ to poor rural families in India so that they can get water on to their land without having to use polluting diesel power. Made from bamboo, plastic and steel, the treadle pumps work like ‘step machines in a gym’, according to some reports, where poor family members step on the pedals for hours in order to draw up groundwater which is used to irrigate farmland (1). These pumps were abolished in British prisons a century ago. It seems that what was considered an unacceptable form of punishment for British criminals in the past is looked upon as a positive eco-alternative to machinery for Indian peasants today."
I cannot believe how horrible this is. Encourage poor people to keep living in medieval conditions and never improve themselves just so some guilt-ridden jerk can live the life he wants to live. Make other people give up on technological advances so that said jerk can sleep at night. Unbelievably sick.
Click here for a link to the complete article.
9.06.2007
Truly Sick
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5 comments:
Aaarrgh!!
Wow. Something sounds offset in the tree-people's heads. WTF?
Thumbs up!
Let's do a real campaign! I studied PR, publicity, journalism in school, you got the brains, we can take it on!
ROFL -- I totally love my Prius with zero emissions.
That said, I totally loved your post. YEAH, BABY!!!! Let's not encourage third-world countries to live in the past -- let's discourage world powers from wrecking the environment -- YEAH!!!!!!!!!
Tasina, you are the coolest. You are a rock star. I want to be just like you when I grow up.
Seriously!
(Although, of course, I don't plan to grow up any time soon, and I hope you understand and approve of my juvenile-forever plan!)
Kat - and grrrrr too
Maggie - good way to put it
Stan - and with my husband to do the artwork/graphic design, we're set (except that small 1/2 way across the country problem)
Bay - now I love the idea of a Prius - we've even talked about getting one (for purely selfish cheaper gas bill reasons)...but at least that doesn't hurt anyone else. LOL at me being a rock star - I'm a nerd. Don't ever grow up - be a Toys 'R' Us kid.
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