tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19177820.post7255652002521405527..comments2023-09-30T17:39:10.843+05:30Comments on Can the Climate Change its spots?: More Ecogees (Eco - Refugees!)SolarGenerationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03070435999266707751noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19177820.post-29489118833596523392007-12-29T16:08:00.000+05:302007-12-29T16:08:00.000+05:30Maybe we are going about this thing all wrong -- t...Maybe we are going about this thing all wrong -- trying to attack the many arms of the Climate Change problem instead of going for its eye.<BR/><BR/>On the face of it, Climate Change is a problem of excess CO2 emissions. But analyse deeper, and one finds that it's a problem of overconsumption by all of us, individuals, corporates, government.<BR/><BR/>Analyse still deeper, and one finds that overconsumption is triggered by and funded by CREDIT. There is an overabundance of bank credit -- far out of proportion to actual earnings and savings -- that gives people the power to overspend and overconsume.<BR/><BR/>So this is where the cancerous tumour, so to speak, can be clearly isolated from human flesh. This is where we can start cutting away surgically, methodically, without hurting too many people.<BR/><BR/>CONSUMER CREDIT -- loans extended by banks for purchase of new vehicles and consumer appliances -- is a major artery feeding this tumour. Easy loans warp our purchasing decisions, making our desires seem like needs.<BR/><BR/>Two calls from an aggressive marketer of car loans is all I need to make me feel that I NEED to step up from my family car to an SUV. <BR/><BR/>CREDIT CARDS make one feel really wealthy, by enabling one to securely carry large amounts equivalent to many months' earnings in the wallet.<BR/><BR/>And when you do that, you are potentially able to do all those wonderful, beautiful, generous things that you see in TV commercials like buying your wife a diamond solitaire, booking the Presidential suite for your wedding anniversary or surprising her with a couple of air-tickets to Paris.<BR/><BR/>Consumer credit and credit-cards are the hot air causing the great big Economic Growth balloon to go up... and up... and up.<BR/><BR/>Driven by this excessive consumer demand, a number of industries flourish, new corporates are created, and new factories get built, diversified, expanded, acquired... We aren't only borrowing economically, we are borrowing ecologically. <BR/><BR/>Suggested line of action: At an individual level, we should stop buying things with credit, and stop using our credit cards. It is worth cutting up our credit cards. Let us stop borrowing from the future.<BR/><BR/>And as a community of concerned citizens, let us lobby for a clampdown on consumer credit. Let us write to the government, to our Central Banks and to individual banks and bankers. <BR/><BR/>Let each person in the banking industry be targetted with this message: Cap and roll back. Let us ask for a freeze of consumer credit at current levels this year, and a 50% reduction in the amounts of credit given each year. <BR/><BR/>This would give the economy about three years to adjust to the changing scenario. <BR/><BR/>Three years is 36 months -- far more time than the economy and its stakeholders get for adjustment when the stock-markets crash. So why delay, postpone and vacillate?<BR/><BR/>Warmly,<BR/>Krishnaraj Rao<BR/>http://friendlyghost.rediffiland.com<BR/>http://globalwarming.rediffiland.comFriendly Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12729137132627431373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19177820.post-24617059442935774682007-10-29T12:21:00.000+05:302007-10-29T12:21:00.000+05:30Dear Solar Generation,As I came across your work, ...Dear Solar Generation,<BR/>As I came across your work, I felt it was a great effort and tremendous enthusiasm. <BR/>Cheers and keep up the posts. <BR/>Do youll have any networks in Madras??the other romilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17880794899535786751noreply@blogger.com