Long before we are extinguished by global food shortages or raised sea levels, I predict, we are fated to die of boredom, struck down in our prime by the devastating virus 0157eco-smugness. Doctors will be powerless to stop as the bug invades our minds, causing nervous paralysis leading to eventual seizure. We are doomed, for sure, to terminal ennui brought on by environmental righteousness.
This is the terrible paradox of the environmental movement. The paradox that, if society proceeds down the true path of eco-purity, we may well save the planet; but will simultaneously discover that life is too dull to be worth living on it any more. Women in particular, I fear, will find themselves returned to the Dark Ages.
How can it be otherwise? No skiing, no cars, no travel, no exotic foods, no extravagance, no Hollywood, no wasteful labour-saving devices, no clothes made of anything but recycled plastics and hemp. No more Luxx magazine filled with beautifully engineered, sleek, accessory porn. In their place we will chant a litany of carbon offset, recycling and composting, the buttresses of a new religion that makes radical Islam resemble Methodism.
Continue reading Melanie Reid’s Times article: A world of hemp lingerie? No thanks
Women will be returned to the Dark Ages if the eco-fundamentalists end up having their way
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Happy Earth Day to those who celebrate it–everyone trying to destroy the economies of the West.
Is this a serious post? Who are these women? Woody’s multiple wives? A mass suicide of all these sad individuals who bemoan anything positive about making the world a better place for all would not be such a bad thing.
Knickers made of hemp, hmmm… Could provide something to smoke after sex for many. Perhaps it is the source of nutty ideas.
Jennifer B,
Green austerity would not make the world a better place for all. It would make it a lot worse for some, myself included.
I have no wish to ride a bike to the nearest store (70 km return) for my groceries, and certainly not to the nearest supermarket, (210 km return). I know, if I don’t like it, leave the bush. But what about my indigenous neighbours? They’ve found out that huntin’n’gatherin’ is much quicker down a supermarket aisle. This allows them, like me, time to do other things.
Melanie Reid is right. Green EcoFundamentalism is time consuming. It will be women’s time that gets eaten.
Speaking of hemp clothing.
I already have an extensive collection of hemp cloth made clothing. It is great stuff, very soft and durable. Great in both summer and winter.
what’s wrong with silk undies?
What a load of ill-considered, whiney, moany nonsense.
If you think the meaning of life and happiness is to be found in a Luxx magazine, you are already dead.
Very well said Mr. T. Btw , the ideals that young women have to look up to, make young people stressed and ill. Suicide rates among young people are scoring despite all the welfare when young people have to compete with airbrushed ” ideals” in glossy magazines.
BTW, there are eco-friendly haute couture, designers like Stella Mc Carthy and Kathrine Hamnett ( the woman behind eco-bags and Save the whales t-shirts”.
Personally I’m living a life style called ” downscaling”, meaning a less streeful life and less material thingies. And btw it’s not your fancy clothes or lingerie that make you beautiful.
Keep em barefoot and pregnant and the soviet style dress of a hessian bag tied in the middle for Comrade peasant in the Gulag.
Good for the environment, forget maternity leave they should learn to give birth in the middle of the night so they can get up for work in the fields in the morning.
Seriously I have no problem with people doing what they want to do with their life and their stuff, my problem is when eco nazis tell me what to do with my life and my stuff because they arrogantly know better than me, without giving me a say. That’s called communism and nazism and totalitarianism.
Mr T if you think you have the right to tell people what they should or should not do, pull your badge and your gun. You are the whinger and the moaner and the belittler.
One of my favorite quotes is : ” A man is rich when he doesn’t crave for material thingies”.
And shop’oholics have low self esteem , that’s why they shop too much , according to a study.
And methinks as well it’s scary that the shopping mall is THE place for your leisure time. Note I’m not a commie!!!!
With that reply I guess we all know Bruce Die Hard (soon please) Willis reads Luxx magazine. Perhaps happiness is a warm gun. It certaily doesn’t come from glossy magazines telling you what you should do in order to fit in with the other vacuous masses.
What’s wrong with everybody wearing long green grass skirts?
