One of my friends emailed this video to me:
http://storyofstuff.com/
I wrote back. “this clip was shit.”
He replied, “What specifically don’t you believe in it?”
I started writing a reply and realized that this would make a fine off topic blog post. So after you watch as much as you can stand, come back for a breakdown.
“You cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely”
So? We don’t need to run it indefinitely. We only need to run it until technology evolves enough to solve any problems that arise. Our “linear system” will not run as it has for the foreseeable future. Every system in human history evolved, and so will ours.
“It’s the government’s job to take care of us.”
Sigh. It’s our government’s job to protect us (see the US Constitution).
It’s your job to take care of yourself. Am I the only one left that isn’t a Socialist?
“50% of our federal tax money is going to the military”
The total federal spending for 2008 was $2.9 trillion + $200 billion more for Iraq. The total spend on the military, the “war on terror” and Iraq was $826 billion.
826 billion out of 3.1 trillion is 26.6%. Estimated receipts for fiscal year 2008 were $2.66 trillion. So the percentage of tax receipts spent on “the military” was 31%. It’s way too much, but it’s not 50%.
“Of the top 100 economies in the world, 51 are corporations.”
There are only 180 countries in the world. That list includes places like Kiribati, Maldives, São Tomé, Micronesia, Vanuatu, Seychelles and Eritrea.
Above the Bhutans and Djiboutis of the world is Iceland, ranked 92 in the world with a GDP of $19.5 Billion.
GDP measures the result of production — the value of all goods and services produced in one year. GDP is calculated on a “value-added” basis. So for a corporation, that would be Profit. In 2006, according to fortune, only 8 companies made more than $19.5 Billion:
1 Exxon Mobil $39.5 Billion
2 Royal Dutch Shell $25.4 Billion
3 UAL $22.9 Billion
4 BP $22.0 Billion
5 Citigroup $21.5 Billion
6 Bank of America $21.1 Billion
7 General Electric $20.8 Billion
8 Gazprom $20.3 Billion
So in fact, of the top 100 economies in the world 92 are countries and 8 are corporations . . . and that’s only if you don’t include individual states (like California) as economies.
“In the past 3 decades, 1/3 of the planet’s Natural resource base has been consumed.”
So at our rate of growth, we will completely run out of ALL Natural resources in much less than the next 60 years (because our consumption will grow). mmmmKAY. If only there were a way to harness the energy of this Sky that’s Falling or the hot air from windbags like this.
“We have less than 4% of our original forests left.”
Hmm, that’s Interesting. Because according to the North American Forrest commission:
“About 33 percent of the United States (302 million hectares — 747 million acres) is forested. “
So I guess we had 825% of the US forested at some point.
“40% of the waterways have become undrinkable.”
In general, we don’t drink from “waterways”, we drink from reserves. When we need to drink from waterways, we set up Industrial water filters. So potentially, all of it is “drinkable” (whatever that means).
“We have 5% of the world’s Population, but we’re using 30% of the worlds Resources”
So we use 30% of the world’s water? we use 30% of the world’s Air? We use 30% of the world’s Soil . . . and then eat 30% of the world’s food?
No.
The US does consume 25% (not 30%) of the world’s energy - but so what? 2 billion people in the world don’t even have electricity!
“If everyone Consumed at the US’s rate, we would need 3-5 Planets”
No. We would just need to produce more.
“75% of Global fisheries are fished at or beyond capacity”
First: why should I care? 2nd: How can a fishery be fished beyond capacity? 3rd: If we really need more fisheries - then those “evil corporations” will make them.
“80% of the world’s original forests are gone.”
Nearly 4 billion hectares of forest cover the earth’s surface, roughly 30 percent of its total land area. So . . . if 80% is gone, that means that at one point 150% of the earth’s land surface had forrest. I see.
“According to these guys (referring to the rest of the supply chain), the people that live there don’t own [the Amazon forests] even if they’ve been living there for generations”
Actually, the deforestation is being done precisely by the people that live there. That’s the PROBLEM.
“There are over 100,000 synthetic Chemicals in use in commerce today”
Good! Just because something is synthetic, doesn’t make it bad. In fact, those synthetic chemicals are a big reason why our standard of living is higher today than at any point in human history.
“Only a Hand full have even been tested for harmful effects”
A hand full . . . that would be what? 5? 10? Lies!
“or tested for Synergistic Effects”
I see, so we just need to perform, what? about 2^100,000 or is it the factorial of 100,000 (2.8 X 10^456,573) tests for all the different permutations? That doesn’t even take into account that one would be exposed to various amounts of every given chemical.
To put that into perspective, 10^78 is the best guess for number of atoms in the universe. What she is advocating in terms of testing is an impossibility.
“You know what has the highest number of contaminants of any food? Human breast milk.”
Great, now you’re using your lies to scare ignorant mothers out of breast feeding. Even though every study ever done has shown that breast milk is the best thing an infant can eat. Great work asshole.
This is where I stopped watching because I’m sure no one really cares about the truth. That’s why that video has a page rank of 7 and has been viewed over 4 million times and this post probably won’t get any backlinks and certainly won’t make the front page of reddit.
If we continued watching we’d see more lies and distortions but I just couldn’t stomach it any longer.
Tagged: politics |
is like driving into a tub full of tits. It’s that fucking awesome.
