Polish vote on controversial road - BBC

[Eugene]

Last Updated: Friday, 23 February 2007, 13:44 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6389331.stm">Polish vote on controversial road

Poland will hold a referendum in its north-eastern region on whether
to build a controversial road through an environmentally protected area.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the dispute between the government
and environmentalists had become a "national problem".

The European Union has warned Poland not to build the road through the
Rospuda Valley.

The area of almost untouched peat bogs and woods borders on Lithuania.

-snip-

The project to build a trans-European highway through the area predates
Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6389331.stm

[XemaSab]

1. I wonder if this is a common problem:

the gap in infrastructure development between former Soviet bloc and western bloc countries in the EU.

[Nihil]

2. The common problem ...

... is the gap between the environmentally-aware people and the profit-greedy ones.
The "infrastructure development" per se is trivial but the accent comes because
one (or more) parties decide there is a significant profit to be made from the
project. This means that the real world takes second place to the money in one's
pocket ...

[XemaSab]

3. You don't think there hypocracy here?

I'm reminded of the way people in the US are all concerned about saving the rainforest when we already chopped all our forests down. :shrug:

[Nihil]

4. There is some degree of hypocrisy I agree but not all ...

Coming from a country that chopped down most of its old-growth forest for
petty imperial reasons five hundred years ago, I agree that the people who
have already decimated their own forests should be a trifle more humble.

At the same time, they should also be evangelical in the sense that they
should have learned from the mistakes of their forefathers and be desperate
to teach others not to make the same stupid errors in turn.

Where is the global gain from allowing everyone to make exactly the same
dumb f*ck-ups year after year?

If we are to be a truly global society, a true brotherhood of humanity,
then surely we have a duty to help others to learn from our mistakes?