The Lincoln Plan - Starting with simplified ratios

The Lincoln Plan

But is it enough and does it ask the tough questions?

Monbiot launches his investigation by asking a crucial question rarely discussed by Al Gore and other U.S. environmentalists: How does the responsibility of the world's largest polluters differ from that of the rest of the world? The average American generates more than 10 times the greenhouse gas emissions as does the average Chinese, and perhaps 30 times more than the average citizen of Bangladesh. (The gluttony of the average citizen of the UK is not far below that of the average American).

The single best comment to Monbiot's article among the 300+

My Head Begins to Hurt As I Read This

Posted by: djnoll on Jan 9, 2007 12:45 PM
I have read much of the comments posted to this article and they are both pro and con. I have spent the last twenty years studying ways to live more gently on this Earth, and I can safely say that there are ways to combat global warming (or just changing weather conditions); address such things as oil depletion and Washington's hypocrises. None of them are easy and none of them are without sacrifice. For the last two years, I have tried to learn how the system works from an academic perspective after having lived within the system as a client for many years because of health problems. I have seen how we Americans have forgotten our strengths and embraced the very weaknesses that have led to the fall of many nations before us. It is time to learn from our mistakes as members of the human race and as living beings on this planet.

By best estimate, we have approximately 10 years to put in place ways to address three problems that will hit home at once: oil depletion, global warming effects, and hundreds of millions of baby boomers retiring worldwide. These three events are as linked as life and death for many reasons, but perhaps the most important two reasons: the money needed to deal with the issues involved will be pulled out of the marketplace in catastophic amounts as required by law, and the experience and knowledge needed will not be in the marketplace because it has retired. Make no mistake, the younger generation with only a few exceptions does not have the education or life experiences, or worse yet the willingness to acquire these things, so it will be up to those of us over 45 to lead. Which, all things considered, is probably only fair since our negligence is getting us in this mess to begin with.

Sacrifice is a word bandied about often by politicians, but sacrifice is what is needed now in reality. It is not just buying a Prius and using public transportation. It is not depending on the Federal Idiots to Bail Us out! It is us bailing us out by taking back our nation at the local level. It means demanding public transportation with public demonstrations, or banning cars in inner cities by city ordinance and making public transportation between cities reasonable and mandatory. It means getting our children back on bikes and on foot to go to the park or the store, not piling them all in the car and driving them every where. It means turning your front and back yards into vegetable and fruit gardens, where you and your family work side by side and talk, instead of ordering out pizza and watching TV. It means making your city councils and county governments pass laws and ordinances that require sustainable agricultural easements for a percentage of land within their borders, and passing laws that stop big corporations from having "personhood" status in your communities. It means demanding that your school districts tell the Feds to take their mindless programs and stuff it, while demanding that teachers teach our children how to think independently again!

Do things that will allow you, your families, and your communities to be completely independent and sustainable so that when these three disasters come together in ten years, you have done all you can to create a quality of life that can survive. If you all did that in your communities, then you could address these issues, dramatically, immediately, and competently. Now is not the time for crisis management, it is the time for leadership and responsible management at the only level which is truly responsive: your hometown communities!