Zero Waste and winning the oil end game

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My work has got me very involved in understanding the Zero Waste movement lately — and the zero carbon footprint dimension — and I’ve begun to feel that — with certain qualifications — it offers the philosophical underpinning to solve many of society’s (and the world’s) problems. We are the ones who will have to change our ways, and our value system. I’m beginning to understand that certain forms of pollution, poverty, war and demagoguery are not accidental, but the inevitable consequence of our consumer culture and the imperial projection of our power around the world extracting and exploiting human and natural resources on terms that are favorable to us, backed up by military force.
To break the cycle, we first have to understand the system upon which we stand, which is largely out of sight and therefore out of mind, and we then need solutions — because it quickly becomes depressing and people will simply “tune out” if the bad news isn’t delivered almost hand-in-hand with information about what we can do to make positive change.
To that end, if you click on the two links below, you’ll find a very thought provoking presentation of the issue of externalities and the environmental and human impacts of the hyper-consumer culture and economy, and also a talk by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute about how we can “win the oil end game.” Watch them when you have about 15 minutes to view each. The Lovins talk will especially interest anyone in the transportation industry.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/51
(If the second link doesn’t work for you, visit TED.com and search “Lovins.” This is Amory Lovins on “We must win the oil end game.”)

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