Monday, December 08, 2008

Woolworths today: 20% off your planet

On the day that the Guardian headline went with the notion that people power is key to achieving climate change, activists shut down Stansted airport to protest the expansion of Stansted to a second runway.

Asked by the BBC, most delayed passengers seem naturally quite fecked off. "They needed to be frog-marched out" said one. "They have achieved nothing other than messing up our day." said another.

The same also said this: "I can understand why the protesters took action. There has to be limits to airport expansion but we are stuck in the middle. There are other, more positive ways of doing it."

This takes me back to something I asked all the way back in 2004: what is the best way to get a point across in our society? Let's face it, voting achieves nothing. Facebook just brings back nostalgia. Protesting gets you classed as a terrorist or, worse, student hippy scum. And not buying stuff to cut down on all that energy usage cripples the damned economy. Crap.

So let's face it - where are these "more positive" methods of dealing with climate change? What truly inspirational ideas for coming to terms with this (that is - not even solving, just realising what's going on in our world), as it affects all of us, are left to us?

The Guardian link above quotes another person as noting that "in the modern world we live in, people want to travel. Cheap flights allow us to have homes elsewhere." And therein is the "spirit" of the 21st century. We must do stuff because it is "cheap". We will buy our atmosphere at Woolworths, for there we may get 20% off.