The Corporation - orig. 07/19/05
If you and I haven’t talked about environmental issues yet then I would ask you to view the documentary “The Corporation,” before you read further. I believe that “The Corporation,” is a good place to begin the discussion as for me it was the proverbial straw. I have seen and read a variety of news reports concerning the environment and yet in my mind they were not connected. “The Corporation,” does a good job of presenting the jigsaw puzzle as a terrifying whole.
The beginning of this journey has for me been a long time in coming. I was raised in America and have watched a tremendous amount of television over the course of my life and so have been very resistant to many of the ideas I am now beginning to embrace e.g. sustainability.
The movie could conceivably leave one in a place of frustrated impotence, but I have begun brainstorming to see what role I can play in helping to change the paradigm. I will try to share with you my ideas as well as asking for your help with new ideas.
I have a background in design and marketing so some of my first thoughts are in regards to how to further promote a discussion of the environment and the environmental consequences of all of our lifestyles.
Some of the first actions I have taken are to go to the library and check out a book called The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, by Paul Hawken which was mentioned in the documentary. I have not gotten very far yet in the book as after every paragraph I have a flood of thoughts that interrupt my concentration. One of the topics that really scares me is the loss and or mutation of frog populations. On page four he says, “Even more disturbing was the conclusion that these populations are crashing not merely in regions where there are known industrial toxins, but also in pristine wilderness areas where there is abundant food and no known sources of pollution.”
I have to wonder if frogs are the canary in the mine shaft. When the canary dies you get the hell out of the mine shaft. The problem is we can’t leave the mine shaft.
As part of a guerilla marketing campaign I have created a t-shirt with the motto, “Tread lightly and leave a small footprint.” I used an old t-shirt that was starting to get holes in it. The t-shirt had been one of my favorites, but I had was thinking about tossing it out. I created the layout on the computer, but then hand stenciled the t-shirt using a pencil, ruler and permanent marker (these items were already in my possession) while looking at the computer monitor. It is kind of crude, but I accepted this going into the project. It was important for me to do the work myself and not print out a template. This may seem silly and my thoughts at this point may be infantile, but one has to start somewhere.
In regards to the t-shirt, I am now a little self conscious to wear it, but I have begun to evaluate things in this way: What’s more important? My self consciousness and possible embarrassment or the survival of life on planet Earth. It seems to me to be a pretty clear choice.
You may not believe that things are this dire yet, but I am becoming convinced that they are. It is the nature of the beast that we must hit “rock bottom” before we can make a significant change. Some peoples “rock bottom” is death, but I don’t want the entire planet to die so that I can have some plastic piece of crap that I don’t really need and that’s going to break as soon as the warranty expires.
A friend of mine was talking about needing money for security in his old age which is both perfectly logical and typical of the current way of thinking. I would weigh it this way: What is one persons security versus the life of the planet? I am beginning to wonder if it might be better to grow old, perhaps with suffering, and die naturally than to eke out a few more years of comfort at the cost of the future.
I am also still not entirely convinced that we will decimate all life on this planet. I expect that perhaps the insects or microbial life or whatever may survive, but can we justify killing everything else for short term comfort and security?
I know that if I could protect a family member from harm I would do it. If I could protect a stranger from harm I would do it. Can I protect my unborn children from harm? I have to try.
When I was watching “The Corporation,” at times I became very afraid and I really hoped that they would offer a solution at the end of the film. I am not sure that they did so (which may leave many with a feeling of futility), but the movie to me was clearly a call to action such that part of what I am doing is documenting the steps I am taking and the ideas that I am generating to show that there are things that can be done. I am one person, but I am adding my voice to the discussion. Now imagine 6 billion voices joined together and 6 billion minds brainstorming about the long term prosperity of life on earth. This blog is a call to action.
In regards to promoting ideas of sustainability and impact reversal I a have decided to set up and promote a blog and a message board. One of the first things I did yesterday was to email my brother and ask which message board application he uses. I am looking at this issue from a number of angles and approaching it as if I were troubleshooting a computer problem or working on a design project and the first step is always research. On the message board I will be asking a number of questions to which I do not know the answer. Hopefully people will be able to help fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge. I must take a break now and look into setting those items up.
I was able to set up my blog. I would still like to set up the message board tonight, but for now I need to take a short bike ride. One of the changes I am attempting to make is to drive less (I would like to stop driving completely which seems like a huge step) and either ride a bike or walk more. Fortunately, I live in a small town which enables walking and bike riding.
One of the reasons I moved back to Ellensburg was so that I could drive less, but up to this point I have still continued to use my car regularly. A few weeks ago I was giving a friend who doesn’t like to drive a hard time about not liking to drive and she said to me something like, “I have to make sure that when I drive my car it is for something worth the cost of a life.” It took a while for this to register with me.
One crazy/naive idea would be that people live within walking or biking distance of where they work. This may not seem reasonable, but the commute from my bedroom to my home office is about 10 feet depending on how you measure it.
This entry is already getting too long to be viewed on the Web. I think that I may create two versions of each entry. The first will be edited for length to make it easier for web viewing. The second will be a full length version for those interested in reading further.
I have the message board set up. Now I need to link the blog and the bulletin board and set up a redirect that will take the user from http://www.earth.toryj.com to this blog. Eventually I will need to change the skins of both applications so that they look like they are part of the same site.
