First of all I want to go back to the 1980s/90s when I worked in Austin, Texas in various capacities (ultimately as Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator) for wonderful Jim Hightower and his amazing government “bureaucracy”, the Texas Department of Agriculture. After she came to our department as assistant commissioner, Dr. Susan Rieff labeled me as “Don Quixote”, and I am certain Susan would have eventually gotten rid of me (perhaps with good reason) had Hightower not lost the election against ol’ destructive “simpleton”, Aggie Yell Leader, Rick Perry, shortly after Susan came on board with TDA. https://texaslegacy.org/narrator/susan-rieff/
And by the way, numerous others had, previously in my life, already called me …
o an impractical idealist,
o an idealistic/puristic communist,
o a crazy leftist,
o a luddite
o a dreaming fool,
o a fallen one … “over the deep end”,
o (and actually, “as crazy as Jim Hightower” when I was in graduate school working on my doctorate at the University of Florida … about 15 years before I went to work for Hightower) …
… prior to Susan’s “moniker”.
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Some years ago I was at the birthday party of a dearly loved, well-educated brother of integrity … a gathering with considerably less than thirty (30) family and friends. The amount of plastics and other disposables used and thrown in the trash that day was incredible! (when we could have used easily washable plates, cups, and utensils, etc.)
When I travel into the rural mountainous areas of Honduras and Mexico and various areas in Nicaragua and Brasil, I am amazed (and sickened) at the plastic waste & pollution on the roadsides and lots and waterways. (Of course we use even more of this horrible, toxic pollution in this country!)
Recently I attended a wonderfully informative little meeting (about 15 participants) of Green Latinos in Austin. I was dumbfounded at the amount of plastic trash & food waste generated from the snacks & drinks served at this small meeting!!!
And the disgusting flow of disposable plastic bags continues to recklessly come out from Seguin, Texas’ HEB and other stores day in and day out. Believe it or not, this continues to occur in spite of Don Quixote’s relatively expensive paid pleas in the local news media … to use much more ecologically-sound reusable homemade bags instead of the silly actions void of critical-thinking and resulting in rampant use of the ecologically-destructive disposable plastic bags.
I could rant on & on … and continue to pick on others as well as your truly. And I could do some thorough research and throw all sorts of statistics at you on wasteful energetics and material flows, challenges to appropriate ecological economics, terrible chemical pollution, and detrimental effects on humans, other biota, & dynamic homeostatic symbioses, etc. Moreover, I could illustrate how I too am also very much a player as a member of our sinful, wasteful, plastic, & very artificial populace. But I’ll let you rely on your personal “common sense” from your daily observations & reading, or do the appropriate research yourself.
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I’ll end this ranting for now with the following little story and a plea.
The other evening I was at local meeting of a wonderful social justice organization (which also appropriately does speak out about ecological injustices). There was discussion in this meeting of having enough styrofoam cups and plates for a particular event, purchasing sweet & unsweetened tea in gallon plastic containers, enough water in plastic bottles for another activity, and volunteers to work a “monster truck wars” show.
Sorry folk, but … deplorable hypocrisy!
This needs to be stopped across the public sector, within the not-for-profit organizations, and in the corporate and other for-profit sector of society!
Generally there are many relative easy alternatives to our energetically unsound, wasteful, polluting, unhealthy (for us, other biota, and Eaarth as a whole. … Use washable dinnerware for small events. Bring you own cup for many events. Serve tea made from tap water, and tap water, from large multi-gallon containers, ban monster trucks (and cars) and boycott monster truck events, … ban (many/most) plastics, etc., etc.
There are much better ways of living as “Positive Ethical Applied Community Ecologists” and PEACEmakers … in concert & solidarity with others and with “Nature”.*
As our wonderful old pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Father Pascyn (sp.?) used to repeat over and over when I was a young kid …
“Vhere der’s a vill, der’s a vay!!!”
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*By the way, I have never been around Trump or in his meetings or at his various activities. Nevertheless, I have seen photos/videos of piles of McDonald packaged crap-food at some of his White House events … and I can imagine the amount of terrible waste & toxic pollution this superficial, squandering, demagogue/Hipócrita Número Uno generates. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/the-pure-american-banality-of-donald-trumps-white-house-fast-food-banquet
paul bain martin
(7 Ss / VV->^^
In Solidarity toward Degrowth Communitarianism)
