[MD] Distinguishing Levels (Individual level)

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Case]
There is a lot of interesting stuff going on out there. Google Earth Ships.
These are more or less self-contained homes. They are like terrariums for
people. There are also alternative construction techniques out there from
Styrofoam and concrete sandwiched together for walls, to my favorite; building
houses out of bails of hay.

[Arlo]
All of which I'm sure are steps in the right direction. Better insulation, less
energy consumption. Better consumer practices, less garbination. I don't mean
to paint a hopelessly dim picture. We've made a lot of progress (in my local
experience) with recycling and clean up. The "adopt a highway" initiative in PA
has resulted in a lot of pollution control. But there is more to be done. Our
landfills are overflowing and large metropolises seek more and more valleys and
mines to fill with garbage and sewage. Land that we could all hike on. And fish
on. Ultimately, the solution to over-garbination is not disposal, but reduction
and recycling.   But the problems must continually be met, not avoided. Just
because we can "magically" ship our garbage out of sight, does not make it "not
a concern".

[Case]
There are solar panels and windmills that hook up to the electrical grid and
your sell electricity when they are working and buy it back when they down.
Theoretically you could over produce and the electric company would owe you
money every month.

[Arlo]
Which is why it is being resisted.

[Case]
There are all kinds of thing going on but since the government is not interested
and some people think we are swimming in oil I guess not much it going to
happen. I am freemarketeer enough to know that there has to be an economic
incentive to make it work. 

[Arlo]
Exactly. There is money in energy for sale. There is no money in solar.

[Case]
But incentives can come from government expense for its own needs and/or tax
incentives for spending in these areas or it can come because all of a sudden
it cost $50 to tank up. Oh wait that just happened.

[Arlo]
I don't think we'll see any real changes in consumer behavior until gas hits $5
a gallon. And it will. Until then, we'll bitch. But just like with voting, we
are a very apathetic people. Action is a bother. Changing habituated practice
is troublesome. 

[Case]
I have mentioned my ongoing depression over the space program to Ian but the
fact the not only has the government not created incentive for alternative
energies we actually provided disincentives by keeping oil prices low and by
not taxing them in accordance with good public policy.

[Arlo]
I'm not sure if taxation is the answer. Changing the valuative practices through
expanding the dialogue certainly is. As I've said before, the mercantilistic
language we've adopted is a source of the problem. What people have to realize
when they buy ANYTHING is that they acquire more than the "product", but also
the mode of production, labor practices, environmental impact, and policy.

[Case]
I doubt if you will see anything new in this movie but it is well done and great
presentation.

[Arlo]
Gore wants me to worry about a coming cataclysm. I am more worried about the
quality of my environment today. I don't want to clean emissions to shave a few
decades of the next ice age. I want to clean emissions because my town is
getting hazy with all increases in cars and people. And it makes the air I
breathe today suck. I want clean rivers and streams so I can go fishing and
(gasp!) actually eat the fish I catch. I want my daughter to be able to drink
from a stream without fear of ingesting dye, carcinogenic chemicals or any sort
of sickening waste pumped into it.

[Case]
You know I naively thought I was getting somewhere with Platt on that score:
This idea that we are or could be the planetary immune system. We could stop
the big rocks. We could colonize other worlds. We could act with common
purpose. I think it strikes a universal chord. But he must have misunderstood.
I know I did.

[Arlo]
The fundamentalist undertones of the conservative party demand a "miner"
metaphor with regard to the earth, whereas other Christian religious readings
would veer towards a "gardener" metaphor (which is certainly where Buddhism and
many Native American religions treaded). As such, whenever you speak AS a
gardener, you will be the enemy. Only when you speak as a miner, in the voice
of the Party, will Platt hear.

But Platt is a caricature of Party Jesterness. Rarely do you meet someone so
devoted and unquestioningly obedient to the Party. Many conservatives I know
personally, as hunters, fishermen and fellow hikers, are as concerned about the
quality of the environment as liberals I know. Its not a us-them battle. Which
is why I've said from day one, the idiotic clinging to Party Axiomatic thinking
does nothing but distract from real issues.