What's going down in Georgia right now definitely highlights the situation of what we will all be dealing with all too soon:
"Atlanta politicians, the newspaper said, "can't bring themselves to tell their greedy constituents complaining about the low flows in their toilets this week that perhaps if they didn't have six bathrooms, it might ease the situation a bit. That watering your lawn isn't as important as watering crops. Or that their greedy overbuilding has taxed their supplies of natural resources beyond their capabilities.""
It's not just Atlanta politicians - it's politicians and average citizens everywhere. There's this capitalistic mantra that worms its way into everyday consciousness: grow, Grow GROW - with anyone who tries to argue against it branded as un-American or anti-business.
Simply put - we live on a planet with finite resources: meaning that one day they will run out (like water is starting to do). Yet we have business models with unlimited growth as the book of divine inspiration. How many Starbucks does San Francisco really need? There's 81 listed on their website!
If you look at growth statistics since the 1950s, the average American house size has more than doubled; it now stands at 2,349 square feet. This is from a recent NPR report here in which they also talk about how we've become so greedy for goin' large that we're "atomizing the American family."
I mean - when are we going to start seeing recycling and sustainability as not just a concept for allowing the pursuit of happiness but something as foundational to the survival of our species. . . when we've chopped down the last tree to make a subdivision or produce that non-recycled paper cup? when we have to start having oxygen bars inside every Starbucks? How can you keep growing when your resources are going to run out? Is there anything more suicidal?
When are the citizens of this most enterprising country going to rise above Madison Avenue, Wall Street and their political backers and start to think for themselves? This tunnel-vision of growing by any and all means necessary for the adolescent goal of making more and more money