Red Dragon Rising: China Consumes the World

The Russians used the scorch and burn technique against Germany in World War II. I think we are having a similar effect based on the need to fuel our economic growth and consumerism.

Were you ever curious about seeing some tangible evidence of what we are doing to the environment?

Check out this short video presentation of beautiful but troubling pictures captured by Edward Burtynsky of Canada at www.ted.com - http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html.

As China starts to join the ranks of high consumers, similar to ourselves, they unwittingly provide clear examples of what is being done to the environment in order to support their ever expanding economy.

Many of Burtynsky's photos show what is happening in China, but they can easily be extrapolated to what we have done and what we continue to do to our own environment right here at home. Of course what we did happened over a much longer period of time which made it potentially less noticeable. Or perhaps people just cared less or no one thought to capture it in photographs. Of course technology has accelerated the speed at which we can defile things as well.

Whatever the reason, if we don't make changes soon we may pay some high costs to recover what we took for granted. That is assuming we even can.

For additional information, check out the documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, which followed Burtynsky along on many of his shoots in China.

Blahblah O'Riley: It's Only Consumer Wasteland

Through the miracle of modern technology, I am able to write to you today from a desert.

Desert: a wasteland or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population.

The wasteland I am writing to you from today isn't the Mojave or the Sahara. It is the United States of America.

Pete Townsend was prophetic when he wrote about the generation he referred to as the 'teenage wasteland' in his song Baba O'Riley. Although I don't think the prophecy of his words revealed themselves fully until now. Through their over-consumption and lack of reciprocal contributions back into society, Baby Boomers have stripped our country of its heritage and the American dream where the tired, the poor, the huddled masses can come and, through sheer hard work and determination, somehow get ahead and make something of themselves. This used to be the rule, but now I fear it is quickly becoming the exception. Pete Townsend himself said how disappointed he was in his generation, the Baby Boomer generation, because they haven't made significant positive contributions back to society.

Let's try an analogy to see if I can paint a better picture. Let's say the Baby Boomer generation is Marcia Brady, the Millennials are Cindy Brady when she was at the height of her cuteness - you know, the lisp episode - and Generation X is Jan. However, the interesting plot twist to this episode is that Jan doesn't care that Marcia is getting all of the attention. In fact, Jan is happy to give Marcia (or Cindy for that matter) the attention, but she so wants Marcia to use her prom queen status to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, Marcia hasn't set a very good example up to this point. Basically, she went to the Prom and willingly sucked down the roofie martini. You know what happens then. Except in this episode, not only did Marcia get screwed, Jan and Cindy got raped.

This is one of those 'To Be Continued...' episodes, like when the Brady's went to Hawaii. But this time, the cliff hanger to the next show isn't what Vincent Price will do to the kids, it is whether Marcia will wake up from her hangover, realize her downward spiral and go to rehab to kick her addictions to hedonism, money, and consumerism. Will she realize those aren't the things that make her happy? Will she realize that what will truly make her happy is setting the right example for her siblings? Does Marcia understand that she isn't the prom queen anymore? Oh!, how quickly she went from the prom queen to the spinster chaperoning the dance.

Do the Baby Boomers realize they cannot actually live forever and that time for them is getting short? There is only so much time left to try to set things right. Only so much time to make a contribution back to society and redeem their over-consumption.

As Brian Johnson from AC/DC so eloquently put it:
"Hey there all you middlemen...throw away your fancy clothes...and while you're out there sittin on a fence.
So get off your ass and come down here...cause Rock n Roll ain't no riddle man.
To me it makes good, good sense. Good sense, let's go."