A few days ago, I spent 20 minutes talking with a reporter from CNS News. He called The-Edge to solicit some opinions for a "preview" piece on the Sustainability Summit. I explained that I did not speak for EEI and that I was only expressing my personal opinions. I gave him some detailed critiques of Bush's positions, mentioned that George I showed up at Rio but Junior bowed out because, with his record, he'd be the "skunk at the dinner party." I called the US the world's reigning Superpower and the world's reigning Superpolluter. I called for replacing dead-end fossil fuel-based economies with renewable energy economies for the 21st century. I emphasized that the reason these summits happened is because millions of individuals and thousands of groups around the world are demanding solutions the the environmental crisis. I told the reporter that this was why it was important to pay attention to the parallel peoples' summit being held by the NGOs. He said he had not heard of the people's summit and promised to look it up on the Web. So, instead of using the material I gave him on the Summit, he chose to focus on some comments I made about the Third Ecocity Conference in Yoff, Senegal.
Below is my response to CNS reporter Marc Morano and the article as it ran on CNS.
I have since done an interview with Zev Chafits of the New York Daily News. I would expect his article to be a bit more balanced.
Vaya con Gaia, Gar
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 19:20:53 -0700 To: mmorano at cnsnews.com
Hi Marc, No wonder I couldn't find my comments about the Sustainability Summit in your article on the Internet: The focus of our 20 minute chat was shifted entirely to my passing comments about the electrification of one village in Senegal. I'm used to being quoted out of context but this story was a corker!
Rather than deal with the out-of-context problems, let me note a few other problems.
I have to take particular exception to the line that says watching TV was "allowing their more primitive traditional ways to fade away, according to Smith." I never would have used the phrase "primitive, traditional ways." Those were your words, not mine. I don't think that traditional culture is "primitive." That word has elitist and even racist undertones.
When I cited the collapse of Russia's industrial plants, I emphasized that I was talking about the elimination of "smokestack industries." It is possible to have sustainable industries that do not pollute. There are many studies that predict a shift to an economy based on renewable energy -- solar, wind, hydro, geothermal -- would not only improve the environment but would create more jobs, a more robust economy and a better quality of life.
Patrick Moore correctly notes that people deserve good teeth, decent nutrition, proper health care and education. The problem is, he says, that "they can't afford" these things. Unfortunately, these problems won't be solved by building a coal-fired power plant and stringing 600 miles of electric lines.
I hope Mr. Moore is helping to solve the problem of poverty abroad by regularly sending some of his wealth overseas through the many global organizations working to address the problems of malnutrition, disease, homelessness, unemployment and social injustice.
For a Sustainable Earth, Gar Smith, Roving Editor @ The-Edge www.the-edge.org