Well, the blog and message board are linked and I set up the redirect. I think that is enough for tonight.
The beginning of this journey has for me been a long time in coming. I was raised in America and have watched a tremendous amount of television over the course of my life and so have been very resistant to many of the ideas I am now beginning to embrace e.g. sustainability.
The movie could conceivably leave one in a place of frustrated impotence, but I have begun brainstorming to see what role I can play in helping to change the paradigm. I will try to share with you my ideas as well as asking for your help with new ideas.
I have a background in design and marketing so some of my first thoughts are in regards to how to further promote a discussion of the environment and the environmental consequences of all of our lifestyles.
Some of the first actions I have taken are to go to the library and check out a book called The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, by Paul Hawken which was mentioned in the documentary. I have not gotten very far yet in the book as after every paragraph I have a flood of thoughts that interrupt my concentration. One of the topics that really scares me is the loss and or mutation of frog populations. On page four he says, “Even more disturbing was the conclusion that these populations are crashing not merely in regions where there are known industrial toxins, but also in pristine wilderness areas where there is abundant food and no known sources of pollution.”
I have to wonder if frogs are the canary in the mine shaft. When the canary dies you get the hell out of the mine shaft. The problem is we can’t leave the mine shaft.
As part of a guerilla marketing campaign I have created a t-shirt with the motto, “Tread lightly and leave a small footprint.” I used an old t-shirt that was starting to get holes in it. The t-shirt had been one of my favorites, but I had was thinking about tossing it out. I created the layout on the computer, but then hand stenciled the t-shirt using a pencil, ruler and permanent marker (these items were already in my possession) while looking at the computer monitor. It is kind of crude, but I accepted this going into the project. It was important for me to do the work myself and not print out a template. This may seem silly and my thoughts at this point may be infantile, but one has to start somewhere.
In regards to the t-shirt, I am now a little self conscious to wear it, but I have begun to evaluate things in this way: What’s more important? My self consciousness and possible embarrassment or the survival of life on planet Earth. It seems to me to be a pretty clear choice.
You may not believe that things are this dire yet, but I am becoming convinced that they are. It is the nature of the beast that we must hit “rock bottom” before we can make a significant change. Some peoples “rock bottom” is death, but I don’t want the entire planet to die so that I can have some plastic piece of crap that I don’t really need and that’s going to break as soon as the warranty expires.
A friend of mine was talking about needing money for security in his old age which is both perfectly logical and typical of the current way of thinking. I would weigh it this way: What is one persons security versus the life of the planet? I am beginning to wonder if it might be better to grow old, perhaps with suffering, and die naturally than to eke out a few more years of comfort at the cost of the future.
I am also still not entirely convinced that we will decimate all life on this planet. I expect that perhaps the insects or microbial life or whatever may survive, but can we justify killing everything else for short term comfort and security?
I know that if I could protect a family member from harm I would do it. If I could protect a stranger from harm I would do it. Can I protect my unborn children from harm? I have to try.
When I was watching “The Corporation,” at times I became very afraid and I really hoped that they would offer a solution at the end of the film. I am not sure that they did so (which may leave many with a feeling of futility), but the movie to me was clearly a call to action such that part of what I am doing is documenting the steps I am taking and the ideas that I am generating to show that there are things that can be done. I am one person, but I am adding my voice to the discussion. Now imagine 6 billion voices joined together and 6 billion minds brainstorming about the long term prosperity of life on earth. This blog is a call to action.
In regards to promoting ideas of sustainability and impact reversal I a have decided to set up and promote a blog and a message board. One of the first things I did yesterday was to email my brother and ask which message board application he uses. I am looking at this issue from a number of angles and approaching it as if I were troubleshooting a computer problem or working on a design project and the first step is always research. On the message board I will be asking a number of questions to which I do not know the answer. Hopefully people will be able to help fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge. I must take a break now and look into setting those items up.
I was able to set up my blog. I would still like to set up the message board tonight, but for now I need to take a short bike ride. One of the changes I am attempting to make is to drive less (I would like to stop driving completely which seems like a huge step) and either ride a bike or walk more. Fortunately, I live in a small town which enables walking and bike riding.
One of the reasons I moved back to Ellensburg was so that I could drive less, but up to this point I have still continued to use my car regularly. A few weeks ago I was giving a friend who doesn’t like to drive a hard time about not liking to drive and she said to me something like, “I have to make sure that when I drive my car it is for something worth the cost of a life.” It took a while for this to register with me.
One crazy/naive idea would be that people live within walking or biking distance of where they work. This may not seem reasonable, but the commute from my bedroom to my home office is about 10 feet depending on how you measure it.
This entry is already getting too long to be viewed on the Web. I think that I may create two versions of each entry. The first will be edited for length to make it easier for web viewing. The second will be a full length version for those interested in reading further.
I have the message board set up. Now I need to link the blog and the bulletin board and set up a redirect that will take the user from http://www.earth.toryj.com to this blog. Eventually I will need to change the skins of both applications so that they look like they are part of the same site.
Well, the blog and message board are linked and I set up the redirect. I think that is enough for tonight.
posted by T-Bone_Jones at 11:56 PM
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