Raise the Hammer

Curious Fellow - we could go back and forth for days about whether sweeping changes come from the top down (Christianity) or the bottom up (The Communist Revolution, the French Revolution) - there are adherents and exceptions to every 'sweeping statement.' Your analysis is right, that it is far more politically expedient to say "drill baby drill", until gas/fertilizer/food costs are through the roof, and you're over at a neighbor's house eating an amazing fresh salad, and when you ask them how they can afford to eat so well, the tell you they grew it themselves... I guess it's the wide-eyed Albertan in me that beleives that effective change can come from small individual steps that aggregate in the same direction, but I think that the Climate Change debate is a good example. 15 years ago, any politician that even broached the idea of conservation or energy reduction would be considered a wide-eyed fringe candidate. Now it's part of the platform of everyone who is serious about getting elected. On one hand - we simply do not have the luxury of time we did with the climate change debate (although many would argue it's already too late), but on the other, the impacts in the wallet from Peak Oil are going to spur people to action far more rapdily than stories of far off islands being threatened with drowning. Paying $150.00 to fill up your SUV is just that much more immediate. I guess in the end, it's just my pathological optimism coming into play. Not an optimism built on "let's all hope for the best and sing kumbayah", but an optimism based on the amazing 'roll up their sleeves' work being done in Hamilton by people like the Transit Users Group, the Food Security Group, The Community Gardens groups, Transition Dundas, and too many more to mention.

Comment edited by jasonaallen on 2010-05-04 13:06:16