hold ups......

and not of my favourite variety.. but has anyone noticed that as the pace of life gets quicker, things are seeming to jam up more.. not just computers and traffic, but lives, bottle tops, doors.... and important stuff too.... only today, Stansted airport was held hostage by some people so secure in their beliefs that they felt they had to impose them on others.... now, to be honest, I think they were in the right.... and their philosophy, that enough talk has been talked, and we need action, is most probably the right one too... but wat they fail to realise is that most people just don't care about the environment... tigers are lovely to look at, but who really cares if they become extinct.... I mean, the Beard recalls the Yangtze river dolphin going the way of the dinosaurs, and the complete lack of emotion it inspired beyond a quick aaaaawww.... did it really affect my life? which is the entire problem.. unless something impacts on a persons life in some way, they find it almost impossible to care for very long... its my belief that in twenty years time none of the protesters of today will want to recall what they did and why... apart from a few idealist idiots like the Beard.... the problem is that saving the world is important.. but people don't really understand important... to most people important is getting to work on time, finishing a report, buying that car, going on holiday... given the choice between stopping their grandkids living in a poisonous slum and going on holiday, well, Ibiza wins every time.. we can always do the other later.... or better yet let someone else do it... most people's priorities are material comfort for themselves.... and if we're honest they always have been.... its like the old argument of the NIMBY... I want proper reception on my mobile, but i don't want a phone mast nearby.... I don't want night flights out of Donington, but I want a cheap holiday.... I don't really want to pollute the atmosphere, but hey, I got to have that 3 and a half litre BMW.... saving the environment is a nice idea, but its just too inconvenient.... we'd much rather salve our consciences with vain "carbon offsetting schemes", recycling, and wishes that there were valid electric cars, without actually looking at the whole picture and realising that all this is a sop to the capitalist society... Mr Big is not going to be alive in 200 years, so why should he care.... and more importantly, why should he do things that will reduce his income... because that what is needed to save the world.. not more stuff that isn't as bad for the environment, but less stuff altogether... and that means less work, less money, less material possessions... and unfortunately for all of us, less intensive farming, more starvation, and eventually a drastic decrease in population... I've mentioned before my belief that the Chinese, held up as a model of tyranny, are in fact doing the right thing by deliberately limiting their population... nasty as it may seem, we need fewer kids... a lot fewer, especially as we've made sure we all live too long, and have done our best to get rid of everything that previously limited our numbers.... but i digress.. the point is this.. i think... we have to choose... drastically change our lifestyles, become poorer and less materialistic, or carry on as we are.... lets be honest.. we won't destroy the planet, only ourselves, and one interpretation of the Gaia hypothesis says that that is what we are in fact doing, and therefore we should carry on..... i think the ones who want to holiday in the sun and watch eastenders every night will win in the end... and that ultimately that will be for the best.... but then i've always been an incurable optimist... but it is late, and bed beckons.... so until our great grandchildren get the world we deserve, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!