Thanks! I'd really like to do a podcast. I enjoyed it before. I am certainly a fan of the form, and get most of my news that way. I'm glad you appreciate my insights on plants. I definitely appreciate your work too -- there's such a need for biophilic voices pushing back against the "green energy" narrative.
Thanks for this. Your focus in 2024 is refreshing and a valuable perspective. It’s so nice to hear someone else espouse reducing consumption to deal with our environmental issues instead of building fields of solar panels that can be destroyed by hail and aren’t recyclable not to mention the mining that has to go into components for electric vehicles. If those of us in the west would be satisfied without the next iPhone that would likely go a long way to making some progress. Cheers for 2024!
You're welcome! I feel like reducing consumption was a bigger part of the the discussion at one time, but that it's slowly and steadily been pushed out. A friend made the observation that over the last decade, environmentalism has been reduced to the topic of climate, and climate concerns have been reduced to carbon emissions. Hence the logic of electric vehicles, because we're not looking at anything other than tailpipe emissions. Because yes all the mining that goes into components is a really big deal, and on top of being an environmental disaster, involves child slave labor. Ugh. Also, urbanists can provide a list of what's wrong with cars besides emissions and it's a serious list.
As for what we are satisfied with or not in the west, I do think that most of our desires are manufactured by marketing. This includes our ideas about social status as linked to "conspicuous consumption" (a term coined by Thorstein Veblen, the Norwegian economist). It's intriguing to imagine the powers of mass marketing turned to shaping thriftiness and simplicity, but at the same time, I'd rather see no forces of mass marketing.
Anyway thanks for the comment, and cheers to you too!
Hooray! I am really looking forward to your explorations of these two (almost always oversimplified) narratives over the next several months. Bringing nuance to green issues is a gift you hold, and a fairly rare one, in my view. I am so pleased to have found your work here.
I hope you do a podcast, it's a good way to get information out and I appreciate your insights on plants and more.
Thanks! I'd really like to do a podcast. I enjoyed it before. I am certainly a fan of the form, and get most of my news that way. I'm glad you appreciate my insights on plants. I definitely appreciate your work too -- there's such a need for biophilic voices pushing back against the "green energy" narrative.
Thanks for this. Your focus in 2024 is refreshing and a valuable perspective. It’s so nice to hear someone else espouse reducing consumption to deal with our environmental issues instead of building fields of solar panels that can be destroyed by hail and aren’t recyclable not to mention the mining that has to go into components for electric vehicles. If those of us in the west would be satisfied without the next iPhone that would likely go a long way to making some progress. Cheers for 2024!
You're welcome! I feel like reducing consumption was a bigger part of the the discussion at one time, but that it's slowly and steadily been pushed out. A friend made the observation that over the last decade, environmentalism has been reduced to the topic of climate, and climate concerns have been reduced to carbon emissions. Hence the logic of electric vehicles, because we're not looking at anything other than tailpipe emissions. Because yes all the mining that goes into components is a really big deal, and on top of being an environmental disaster, involves child slave labor. Ugh. Also, urbanists can provide a list of what's wrong with cars besides emissions and it's a serious list.
As for what we are satisfied with or not in the west, I do think that most of our desires are manufactured by marketing. This includes our ideas about social status as linked to "conspicuous consumption" (a term coined by Thorstein Veblen, the Norwegian economist). It's intriguing to imagine the powers of mass marketing turned to shaping thriftiness and simplicity, but at the same time, I'd rather see no forces of mass marketing.
Anyway thanks for the comment, and cheers to you too!
I completely agree. I like to remind people there were three R’s at one time - we seem to have forgotten the Reduce and Reuse.
I am looking forward to your future posts :)
Yes exactly, I like to remind people of that too!
Hooray! I am really looking forward to your explorations of these two (almost always oversimplified) narratives over the next several months. Bringing nuance to green issues is a gift you hold, and a fairly rare one, in my view. I am so pleased to have found your work here.
I love what you write, Kollibri. Will share as far and wide as I can!
Thanks, Joanna! It's mutual!