www.Shantaram.com
Quotes begin... NOW!
"Many readers have written, asking me to respond to the craven and pusillanimous efforts of the world’s “leaders” in Copenhagen. I’ll have a major response to the question of sustainability and alternative (that is, alternative to murderous) energies later this year, in the essay section. For now, I’ll just make the following bullet points:
1) Forget the debate about climate change: it doesn’t matter whether there is man-made climate change or not. What matters is global warming, and the accumulation of man-made combinations of toxic elements in our atmosphere. That’s enough, dammit.
2) Forget the “Western nations must pay” debate: of course the Western (or richer) nations must throw in big chunks of change, but the situation is so dire that it’s simply too late to play the blame game. EVERY nation has to make an effort, whether they’re “developing” or not. If the “developing nations” don’t clean up their act, all that they’ll ever develop into is a full-blown nightmare.
3) Slowly, one battleship and fighter plane at a time, convert all the “defence force” spending in the world into alternative, clean, green, sustainable energy technologies. Over time, take all of it, every tank and gun, every flame-thrower and landmine, and convert it into something useful, compassionate, and creative, instead of something uselessly and mercilessly destructive. And no new guns. No new tanks. No new bombers and drone aircraft. Not ever again. Convert the Businesses of Barbarism – all of the arms manufacturers – into Businesses of Beauty for the planet, or close them the hell down.
4) Slowly, one soldier at a time, convert all of the “defence force” service men and women into Energy-for-Peace activists, working to clean up all the mess that businesses and their government representatives made in the world, and to convert all energy sources on the planet into clean, green, sustainable energy technologies. Take all that courage, energy, devotion to cause, and ingenuity, remove it from the commerce of killing, and redirect it towards the peaceful prosperity of the planet and all its creatures.
5) Make all energy free, for everyone who uses it. Energy is at the heart of all power, and thus at the heart of all power-struggle conflict. Make it free. We can do that. The money used to bail out the banks in the USA was sufficient to convert the whole country to solar and wind energy. The money spent on armaments each year is sufficient to convert all of the world’s energy sources into clean, green, sustainable energy technologies. More about this in the essay, later this year."
