[Coral-List] Sexy scientists

Sun Apr 16 12:11:01 EDT 2006

   That  reminds  me  of the activists in the seventies going around with
   cans of spray paint to spray on furs being worn at fancy events. Makes
   you wonder if similar measures might not help against SUVs, especially
   since  an  important part of the SUV fashion seems to be inspired by a
   misguided  sense  of  safety  inside  these  huge  and  heavy vehicles
   (perhaps  caused  by  all  these bodyguards and federal agencies using
   SUVs?), causing SUV traffic jams at start and finish of school hours.
   But  seriously,  what  is  really needed against global warming is not
   just  a  mindset  change.  People  have  been  behaving  stupidly  and
   irresponsibly  forever,  mostly  willfully  and  knowingly so, despite
   knowing better. Waiting for them to stop, hoping they will see (learn)
   the  error  of  their  ways  is  ostrich  policy. What is  needed is a
   serious  effort  from  responsible  and rational governments to impose
   strict  regulations against irresponsible fuel use, production of fuel
   inefficient  cars, and restrictions on the countries' industries; i.e.
   an  acknowledgement  by (the) States of the problem and prioritization
   of  solving  it;  not denial and irrational belief that people (not to
   mention  corporations)  will  do the right thing on their own, seen in
   some countries.
   But  even  if  this were to happen, the reefs are not going to survive
   without  zero  (nutrient)  discharge policies on all coral reef coasts
   and a complete stop to further development of coasts adjacent to coral
   reefs,   not   to  mention  strict  and  conservative  reef  fisheries
   management,  and  erosion  control  and  pollution  control everywhere
   because it will eventually end up on the reefs.
   That  is  what  we should all be lobbying for with every effort we can
   muster.
   Of  course,  for  our  few remaning hours of leisure time, painting is
   reputed  to  be  therapeutic,  it shouldn't matter whether it is spray
   paint or regular paint.
   Paul Hoetjes
   Adriana Salazar wrote:

/usr/bin/arc: /usr/bin/arc

  Being reading some of the posts on resilience and what followed - sexy scient
ists included. So, my thoughts on the matter. Warning: this might been said by 
someone else before... I haven't read all messages.

  To add to the impossible task we already have.

  Think about Fashion. It was fashionable to wear fur, and then it came this fa
mous add of Briggite Bardot or some other sexy famous actress (Hey! I can't rem
ember, it was before my time), with a lovely seal pup. And the add was against 
wearing furs, `cause all those nice puppies were getting killed (along with a l
ot other animals, going fast to extinction). So, that fashion was replaced for 
the wear-fake-furs-show-you-care fashion.

  White bread was on fashion; "black" bread was cheaper. Now, whole grain bread
, and seven-grains bread and the like are more expensive than white bread. Its 
fashionable to be "healthy". Fair skinned was beauty - now, a "healthy" tan is 
what is fashionable (despite the fact that it gets you skin cancer).

  Fashion is related to status. High status people were white (they did not wor
k on the sun all day), eat white bread (white was better than black, obviously,
 because blacks and browns were slaves and servants, whites were owners), and c
overed themselves in furs (the nicer the fur, the more expensive it was = highe
r status).

  Driving a SUV is fashionable. People of the first world drive SUV's, while us
, poor jerks living in the border (Mex-US) drive second hand "gabacho" cars (us
ed cars from USA, way cheaper than trying to get yourself a new car). So, every
one dreams of buying a new SUV (have you seen the 2006 RAV4 by toyota? Have you
 any idea how much a new one costs in Mexico?). And those that have the money d
rive those cars (just watch the news, the high level politicians are followed b
y bodyguards on big SUV's , regardless the fact that they only drive around in 
the city, and that there is only two or at most three body guards on each car -
 they could fit on a pointer city, couldn't they?).

  So, it is a question of fashion, and fashion is related to status, and status
 is related to power and money (and fame), and the first world has most of thos
e that that are powerful, rich, and famous.

  Some people out there study fashions. Perhaps we should ask them how to make 
more fashionable those habits that do the less damage to environments. But I do
n't see car pooling becoming fashionable because I don't see high level politic
ians or entrepreneurs sharing a same car, not even if it's a limo. Actors and a
ctresses, some of them are crazy, so you might get them to do it. 

  So, increasing awareness is all right, but it should be awareness about more 
than just environment; it should include social/ economic considerations also, 
to actually fit on everyday life and expectations of people. To influence those
 expectations. Because, right now, there is a lot of humans on the beach, getti
ng themselves a nice tan along with a higher probability of skin cancer, and th
ere is a lot of people idiotically indebting themselves for life in order to bu
y a new SUV, and be "better" than the next door neighbor.

  Adriana Salazar
  Mexico

M. en C. Adriana Salazar 
[1]ayucyuan at yahoo.com.mx

---------------------------------
  Do You Yahoo!? La mejor conexión a Internet y 2GB extra a tu correo por $100
al mes. [2]http://net.yahoo.com.mx
_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
[3]Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[4]http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

   This message has been scanned for Spam and Virus by CuraNet.

References

   1. mailto:ayucyuan at yahoo.com.mx
   2. http://net.yahoo.com.mx/
   3. mailto:Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
   4. http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list