Screw the Enviroment End Poverty
 

I really mean this. I am getting tired of this political fad, of being enviromentalist. I mean I care for the enviroment, but it is not of greater issue as ending poverty. So many people are dying on the streets, yet no one bothers to care, but yeah a tree gets chopped down, or a garden get's demolished, everyone cares. Also why are we spending so much money on the enviroment, when our schools systems are at their lowest. Have you seen how illiterate kids are when they enter elementary? SOrry for venting here, but it is need to be said.

Well, whats the point of ending poverty if the world is uninhabitable by the time the impoverished and exploited crawl out of the third world gutter?

And when they do, will they contribute to the environmental mess as China and India have done?

Certain areas in the world are inhabitable already. They are already doing it, by being homeless. You know how much trash they leave.

Oh, go on! You're kidding!

Poverty would be easier to deal with if people would stop making so goddamn many more people. The environmental issues would also lessen.
Compulsory birth control for all!
Seriously though, this is not an "either/or" situation, and treating it as such just makes you come across as brainwashed by myopic talk radio pundits trying to get ratings by speaking in deliberately polarizing or provocative ways.

Can we all accept that we live on a shit planet and stop pointing it out and doing something that ACTUALLY IMPROVES IT instead? Talk talk talk. That's no use to anyone.

why separate issues of poverty and the environment? There is a pretty compelling case to be made that poverty is an underlying cause of a lot of environmental degradation (not all), and that increased wealth can lead to improved environmental conditions.

Also, who exactly is spending "so much money" on the environment?

Exactly, on the contrary. People are spending 'so much money' destroying it.

You know what people don't care about the people who die on the streets etc. They care more about the enviroment because they care more about themselves then they care about poverty.
Wow. That's A LOT of "they care about's" in one sentence.

in the end, I tend to agree with SynthethicalY, as far as poverty should probably be prioritized over the environment.

Ultimately I think Synthethicaly's position comes as a result of the over-politicization of environmental issues, which really should not be political at all. We all want clean air and water (although we may disagree on suitable levels). Less fundamentalism among 'environmentalists' would be a major step in the right direction.

Also, even if increasing human populations do cause environmental stress, population control by any institutionalized means is an unacceptable solution and people need to get past the population issue.

You are so wrong on many issues, it's painful to read your post. In fact, I won't read the last missive because I'm sure it's a load of crap.

I suppose any "institutional means" of re-distributing wealth would also be "unacceptable?"
People are too short-sighted and selfish by their very nature to tackle any of this stuff without being forced to.

I'm sorry, but I just do not agree with this. The poverty issue gets plenty of air time and is spoken about quite often, especially in the global sense or regarding world economics. Neither one of these issues is a "political fad;" they are both legitimate issues that deserve attention, and they both have their fair share of people who put effort into them.
On an individual scale, it's far easier to make choices or contributions that might have a positive effect on the environment when done on a mass scale than it is to address the general issue of mass poverty as well, which is why that issue might seem more visible to the general population. However, to say that "no one cares" or that "no one says anything" about poverty is simply ridiculous.

Your fair share of internet stupidity is not gonna help, I'm afraid. It bugs me quite a bit that we have all the means to make it a better world, yet the majority of people fall victim of plain ignorance or bask into the lame sunshine that is reflected on them. Enough is enough, while we sit here, there are more worthy people making things happen than a few internet post counts. Enough to make us feel worthless.

I ride a bicycle, eat a vegan diet and am not having any children. I don't have any money or political clout. I am also not in control of the choices other people make. I can only change my own behavior, and I do what I can to leave a small footprint.
I don't know what more I can do as an individual.

Individulas are all well and fine. Groups of people make things happen, though. There's no arguing with that. Populist remarks need no reply to this post either.

I also think that a lot of creativity has gone down the drains because of people sitting comfortably on notions of it that are really oudated. The notion of happiness is truly stale and has stopped to a point where mediocrity is accepted as the only option. Go figure.

What does that mean?

That's hardly the problem. More like, how illiterate kids remain after years of school.

A lot of parents have tried teaching their kids to read/write long before they're taught to do so in school...and screw up immensely because they don't know how to go about teaching that sort of thing properly.

I think maybe he means the same thing you mean; that if enough people make certain choices in their individual behavior, change will result.

I always recyckled my cum rags but then I learened that seagulls would choke on them when they rooted around in the landfills so now I just do away with them and skeet skeet skeet wherever gravity and my forceful cock jets allow.

We're too worried about the now, not giving a fuck about what will happen even just a couple years in the future. Maybe if we actually took some care of the environment, we will actually still be alive in a few years, then we can worry about homeless. It isn't like the homeless have absolutely nowhere to turn, ie. shelters, soup kitchens, etc. The environment can't take care of itself, so long as we're around to shove it back two steps after it's gained one.

