>On Wed, January 27, 1999 at 15:26:44 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes:
>>Paul Henry Rosenberg wrote:
>>
>>>First, "Chemicals Called Main Cause of Parkinson's Disease," which
>>>points up the fact that cancer is not the only disease corporate
>>>polluters are responsible for.
>>
>>Yeah, corps emit the toxins, but ordinary folks like you & me are the ones
>>who use Saran Wrap, drive cars, run the a/c, etc. It's too easy just to
>>blame the corps for the schmutz - it's the way we live our lives.
>
>I gotta object here: like we have a @!#$!@# choice? The costs to
>individuals even to organize with other folks is huge. Consumer
>choice in this country is just a fantasy. Robin Hahnel's expositions
>on the immense problems with externalities makes it clear, to me, that
>market mechanisms practically *guarantee* a situation described above.
Of course our choices are constrained. But if you really believe there's an ecological crisis - and here James Heartfield can tell us why there isn't one - then it's not enough to blame corporations for the problem. The entire American way of life is ecocidal - suburbs, SUVs, Wal-Marts, 5000 sq ft houses in the desert with central air, etc. People acting alone as individuals can't do much to change all that, but you can't just blame "corporate polluters" for the problem.
Doug