Tuesday, September 28, 2010

United, the people, will find the earth depleted.

I was listening to an interview today with Chomsky that got me thinking about organized labor. While they do have their faults, which I will not go into here, they fundamentally (if not ideally) represent the interests of the common working person. Now given that nice little mission statement, I would assume that as a general rule the people in charge of these unions would be interested in long-term well being of their constituent members. People want to live a long, productive life in which they improve the lifestyle of themselves and family. Having said this, what happens eventually when there is no world to support them? This leads me to the fundamental question : Are labor unions genuinely concerned with the enviornment?

Taken straight from the AFL/CIO website : We march for a clean environment, so no child is ever forced to decide between drinking the water or breathing the air and staying healthy.

I'm curious as to what impact if any they are actually having on the movement towards a sustainable planet. Given that many of the most powerful labor unions represent industries that have a vested interest in the contiunation of the current unsustainable paradigm, I wonder how genuine their interest is in say, alternative fuels. The amount of power these organizations wield is surely enough to influence the industries in some way. I wish they would use it to slowly change the way industry works from the inside. Who would side with industry if unions took a firm stance on large energy companies begin to invest capital in renewable energy (thus creating more jobs and more union members)?

Perhaps I overestimate how much power these organizations have. The government certaintly isn't going to just create these industries out of thin air. Though I suppose with any great movement the people must want the change, and cutting pollution and dumping capital into a new industry (especially when the current one is so profitable) isn't the best for the bottom line. Somewhere along the way someone with power is going to have stand for this, and I just hope its the people working in these industries who eventually change the way they function. Novel notion, I know.

22 comments:

  1. We can only hope that the right people finally start taking a stand for what is right.

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  2. Very nice read looking forward to reading more from you

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  3. I don't think people take the environment seriously. They're more worried about themselves. I don't know, the future seems grim for the Earth, I think...

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  4. We need to focus, as a race, on interplanetary mining.

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  5. It's really difficult to understand how change gets realized. It seems that no one has the power to initiate anything on such a grand scale, but then again, change does happen...

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  6. you have interesting thoughts... unfortunately, i don't take the environment seriously yet

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  7. I have noticed that the environment around well populated areas is getting a lot worse, but there is nothing we can do about it. The only solution would be to wide spread the entire population and make sure there is not too many people in certain areas. Eventually in the future I believe we will be limited to around one child a lifetime, and have to ask for permission to have a child. Which is total bullshit but this may be what happens. I would hate to be the future generation at the moment.

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  8. Hello! well, I believe that when mankind finds profit in doing things good for our Planet, only then will be have a chance to survive and have an Utopia. The biggest fault of humanity is avarice after all...

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  9. Humans and our waste will be a mere blimp on earths timeline......

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  10. I feel let down by the left. As someone from a very working class family, I feel as if the left as abandoned their fight for hard working citizens for idealism which although commendable is only one problem in many that we as a society need to face.

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  11. I won't live long enough to see that... meh not my problem I'am an as**ole

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  12. All I can say is, that is one strong message.

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  13. I agree with Bal. We must get to the oil on Mars before the aliens do. There's got to be shitfucks of it, think of all the life that used to live there.

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  14. Labor unions are influential, but that influence only extends so far. More importantly, we need to use our education system to teach principles of sustainability to the chilluns so that they grow up with the insight necessary to curb the adverse environmental effects of society. This is already being done to some extent but we need it to happen in a more pronounced manner to make a real difference.

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  15. Ruining the environment is one of my biggest worries. I'm not an environmentalist or anything, but its really scary how little care companies and industries give to the environment, especially in 3rd world countries and up and coming economies like China. It's cheaper to pollute, and that's the only way to compete, so that's what they do. It's truly horrible, but the organization that it would take to fix these problems just do not exist currently.

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  16. Eh, I think we are past the point of no return in the Earth, so to speak. We can only patch our present not fix our future.

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  17. Looking forward to reading more posts. Keep up the good work

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  18. if only someone would suggest this to union leaders. I'm sure they would all be for creation of more jobs whilst helping the environment.

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