Enabling behaviours

[Rick Shea]

Just like the families of alcoholics and other addicts who hide and deny the problems, the world is full of people whose behaviours enable our addiction to growth.

Anyone who exhibits the following behaviours without at the same time calling for a halt to population growth (and even a reversal) typically falls into this category:

• calling for water conservation
  
• calling for energy conservation
  
• calling for farmland conservation
  
• calling for "smart" growth
  
• calling for relief for traffic congestion
  
• calling for crime reduction
  
• calling for relocalization (www.relocalize.net)
  
• calling for a halt to the record rate of species extinctions
  
• calling for preservation of rainforests
  
  
  

There are many, many more similar behaviours, all equally destructive in the long run. Far too many people fail to "complete the circle" when it comes to reasoning their way through these issues. At the root of all of them is population growth, so why not address the real problem, eh David Suzuki, Al Gore, Elizabeth May, et al.?

[Rick Shea]

From the Salmon Arm Observer, October 17th:

Dear Sir:

Kristy Meyer’s letter‑in the Salmon Arm Observer’s Oct. 10 edition regarding our car-addicted culture was spot on in many ways.

Unfortunately, the conclusion that exorbitant parking and gas prices will lead to meaningful change is a bit off the mark.

Those who can afford it will simply continue to pay more, as has been demonstrated over and over in North America.

As gas prices increase, so too will the costs of producing and operating many of the alternative forms of transportation, including buses, commuter trains, and so on, and those costs will of course be passed along to those who can least afford them, as usual.

Certainly, walking and cycling will be attractive alternatives (if you can afford a bicycle or a pair of runners at that point), but we have become so dependent upon cheap fossil fuels, that it is not as simple as raising prices (or prices being driven up by peak oil or other events).

Our methods of food production and transportation, our clothing and other goods manufacturing and transportation, our big-box stores, and even our vacations in Mexico or other destinations will no longer be viable if fuel becomes too expensive, or scarce.

Indeed, some predict that our cities will not survive such changes, as they are an unsustainable form even now.

Despite the enormous negative consequences economically and socially, all of the above may be good things in the long term, as we revert back to local production of food and other goods, significantly reduced production of pollution and greenhouse gases, and a local community of interest in the well-being of our neighbours.

It’s clear though that we can’t just keep doing what we’re doing, going where we’re going, and just try get there in different ways.

The costs to the environment are simply too high. ‑Where we’re headed right now is straight down a dead-end road.

Rick Shea

[John Zeger]

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce should be added to the list of guilty parties. Recently, they compained that the traffic congestion in the city was causing a loss of business and called for more road construction. But they didn't address the root cause of the traffic congestion which is that the roadway infrastructure cannot handle the rapid population growth which is being caused by policies that the Chamber itself is promoting.

[John Zeger]

This week CNN is airing a two part series, Planet in Peril, which will be shown on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. In part the series will look at the impact that human population growth has had on our emerging ecological crisis.

[Rick Shea]

johnzeger said:

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce should be added to the list of guilty parties. Recently, they compained that the traffic congestion in the city was causing a loss of business and called for more road construction. But they didn't address the root cause of the traffic congestion which is that the roadway infrastructure cannot handle the rapid population growth which is being caused by policies that the Chamber itself is promoting.

Have you tried driving out Highway 97 near McCurdy and Sexsmith from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. on any weekday lately? The traffic is horrendous now, and can only get even worse when tourist season comes around again. Yes, there is a bit of construction happening at McCurdy, but it's off to the side of the road and out of the traffic lanes. The main problem is traffic volume -- in other words, too many people for the infrastructure to handle comfortably, unless you think that stop and go traffic with lengthy stops and having to wait for 5 or 6 lights before getting through at Leathead or McCurdy are normal. The unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, and the waste of fossil fuels accompanied by all the negative environmental effects of producing those fuels, borders on insanity.

This same scenario is being repeated all over Kelowna, on Gordon, on Springfield, on Enterprise, on Lakeshore and Pandosy, and on virtually any other commuter route (and I won't mention the 5 lane fiasco-in-the-making by name).

This is just another example among so many of how Kelowna council and the so-called "professionals" at city hall are mismanaging the city, and our environment.

The fundamental problem though is that adding traffic capacity will only temporarily reduce the congestion, and will in the long term only enable more growth and more traffic, bringing things back full circle to where they are now, but with the environment in far worse shape.

[Rick Shea]

Sent to the Kelowna Courier today.

Dear Sir:

Your November 28th “Business” section feature article about “green” building is just more of the usual hype that enables our addiction to growth.

As examples, crowing about low flow toilets and showers only hides the fact that more growth will only negate any conservation efforts. Installing high efficiency gas furnaces and geothermal heating will be futile in environmental terms if we allow growth to continue, and will create serious economic problems as our natural gas supply dwindles.

It is ironic that the article features the Wilden development. This is the same development that claims, at its website, that Okanagan Lake is “pristine,” despite having been informed that at least four communities dump treated effluent into the lake, and that even the city of Kelowna acknowledges that the lake is not pristine.

More growth will only exacerbate the impact on the lake and the environment.

So, it’s not at all about being green, or about being environmentally responsible. It’s all about the hype, and it’s all about profits, regardless of where the truth lies.

Money is the only “green” that developers really care about.

Sincerely,

Rick Shea

[Rick Shea]

Sent to the Courier today:

Dear Sir:

Rocky Sethi claims, in his letter in your November 29th edition, that “growth will occur,” presumably in perpetuity.

We already have a considerable amount of evidence pointed to by well-respected professionals on this planet that we have far exceeded the carrying capacity.

The International Energy Association has acknowledged that we may already be at Peak Oil, with the disastrous economic and social fallout about to happen in the near future. Species extinctions are occurring at a record rate, mainly due to human activity. Biodiversity loss in general is happening at a dangerous rate all over this planet. We are leaving behind some of the most persistent and toxic wastes ever created, in the form of chemicals and radioactive waste. And this can continue forever?

Contrary to Mr. Sethi’s belief, growth cannot continue, and indeed some claim that we have already exceeded the carrying capacity of this planet by a factor of three or four.

No, Mr. Sethi’s claim is the “irritating and irrational” one. It is a dangerous and radical claim indeed, and further density only makes it more dangerous.

Sincerely,

Rick Shea