Some folk have no imagination hey
At one time I was quite concerned as to whether our increasing affluence would adversely affect the kids. But we soon solved that problem by taking out a hideous mortgage on an underperforming asset. The kids now know the most important lesson for anyone who might inherit some serious money. How to be happy without it.
That modern environmentalism is decidely unlike melanie’s ideas of it should be absurdly obvious from the mere existence of a product like hemp and recycled rubber lingerie. How is the possibility of buying a product like this (when the conventional types of lingerie are still available) going to diminish fun? Its going to add to fun/ diversity/ options/ kinkiness.
Contemporary environmental thinking is big, super commercial business*, its not simply about frugality. ITs about doing MORE with less, not just about doing less.
PS. I love how everyone assumes that hemp undies are going to be super uncomfortable, but as a regular wearer of recycled rubber and hemp lingerie, I assure you that it is very comfortable and everyone should own several pairs. . . . am i writing instead of thinking to myself again?
Ian the wise
If all the speculative cash in the world went in to productive assets, I wonder if anyone would need to debate the trade off between environment and ‘economy’. I think not.
ps: oil scarcity will force you onto the bike, well before an emissions price does so don’t blame the ‘eco-freaks’ for telling you so
Re oil scarcity – see Kurt Jonannsen’s Mulga Express. A possible backstop for some of us with trees.
With mention of quality of life and bikes I was reminded of a previous comment from Motty:
at
http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001478.html
on
July 12, 2006
Bicycle Beats Peak Oil: Ian Mott
“At $2/litre I will fix my bicycle, I will get more exercise, I will lose weight, I will get fitter, I will live longer, I will get more things done, I will sleep better, I will notice more things as I pass them by, I will meet more people, I will be more relaxed and less grumpy, I will take more pleasure in my family as we ride together and, who knows, I may even get lucky.”
…commented Ian Mott at yesterday’s blog post on peak oil.
And he continued,
“When I set out in 1979 to ride a bicycle from Singapore to Bangkok, bicycles had played only minor roles in my life before then. It took me three days to get up to 150km each day and a week for it to become routine. But the key to the adjustment was not fitness, but rather, all in the mind.
At some point I stopped focussing on how big the task was and simply headed off to the local store for breakfast. And instead of going back home I went the same distance further on. I did the same at morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner and I did the same the next day and the next.
I ate at roadside stalls and was welcomed into humble shacks, I slept on moonlit beaches and rubber plantations, I washed in creeks and rewarded myself with hot showers and a comfy bed from time to time. In the heat of tropical day and outrageous humidity, I provided my very own 15km/hour breeze to caress my temples. My lips were chaffed, my neck was sunburnt and my ass felt every single pothole.
But there was never a single moment when I did not feel 100% alive.”
Cycling is ace, I bought a road bike in late 2004 and ride to work four days a week. Gets you fit and is MUCH cheaper. Cost me just under $5 a day on the bus, bike cost $1200, so after 3 years it’s easily paid for itself.
Been watching the numbers of cyclists increase sharply over the last two years, so I think the idea is spreading.
Vive La Cycle!
Clearly, some people put little value on their time. If only Al Gore would take bicycles to each of his speaking engagements.
The price of petrol has hit $1.50/litre but the bicycle remains unfixed, I am still overweight, I remain grumpy and the less said about getting lucky, the better. I guess that means I retain lots of potential energy but expend less kinetic energy?
Bruce,
I loved your gig on Letterman!
Mark, that was great. If you liked the movie “Grease,” then you’ll like Al Gore’s version.
So I was right Ian 🙂
Usually it is the denialists accusing the AGW believers of Henny Penny cries…
“Contemporary environmental thinking is big, super commercial business*, its not simply about frugality. ITs about doing MORE with less, not just about doing less.” – Steve
Yes Steve, but some here are comfortable fat cats with no imagination. There is no middle ground – to these people their very livelihoods and plasma screens are threatened.
That is what really worries us, Steve. Your “Contemporary environmental thinking” and its “big, super commercial business” is being run by the kind of turkeys that can turn a big business into a small one in very short order.
In fact, most of them have never added much of value to anything they have been associated with. They are nothing but ‘rent seekers’ and spivs on the make.