Re: EXCELLENT one - Well worth reading, encapulates things beautifully nm Archived Message
Posted by Ian M on July 1, 2019, 9:52 pm, in reply to "EXCELLENT one - Well worth reading, encapulates things beautifully nm"
'[Russia's] icebreakers are opening new paths for both people and goods. Russian space rockets are second to none, and its passenger airplanes are back in the skies. Nuclear and other power plants are helping to supply energy to many countries, all over the world.' Sorry but this does not square with his assertion that 'the environment is improving'. Surprised he's such a technophile, esp the apparently un-ironic 'at least Europe is still producing some decent watches, shoes, cars and fragrances'. Apparently he's in love with 'industry' and 'production' and has no critique of what gets produced or why, and what societal trajectory it puts us on. Opening up the arctic for 'people and goods', really? More globalisation, more extractive industry, more high-impact tourism and unnecessary transport pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere (yes, electric cars still emit carbon) ... he sounds like a breathless cheerleader for one of Stalin's five year plans. I don't believe that they're benignly 'working for people, not just for business' or that they're meaningfully different from his description of the USA as 'a country built on greed, plunder and selfishness'. That's practically the definition of a nation-state, nominally socialist or otherwise, no? Ordinary people may have seen an improvement in the quality of their lives over the last couple of decades but that doesn't make industrial civilisation any more sustainable or desirable at the end of the day IMHO. Rant over, sorry if I rained on anybody's parade! I
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