It's Not That The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions - The Problem Is That It's Paved

[hatrack]

EDIT

Obviously, this is a very good thing … for the world's cultures and species, other than our own. After all, in the name of economic growth we have ripped minerals from the Earth, often bringing down mountains in the process; we have harvested nearly all the old-growth timber on the continent, replacing thousand-year-old giants with neatly ordered plantations of tiny trees; we have hunted species to the point of extinction; we have driven livestock across every almost acre of the continent, baring hillsides and engendering massive erosion; we have plowed large landscapes, transforming fertile soil into sterile, lifeless dirt; we have burned ecosystems and, perhaps more importantly, we have extinguished naturally occurring fires; we have spewed pollution and dumped garbage, thereby dirtying our air, fouling our water, and contributing greatly to the warming of the planet; we have paved thousands of acres to facilitate our movement and, in the process, have disrupted the movements of thousands of species.

As I wrote in one of my recent books, the problem is not that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions -- it's that the road to Hell is paved. We have, to the maximum possible extent allowed by our intellect and never-ending desire, consumed the planet and therefore traded in tomorrow for today. And we keep making these choices, every day, choosing dams over salmon, oil over whales, cars over polar bears, death over life.

And when I say we keep making these choices, I do not mean you and me -- we have essentially nothing to do with it -- I mean the politicians and CEOs who run this country. They are killing the planet and, when they notice the screams, they turn up the volume on Fox News. Meanwhile, most Americans took the blue pill without really thinking about the consequences. In the wake of these endless insults to our only home, perhaps the biggest surprise is that so many native species have persisted, thus
allowing for our continued use and enjoyment.

When I tell people about Peak Oil, the immediate response is something like, "C'mon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is setting records; the economy looks great." Uh-huh. Never mind the asset bubble built by shaky investments. Never mind the manipulation of the money supply by the Federal Reserve Bank since the Fed's monetary policy was removed from public view by Ben Bernanke. Never mind that the Dow, which is based on a whopping 30 companies, is in free-fall when measured against any metric except the U.S. dollar, which is falling even faster. Never mind that serious stock-market investors represent a slim minority of the world's populace. Ignore all that, and think about this: When you jump off a 100-story building, everything seems fine for a while. In fact, the view just keeps getting more clear as you get closer to the ground. What could possibly go wrong?

EDIT

http://www.energybulletin.net/34030.html

[redqueen]

1. Good God

The actual title to that essay... wow. I'm glad it contrasts as it does with the end of the piece.

Good stuff, as always, hatrack. Thanks for posting it here.

[OneBlueSky]

2. the author's "ten steps that need to be taken NOW" . . . from James Kuntsler, apparently . . .

I'd definitely vote for any candidate who made this "to-do" list his or her platform . . . this is the kind of global thinking that is so lacking in our political discourse, imo . . .

1. Expand our horizons beyond the question of how we will run our cars by means other than gasoline.

2. We must produce food differently.

3. We must inhabit the terrain differently.

4. We must move people and things differently.

5. We need to transform retail trade.

6. We have to start making things again.

7. We need artists again.

8. We must reorganize the educational system.

9. Our medical system must be completely reorganized.

10. Our entire socio-economic and political system will become much more local.

[Nihil]

3. That last bit sums it up quite nicely doesn't it?

> When you jump off a 100-story building, everything seems fine for a while.
> In fact, the view just keeps getting more clear as you get closer to the
> ground. What could possibly go wrong?

It's a beautiful analogy. Sadly.