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Red-herring?

By Jolyon | Aug 2, 2007

Is the new bio fuel debate a red-herring? It feels to me as if the new bio-fuel initiative from Gull – along with recycling and much of what goes on trying to ‘green’ the church – is like mopping up the water on the floor to try to prevent the bath overflowing. Don’t get me wrong, it is good to mop the water up on the floor; otherwise, the hallway will also flood and the carpet will be ruined. The best we can hope for seems to be that the mopping up process is so effective that the red-herring is left flopping around dieing on the linoleum, then we might realise something else must be done. However, I suspect what will happen is that the floor boards will eventually rot and the cast iron bath tub is going to fall on the low income family struggling to live in the apartment below. If that happens, first aid and consolation will be hugely important, but how much time do you spend on first aid, and how much trying to turn off the tap?

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Ant
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm

But if you are living in the penthouse, wouldn’t you be able to afford to fix the leak/turn off the tap? Don’t you care that your $5000 bath is going to disappear? And aren’t we much more prone to give first aid than avoid accidents because it costs less, or at least, it seems to, and ultimately, through the gift of mortality, becomes someone else’s problem.

I think Gull are very wise to get ahead of the game. Let’s face it Jolyon, the low income family has enough on its plate most of the time (metaphorically) without the hassle of climate change – who’s got the time/energy? And the middle classes make themselves feel better by ‘doing their bit’ – or not – but the tap keeps on pouring out water….
We are fat, lazy, and addicted to a political economy so hell bent on maximising our happiness, but one at the same time that has lost any strong social morality, and one which seems to equate, by default, consumption with happiness. And why not? It does feel nice to consume…it’s flattering to us…tells us we are okay. And if those things don’t, who will?!

So why don’t we just get on and live it large, and find ways of ensuring that ‘the poor’ can aspire to / achieve the same kind of living (or not)? Or in other words, let’s catch more red herrings and attend Red Cross regularly to ensure that someone, somewhere, knows how to do first aid.

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