This is frustrating
Inspired, perhaps, by An Inconvenient Truth (and because I’m supposed to be an environmentalist) to become more knowledgeable about environmental issues, I started scanning the articles on truthout’s environmental page. I came across this article about the ads released prior to the “alarmist” film assuring people that green house gases are good.
Against backdrops of a park, a beach and a forest, one ad celebrates the benefits of greenhouse gas-producing fuels.
“The fuels that produce CO2 (carbon dioxide) have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor, lighting up our lives, allowing us to create and move the things we need, the people we love,” the ad runs. “Now some politicians want to label carbon dioxide a pollutant. Imagine if they succeed - what would our lives be like then?”
I almost want to cry. No sensible person is trying to say that we should give up electriciy and return to walking around dark houses with candle lanterns and riding horses to the next farm to pick up some milk in the morning. We can have the same energy we have from the fuels that produce CO2 (nice way to avoid calling them greenhouse gases, because even that name sounds scary) without damaging the environment. Solar power seems an excellent choice considering that, according to another article, the world’s deserts are gradually becoming inhospitable. If people can’t live there, we might as well use the space to collect solar energy.
But I’m still far from knowing as much as I would need to to make an intelligent post. I only wanted to point out those ads, since they weren’t aired in the Philadelphia region. As much as I don’t want to think about it, I’m sure some people believed the ads and think that there are no alternate sources of power to rely on if we can’t use fossil fuels.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:52am
I can’t even think of anything to say that wouldn’t immediately come to mind for any sane person who hears about this.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:53am
(Heh, I guess commenting isn’t really justified if I in fact have nothing to say.)
June 15th, 2006 at 11:15am
Oh no, commenting at all is always welcome (unless, of course, it’s criticizing me). I was actually wondering if I would get any responses; this is the first time I’ve ever pulled in a quotation from somewhere else like that, and I wasn’t sure how you might respond.