The green carpet

I have always believed that celebrities are weapons of mass distraction, ingeniously put in place by big media moguls to pray on the stupidity of the masses in their voyuerisitc love of inanities in the lives of people who are essentially inconsequential.

But something recently has shaken this conviction somewhat.

It turns out that hollywood hearthrob Leonardo DiCaprio has been an environmentalist for the past ten years. That's right, even before he starred in his big hollywood hits. Who would have thought that that smug italian soft-featured face illumined by a deluge of paparazzi camera flashes had a brain ticking behind it? Not just a pretty face afterall!

Well, Mr DiCaprio has decided to fund and feature in a new film called the 11th hour that aims to ask the most profound questions about the environmental agenda of our age. (At the age of 25 Dicaprio had interviewed the then president Bill Clinton about climate change). The documentary film, which involves DiCaprio interviewing key environmental figures and experts is said to be a commercial suicide. I doubt it would be very popular, but the mere fact that it has DiCaprio in it will be sure to attract hordes and introduce them to something completely new. The only problem is that the commerical value of DiCaprio extends to the mainstream of people who know very little even about climate change and thus wont be too receptive to the philosophies of human ecology, the finer points of which this film delves into. However, I still believe it's a positive step and a great way to attract the masses. Celebrities showing genuine concern can only be a weapon weilding enormous power- power to win the people.

I leave you with a quote from former World Bank Economist, Herman Daly, which is featured in the film:

'The most basic thing to understand about our global economic system is that it's a subsystem. The larger system is the biosphere, and the subsystem is the economy. The problem, of course, is that out subsystem, the economy, is geared for growth; it's all set up to grow, to expand. Whereas the parent system doesn't grow; it remains the same size. So, as the economy grows, it displaces, it encroaches upon the biosphere, and this is the fundamental cost of economic growth. It's what you give up when you expand'.

Wow.

Second hand stories

I think I need to merge these two blogs into one. It's silly having two very scant blogs when you can have one fat one, so if anyone is reading this, please refrain from commenting on 'the philosophy of green' as your comment will be sucked into virtual oblivion soon, unless there is someway to transfer posts from one blog to another (is there? Please don't hold back if you know anything).

Anyway, back to the topic of this post. I've always found buying things second hand a useful form of way of conservation. Now we live in the dawn of the amazing freecycle, it's not even about buying anymore, but the concept is a very old one. Second-hand things have always sold so cheaply because they were that one step away from being incinerated or dumped in a big hole in the earth, but thankfully the thoughtful owner thought that someone else might want it, and someone else usually does. Second-hand items have traditionally served as the resort of the poor. But despite this, the ethos of scrap heaps, flee markets, jumble sales and the rest, has always been about not wasting. I'm not only amazed by how easily people throw things away these days, but how unresourcesful people are when it comes to purchasing goods. Everything has to be brand new. I come from a culture that especially derides second-hand things- possibily because of their traditional association with poverty, and horrifically too, their association with dirtiness. But this attitude is still all too prevalent everywhere else, too.

I have already started in this strange new nascent trend of buying second-hand, not because it's cheaper, but because it's more environmentally sound. The money incentive has even been reversed as some second hand things are becoming more expensive than their brand new counterparts. This would be the case for any mass produced item and second hand item trying to compete economically- there is simply more of the mass produced item. This is happening alot with books, where the case for conservation is especially acute- the raw material we're conserving in this case is something we all know and love- well at least most of us. The other day, my brother was ordering a book from Amazon. He went to the Amazon market place to look for the cheapest offer and I suggested he buy a second-hand one despite the price difference of 1 pound. He looked at me like I had just uttered the most absurd sentence in the history of absurdity. 'Why would I want to do that, when the new one is cheaper?' He asks calmly but with brimming mortification. "To save trees" I said. "TREES??? Who cares about Trees?!?". Well at least he was honest.

Really though, buying all your books second-hand can be a great and easy alternative to planting trees. Happy reading!