What I want for Christmas
The Tacoma newspaper is running a series on the consequences of cheap goods from China. Yesterday, they talked about how cashmere sweaters are turning the China grasslands into dustlands. The goats who are the source of the cashmere wool are grazed on the grasslands. But there is so much profit in the wool, the grassland is over-grazed.
Goats and other livestock cannot be fed where this has happened, so herders who have had this way of life for time immemorial can no longer survive as herders - there is nothing for their herds to eat.
Today's newspaper is about deforestation. I haven't read it yet, but I scanned it and I get the picture. Something cheap and convenient for me is destruction across the sea.
The rate at which we are using resources collectively is alarming. The tragedy of the commons writ large - a planet-sized tragedy.
So what I want for Christmas is nothing. Or something I could make myself.
And then, thinking about this, I am awestruck by the amount of time and work it would take to make anything for myself. I knit a sweater, but it took more than a year. I kept putting it away because I am busy. And anyway, I bought the yarn. The yarn cost more than buying a sweater.
I have llama wool in bags in the garage. I haven't developed energy enough to deal with it. I thought it would be nice to make felt strips and then make that into a braided rug. I still think that would be fun.
So much easier to watch tv, go to the movies, forget about it.
I wish we could feed our basic needs locally in a sustainable way. That would be water, clean air, shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and medical care. I see some sectors trying to change: Organic food, green building, naturopathic medicine, local farm coops.
At the same time, housing developments are popping up all over the place. New strip malls with the same franchises you see in any city or town in the whole country are popping up.
I guess I'll just dream about making shoes (there's a workshop in Port Townsend) and knitting socks. Meanwhile, I need new socks and my significant other needs a flannel shirt, so it's off to REI and Sportsmen's Wharehouse! Aaaaaaargh!
We had a wonderful Christmas, mostly at church. Hope you all are well!
Merry Christmas!
Auriel
Goats and other livestock cannot be fed where this has happened, so herders who have had this way of life for time immemorial can no longer survive as herders - there is nothing for their herds to eat.
Today's newspaper is about deforestation. I haven't read it yet, but I scanned it and I get the picture. Something cheap and convenient for me is destruction across the sea.
The rate at which we are using resources collectively is alarming. The tragedy of the commons writ large - a planet-sized tragedy.
So what I want for Christmas is nothing. Or something I could make myself.
And then, thinking about this, I am awestruck by the amount of time and work it would take to make anything for myself. I knit a sweater, but it took more than a year. I kept putting it away because I am busy. And anyway, I bought the yarn. The yarn cost more than buying a sweater.
I have llama wool in bags in the garage. I haven't developed energy enough to deal with it. I thought it would be nice to make felt strips and then make that into a braided rug. I still think that would be fun.
So much easier to watch tv, go to the movies, forget about it.
I wish we could feed our basic needs locally in a sustainable way. That would be water, clean air, shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and medical care. I see some sectors trying to change: Organic food, green building, naturopathic medicine, local farm coops.
At the same time, housing developments are popping up all over the place. New strip malls with the same franchises you see in any city or town in the whole country are popping up.
I guess I'll just dream about making shoes (there's a workshop in Port Townsend) and knitting socks. Meanwhile, I need new socks and my significant other needs a flannel shirt, so it's off to REI and Sportsmen's Wharehouse! Aaaaaaargh!
We had a wonderful Christmas, mostly at church. Hope you all are well!
Merry Christmas!
Auriel
posted by Auriel Ragmon | 12:08 PM
2 Comments:
There's hope for China. In the 1930's we had the terrible "dust bowl" here in America, also because of bad agricultural practices. We got over it, and maybe they can too. Check out the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowl
Global trade isn't entirely a bad thing. Some say that, properly done, it can make us all more prosperous. Bill Clinton is a big advocate of trade, and he's a smart guy.
You know, I deeply appreciate your optimism, because I tend towards the dire too much sometimes. Good point about the recovery of the American Dust Bowl.
Auriel
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