File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9712, message 125


Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 09:54:47 -0500
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Green Authoritarians


Russell Pearson:

>One of the big problems with greens is that they cannot resist attempting
>to circumscribe other people's behaviour in the name of the good of the
>planet. This can take a nasty turn such as enforced sterilisation, but in
>Louis' case it takes a more meddling form. What bare arsed cheek Louis, to
>tell people to stop driving their 4WD cars! 

Louis Proyect:
Bare arsed cheek? This is not about personal freedom. This is about the
relationship between nature and society under capitalism. The current
set-up that allows people to buy such vehicles is the availability of cheap
fuel. This is a function of class relations. Imperialism provides access to
such cheap fuel. That is what the Gulf War was about. That is what WWII was
about to a large extent: access to petroleum. Japan attacked Pearl Harbon
in response to an oil embargo declared by FDR. The United States supports
Chevron Oil in Nigeria because this American oil company can supply
petroleum in vast quantities without paying any attention to the
environment or providing union wages to Nigerian workers. When people in
Ogoniland decided that their livelihoods mattered more than the
recreational needs of people living in imperialist nations, they got shot
down in cold blood. Ken Saro-Wira became their leader. When he was arrested
and sentenced to death, the entire world rallied to his defense. With some
exceptions: Shell Oil, an American black senator from Illinois whose
husband has ties to the Nigerian colonels and Living Marxism.

And what a grand future your
>ecosocialism will be- a brave new world of wholesome/wholemeal workers
>trundling to work in their non carbon emitting buses.
>Good to know however, that faced with the two alternatives only what George
>Orwell dubbed as the sandal wearing socialists, will opt for the latter.
>But god help the rest of us if these harbingers of doom ever get a chance
>to regulate our lives in these ways. Louis and his green authoritarians
>must be resisted at every level!
>

You clearly have no understanding of the underlying scientific objection to
automobiles and so I am not sure whether this will matter to you, but the
following information from the Union of Concerned Scientists should be
persuasive to all normal people with a functioning brain:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Cars and light trucks continue to be the largest source of urban air
pollution: driving has doubled in the past 25 years, and car manufacturers
are taking advantage of technical loopholes in emission-control regulations. 

One in four Americans now breathes unhealthy air. Air pollution not only
contributes to chronic respiratory illnesses such as asthma, but, according
to the US Environmental Protection Agency, it also hastens the deaths of
over 64,000 Americans per year. The acidic air pollutants from motor
vehicles also damage agricultural crops at a cost of $2 billion to $3
billion annually, as well as damaging buildings and other materials. 

The emissions responsible for urban air pollution (smog, acid rain, and
haze) -- called "criteria air pollutants" -- are regulated by air quality
standards in federal and California state law. These pollutants include
reactive organic gases, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, small
particulate matter, and oxides of sulfur. 

Motor vehicles are also responsible for emissions of "air toxics," both at
the tailpipe and during the production and marketing of gasoline. Air
toxics are either confirmed or suspected human carcinogens. The major air
toxics from motor vehicles are benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, and
acetaldehyde. 

An important strategy to address the problem of urban air pollution is
development of zero-emission vehicles -- cars and other motor vehicles that
emit practically no criteria air pollutants or air toxics.

Water Pollution

Water pollution associated with gasoline vehicles includes 

--groundwater contamination from underground gasoline storage tanks
--runoff of vehicle engine oil and fuel
--marine oil spills 

A study by the US Office of Technology Assessment estimated that cleaning
up leaking underground storage tanks may cost the United States as much as
$32 billion over the next 10 to 20 years. Since cars use 40 percent of
tank-stored petroleum, their share of the cleanup cost amounts to $640
million per year over 20 years.

Storm water runoff, called "non-point-source" water pollution, comes from
cars and other pollution sources that are not at a fixed location. Such
pollution is collected on pavement and is then carried to streams and
lakes, as well as storm sewers, whenever the pavement is wet and water
drains across it. Some runoff pollution is generated by tire and brake
wear, but much comes from oil, gas, antifreeze, and other chemical runoff.

Marine oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska are just the tip
of the iceberg; thousands of spills are reported annually.

 






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