Wayne Tyson wrote: > What if all ecologists and their spouses sold > their diamonds and ostracized all who don't? Absurd, of course. But > to the point, eh?
Thus moving this discussion into the realm of 'walking our talk'--a shift Paul Cherubini often seem to try to make (when he's not otherwise playing devil's advocate). If we're supposed to give our diamonds away, what about our coal-based electricity and oil-based transportation and agribusiness-produced food and water-based sanitary systems, not to mention all the complexities of the consumer society these things support? As ecologists in this 'world of wounds' (Aldo Leopold), we have to pick our battles. We are all loaded with conflict of interest, most notably the conflict of maintaining a health planet vs. maintaining a decent standard of living for ourselves and our loved ones. I'm all for ostracizing conspicuous consumption ala Brian Czech, but that really would mean ostracizing myself! My practice of 'conservative consumption' is still outrageously conspicuous by the standards of most people on this planet (e.g. my pet cat has more and better food than many people). Compared to the average standard of 'living,' there really isn't that much difference between a cell phone and a diamond-studded cell phone. In Taiwan, someone will soon be paying over NT$8,000,000 (about US$250,000) for this cell phone number: 098-888-8888 (each eight is a homonym for wealth). As the number is still in auction, the final price is unknown. CL Please note my new-old email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cara Lin Bridgman P.O. Box 013 Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 Longjing Sinjhuang Taichung County 434 Taiwan http://megaview.com.tw/~caralin/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
