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. --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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