NPR humor
For some reason I listened briefly to NPR this morning, and, as usual, they did not disappoint. NPR, don't forget, is a national treasure, so fine in its sensibilities and profound in its message that it must be carefully shielded from the crassness of ordinary marketplace competition. Every time I turn it on, I feel a surge of taxpayer pride.
Anyway, following a news/editorial on the joint US-Iraqi effort to clear Baghdad's Sadr City of Mahdi Army "militants" (which was described as having "killed at least 1,000 people, including untold numbers of civilians" -- NPR at its unbiased best!), came a report of some organization's Greeness comparison of 14 countries. And wouldn't you just know it, the US finished "dead last." Oh, dear, can't we do anything right?
And who were the Greeness winners? The winners were India and another country I can't recall, who both won, it was said, because people there "live in small houses without heat or air-conditioning"! It's so great to start the day with a hearty laugh. Thank you, NPR!
I'll bet further investigation would find that some people in India are so committed to green living that they exist outdoors on bio-degradable mats, while other sub-continent eco-saints construct their homes by recycling discarded cardboard, which also preserves precious space in landfills. There are just so many lessons we Americans could learn, if only we'd stop our capitalist grubbing long enough to pay attention.
But I really do think with a little additional research NPR might have uncovered Greeness models even more deserving than India and the other place. For example, I seem to remember reading about a tribe that lives in caves along a shoreline and subsists on raw shellfish. It gives the rest of us something to shoot for, that's for sure.
Byron
Anyway, following a news/editorial on the joint US-Iraqi effort to clear Baghdad's Sadr City of Mahdi Army "militants" (which was described as having "killed at least 1,000 people, including untold numbers of civilians" -- NPR at its unbiased best!), came a report of some organization's Greeness comparison of 14 countries. And wouldn't you just know it, the US finished "dead last." Oh, dear, can't we do anything right?
And who were the Greeness winners? The winners were India and another country I can't recall, who both won, it was said, because people there "live in small houses without heat or air-conditioning"! It's so great to start the day with a hearty laugh. Thank you, NPR!
I'll bet further investigation would find that some people in India are so committed to green living that they exist outdoors on bio-degradable mats, while other sub-continent eco-saints construct their homes by recycling discarded cardboard, which also preserves precious space in landfills. There are just so many lessons we Americans could learn, if only we'd stop our capitalist grubbing long enough to pay attention.
But I really do think with a little additional research NPR might have uncovered Greeness models even more deserving than India and the other place. For example, I seem to remember reading about a tribe that lives in caves along a shoreline and subsists on raw shellfish. It gives the rest of us something to shoot for, that's for sure.
Byron
posted by Byron | Thursday, May 08, 2008
1 Comments:
Perhaps Hungary should be added to NPR's list. Our driver from the airport to downtown hotel faithfully reported that fully 20% of the population was unemployed (actual figure . . . 7.4%, about the EU average), and that Budapest is "full of homeless people." (After two days traveling about, I have counted far fewer homeless people than I used to stumble over daily in the early '90's on my way from 52nd Street and 6th Avenue to Penn Station, but why let facts get in the way of good propaganda?) If true (and Leslie the driver said it was, so, hey), all those homeless use far fewer resources and generate far fewer greenhouse gases than, well, we all do.
NPR should be shuttered as perhaps the one memorable legacy of GW Bush.
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