Earth shopping

Since my last post, mainstream climate talk has eased from the biofuel debate into how to best use standard economic models to promote green technology. While these theories have a wealth of good intention behind them, at present it seems like the people making decisions want to continue the status-quo while giving the impression that they are catering to the public's [unrealistic] desire for a feel-good romantic comedy: where big business has not only learned the error of its ways, but also figured out a way for the rest of us to live guilt-free in pristine surroundings with meaningful, well-paid employment for everybody.

I'm all for that finale (realistic or not). But there is no magic way to get there. It starts with the human race understanding that the Earth's resources aren't free. Since the beginning of human history 50,000 years ago, we have been using water, land, minerals, plants and animals as gifts; freely given and to be freely taken. The only cost we paid was in getting to and extracting these riches. Shoplifting at its finest. And nobody trying to catch us anyway.

Fifty thousand years is a long time. The notion of free is a hard one to overcome. But that is our first step.