Opinion: The Green Machine

By JOE STACEY

Shilo Zylbergold’s column in the Dec. 27 issue about the holiday season and regifting got me to thinking (and chuckling of course) about how much of our society is driven on useless consumerism.

Ask yourself this: “Do I really need a new phone or electric car, whenever a new model comes out?” Or how about “Has the human species learned nothing about the effects of exploitation from history?” In what is now Canada, it started with the furry beaver trade, then cod, whale oil, coal, timber, herring, salmon, crude oil, and the list goes on. What’s next? I know, it’s lithium! All this to feed the green machine. It did build our nation, but it hasn’t been without its consequences, many of which we are still paying for today. Some call it progress, but what are we progressing towards?

Whatever happened to respecting the land (and oceans) that feed you? I remember when I was in school, we had “REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE” drilled into our heads. Notice how recycle is the last option? It seems the modus operandi has always actually been “PRODUCE, ABUSE, NEW CYCLE.”

I wish people would step back and realize the potential environmental damage that will be caused by building more lithium mines, power plants, extra gas, or wells of oil, that would be needed to accomplish this shift to more electric energy. We need to remember that electricity doesn’t just magically appear from a hole in the wall, and that some natural resources are a finite thing.

According to the leading electric car maker, we will need to triple our electricity output in order to achieve an “all-electric” society. It will never be truly all electric, as there will still be some oil and gas, unless we as a society are prepared to give up a lot of things, including jobs. I feel we will need to more than triple the output because by the time that happens, we will all be glued to our electricity-gobbling phones/computers, and will need AI bots to do all the skilled jobs that the younger generations didn’t learn because it was easier to make money selling pictures of their feet online.

Now while it is true that electric cars are quite clean in the local environment in which they operate, as a whole, they are damaging to the planet. This is very easy to overlook when the damage isn’t in your backyard. Kind of like gas and oil. I say “the” planet, because it’s not ours. We as humans are not the only species here, but I think that is often forgotten, in the name of capital gains.

If you’re going to buy a new electric car with honest, hard-earned, unborrowed money because you need it, and like the tech, that’s your choice, and you have that freedom. But if you don’t need one, and you are buying it with borrowed money, on the pretense of it being better for the planet, I believe you are being misled by certain groups pushing a new agenda/resource.

It seems most things built today have a planned obsolescence. It’s kind of like Grandma’s blender from 1945, that could still blend up the neighbourhood Tomcat that has been spraying on your shoes, but most blenders built last year couldn’t shave the hair of said pussy. Maybe our society should be focusing on building/buying quality, long-lasting, repairable products. The higher incomes would use the new, and the lower incomes would use the old, just like it is today, and has always been.

When you see my gas-sipping, 34-year-old truck driving by, just know that it will still be operational long after your electric car battery has failed, deeming it uneconomical to repair, but that’s OK, you can just recycle it and buy a new one, and claim you are doing your part for the environment.

Before you label me “far right,” “anti-electric,” “pro oil” or any other polarizing name, just know that I am none of these, as labels create division, which leads to wars. Maybe we should all be “bi-polar.” Wait a minute, that’s not a very nice label. We are all just “human” and that’s a label I think we can all agree on. I definitely support clean air, clean water, healthy soil and critical thinking. Sometimes it feels like there are far too many sheep on the animal farm, or, well, maybe you’ll figure it out sooner rather than later.

It seems to always boil down to power, profit and the need to keep up with the Joneses. This at the cost of what we actually need to survive. Life isn’t meant to be all peaches and cream.

I will thank my local community and my parents for teaching me the values behind, and joy created in, repurposing or rebuilding what others consider to be trash. I used to be ashamed, like I was a lesser being, until I realized it’s those who abuse and take their mother for granted that should be ashamed.

So do your mother a favour: support local businesses, repair or repurpose what has already been built, grow or buy food that is grown/hunted ethically, and don’t worry so much about socio-economic status. I have been learning this since 1984.

Now don’t just take my word on any of this. I encourage you to get out there and do some thorough, open-minded research, and THEN tell me I am wrong. Remember, we are all in the same boat together, and in the end, does it really matter what powers it? It does if once way out at sea, we are all led to one side.

The writer is a long-time islander.