Well, not this time, per se. A mine is going to open up in the Gobi Dessert. Apparently things like coal and copper have been found and people are hurrying in to dig it out. On one hand, I am really excited. This will bring Mongolia further along the developing world stage, open their economy up more, and bring them more attention. On the other hand I am a bit sad. There are dinosaur bones in the Gobi Dessert, the people might lose a little of their rich culture, and here we go again digging into the earth for resources that can't be replaced or replaced easily.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a hard core environmentalist or even an environmentalist. I do believe there are things that we need to survive. I'm not perfect, I use things like energy, gas, and oil and sometimes take them for granted. Those are things that everyone uses, even the zealot tree huggers. Trust me there is something they are using that came from the planet whether they like it or not. If you've ever seen the movie Armageddon there is a scene at the beginning where Bruce Willis is launching golf balls off his oil rig at the people protesting drilling. Well, how do you think they got out to his rig? They used a boat and what does a boat take, gasoline. How do you get gasoline. Oil. Kind of hypocritical huh? But then everyone is a bit of a hypocrite.
Anyway, all that aside, I can be excited for the Mongolian people and sad for the environment all I want but my opinion on the subject doesn't really matter. Why? Because I don't live there. It's not my country and there therefore it isn't really any of my business and I'm certainly not going to stick my nose into it and try to tell Mongolia what they can and cannot do.
Should we, as a species gather together to try and protect our planet? Sure. Are we? No. Frankly most people don't care. Which really kind of boggles my mind. We want to meddle in peoples affairs and stick our noses in their business, police them, tell them they have to do it this way or that way, but we can't take time to care about Pokey the Panda or how much shit we are dumping into the water supply.
It really is sad. As a species, we've dug ourselves into a hole we can't seem to get out of. People need cars to get to jobs because it's just not practical to hitch a horse to a wagon and drive there. There's no way we could bring it all to a screeching halt without causing pandemonium.
ReplyDeleteAlternative energy sources are becoming more feasible by the day though, and I just wish those who have such a huge financial investment in oil would accept that they can't keep doing what they're doing and hope for life to continue on this planet without dire consequences.
My ex has done a lot of religious and political research and he's drawn the personal conclusion that they're deliberately wrecking the planet to 'force' Jesus to come and intervene, and then think they've done a service to God. I don't know about all that, but as crazy as life is here I wouldn't totally discount it either. Who can why anyone does anything?
I have heard about some of the alternative 'cleaner' sources for energy. I am a fan of solar power and energy saving electronics. Also, I learned that if you get an energy saving power strip and turn it off, everything that's plugged into it, won't draw energy. But you'd have to make sure that you don't need everything that you've plugged into it.
ReplyDeleteI do not approve of the wind farms. For instance, they are bird blenders. Another reason is that there is a wind farm out near Windfield Ks that my Dad saw. You'd think that would be a great place to put one, especially considering that the southern Kansas plains down't have mountains or even big hills to contend with. In fact the only thing the wind has to block are tree walls farmers plant but those are spread out and wouldn't make a difference. However, every single time my Dad has driven down that way for work, which is a lot, and on very windy days (when is it not windy in KS?) the damned things weren't even on. So, really it was a pointless waste of money.
Conspiracy theories are fun and perhaps there are some real crazies out there who secretly want that, but over all? I'm not sure I believe that. Then again who knows.