I think this is a load of caca.

all you need to do to teach yr kids to read is to read to them from an early age, REAl early, and they will automatically learn it. I learned to read before age 3 because my parents read to me constantly

I've been reading since the fuckin' start. Same deal as Rob, my parents read to me, I had initiative to read, we read together.
You can't blame the school systems for yr own missed steps.

Unfortunatly just reading books is not enough. We're allowed that and it remains an option, rather than a necessity. Reading books hasn't helped humanity all that much, so far.

Stating the obvious is exaclty like stating it. Obvious.

I'm getting tired or your threads. No, correction, I AM tired of your threads.

You're left field, man.

One wonders if Mumbai and Nairobi are hip to soup kitchens.

I'm sorry but this argument is just as ridiculous as what Synthetically proposed.

So you're disagreeing with me? Because I'm in no way saying that reading to your kids is a bad thing--in fact, I believe it's the opposite. I knew how to read a little before entering school, and it was because my dad read to me every night. My parents didn't try to get me to read before I was sent to school, though, it was just something I picked up on. So what I'm saying is that reading to your kids is beneficial, but trying to actually teach them to read may not always be the best idea, because most parents are not certified teachers and have no idea how to go about actually teaching a person to read. The meanings of words get lost on a lot of kids when the words are taken out of context--and this is what a lot of parents do. They think that just because their kids can pronounce words properly and spell them correctly, that automatically means their kids are literate.

See what i tried to mean was, that ever since Gore came out with An Inconvinient Truth. We have all these pousers trying to act like they care for the enviroment, when in reality they only care for themselves. God Drive through L.A. and all you see is these pousers driving hybrids or any of those cars. Yet they pass along some sidewalk and look at the homeless and not even care. God I was at a McDonalds once, and he was sitting by the drive thru area, and I was the only one who gave him a dollar, the other people ignored him. I mean sure he might buy booze, but still. I think the goverment is doing less with helping the poorer citizens of this nation, and more with trying to find a quick fix for the enviroment. Also I am not saying that the enviroment is of no concern of mine it is, but not as important. Savage you are right they are several people trying to help them, but it doesn't get the attention it deserves. Why because we don't want to give them another chance, they screwed up once so let them rot on the streets. I am also dissapointed in the Hospitals DUmping their homeless patients, Thank God here in L.A. the one that did this so often got reprimanded.

Also with the children I can see both points. Kids for the most part are illiterate, because of T.V. Parents don't want to deal with them, so they put them in front of the t.v. I know of so many that do that. Also teachers get paid so low, and have overcrowded classes, it is hard for them to teach. God 40 students per class, when it is supposed to be at least 20-25(max). I don't know, I just see a grim future.

Oh, the irony. HAHA.

I'm wrong on what? Because I said that poverty is an underlying cause of a lot of environmental degradation? You ever been to a developing country and noticed that they don't exactly have the cleanest water? How about how a lack of economic choices drives people around the world in agriculture with direct environmental effects like deforestation. The fact of the matter is, that there are countless pieces of evidence and studies that support the position I offered. But you probably don't care that much to try and find out.

Now I'm about to lose you here: The theoretical Environmental Kuznets Curve has been empirically tested, for a variety of pollutants. And while the results don't show perfect bell curves as the theory explains, the trends are there for most pollutants: increased wealth decreases pollution levels. Again, it's not true for all pollutants. CO2 levels, for example will probably continue to increase as wealth increases.

I'm going to assume that you don't work in the environmental field like I do, so I'm not really worried if you don't agree with me.

But if you want to disagree with me that's fine. I'd like to know exactly how you think I'm wrong here instead of just telling me I'm wrong, especially since I didn't write anything controversial.



By the way, what did you do today to improve the world?

if we don't fix the environment then my generation won't be dieing from old age. Poverty is preventable. Go to a library, read a book, learn something. Technically my parents are poor so I'm not bagging on any one but poor people are poor because some where along the line they fucked up. If they were born into it and their country is fucked, then thats a little different then they should get some help and we should stop paying people 20 million to star in a film.

double post.
If every big actor did one movie for free and took that money and gave it to charity, do you know how much money that would raise?

How 'bout enviromental poverty?
Where'd the rainforest go?
Or poverty in the enviroment?
Those who've never stepped on the ladder. It wasn't presented to them. We've control of the ladder, nature's ladder. And now all will fail.

it all comes down to the fact that Americans are selfish fucks. They horde themselves of food and do drugs, spending money on useless shit when people are starving.

Yes, yes. It's progression! We can't anticipate negative effects, we must move foward.

i think its a great idea to end poverty and not fix the environment because then we can all just stand on an unihabitable piece of molten rock and breathe toxic gasses and trun into lizards, but at least none of us would be poor.

on a lighter note downloading one megabyte of data is the equivalent of burning one kilogram of coal according to new scientist magazine.

i cant really see how that is possible.

I think my point was lost, I do care about the enviroment, but it is that more people only care about the enviroment, because it is the it issue of the year. But homelessness is increasing, and yet we are doing nothing.