Taming the Dragon

Earth Day, April 22, 2008

On Earth Day I contemplated a defense of the consumer.

There once was a cruise ship powered by a nasty dragon. While providing steam to drive the ship, he also demanded a daily sacrifice of a passenger. He preferred young women.

The people on the ship were entirely dependent upon the dragon as he was the engine of their mobility (and he cooked their food), but as they cruised it became obvious that the dragon's antics were a serious impediment to, not only the continued success of the ship, but to their very survival. What to do? Abandoning the ship meant swimming in the shark infested ocean; while killing the dragon meant starving on a useless tub.

That ship is our economy and the dragon is Industry which demands that we look the other way as it extracts a bloody toll for economic growth. As consumers, we need to take responsibility for the consequences of our choices, but too often we are used as scapegoats and sacrifice while Industry gets a wink.

A recent front page Canadian newspaper article was an excellent example: “Are You a Water Waster?” This article failed to point out that Canada has a majority of the world's fresh water, but did admit that water shortages were only “in certain parts of the country.” Therefore, all Canadians need to use less “in small ways to ensure future generations have clean water to drink.”

And that is false. Reducing our personal water consumption is NOT the solution to future CLEAN water. The consumer is not the Water Waster Monster. We are legitimate water users, though perhaps we use too much as compared to the rest of the world. The real Water Waster of clean water is Industry, as industrial practices waste water by, not only destroying the quality, but wasting a much greater quantity than it uses, by polluting.

...

It is in one of those parts of the country where there is a real threat of running short that the Tar Sand Industry wastes water by taking 2 barrels for every barrel of oil produced. The water is wasted because the “settling ponds” won't settle for a hundred years and the water cannot be reused by the industry. They have created the world's largest dam to hold back the poisoned water: an environmental disaster waiting to happen with mere sand separating this from the Athabasca River, an important source of Alberta's clean drinking water.

More importantly, water tests done across North America found almost all samples -including well and creek water- to be contaminated with industrial chemicals such as a popular gasoline additive. In fact ALL samples in the US were polluted; there was no unpolluted clean drinking water found in America outside of a bottle. A situation where the dragon has been allowed to defecate his poisonous wastes anywhere on the ship he pleased. The passengers tiptoe around the steaming piles pretending they are not there. No one knows how to clean up.

Likewise ALL blood samples across North America show contamination by fire retardants and plasticizers (that new car smell) and other industrial chemicals. In fact a recent study in Ontario showed that the blood of politicians had higher concentrations of industrial pollutants than did the greater public. Too many rides in too many new limos, perhaps?