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April 10, 2007
The New World Order
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| Some time in the last few days I think
the New World Order took over the U.S. and Europe. They now seem to be
flying their flags over the Esplanade. I also heard helicopters over the
hospital, but I'm not sure if they were black. Actually, these are the Earth Flags of Chico which are part of a project spearheaded by Jennifer Rotnem, Bill Knudsen, Andy Keller, Jillian Buckholz, Mimi Riley, and Lorena Beckham. At least that's what this pdf file says (the link also describes the project if you want to learn more). Last month the Chico City Council voted to bend the rules to allow these flags to fly on hardware normally used for American flags (I seem to recall they actually suspended the rules). The mounting hardware is privately owned, and the owners agreed to share them with this project. The Earth flags did not replace the stars and stripes which were not scheduled to fly at this time. Personally, I'm still very much a nationalist. I love America and all of the opportunity it provides to its people. Globalism annoys me because the people that live under tyrants or in forgotten backwater dumps aren't jumping up and down for global togetherness. They'd rather be right here in my neighborhood working for a living. And I know Earth Day (and Earth Flags of Chico) isn't about globalism, but this is my blog so I'll pontificate at will. I do like the Earth Flags of Chico. They are a nice change of pace, and I like to see locals get excited and do new things. It shows we've still got some fresh blood pumping in the community. I might even suggest a Mars Flags of Chico next year, because all that orange would look fabulous. |
Posted by Lon at April 10, 2007 05:18 PM
Comments
They are pretty, I'll grant them that.
But, in the new world order of things, I wonder; How much CO2 was expended in their lobbying for, manufacture of, in the raw materials procurement, in their shipping, in their placement, and in their removal, and eventually in their disposal?
If they want to push Earth Day, I'm all for that. We all need to be reminded that we have only one place to live.
But in this new world order that's being imposed on us, a carbon audit for any government sponsored or approved activity, no matter how "green" should be mandatory.
Just like EIR's, we'll soon need to tally and calculate just how much carbon an activity will produce before it can be approved. There should also be a carbon payback calculation, i.e. how much will this activity save in the long run?
Just trying to play by the rules of this new world order, don't shoot the messenger.
Posted by: Anthony at April 10, 2007 05:40 PM
Anthony,
My initial reaction to the flags was "hey, that looks like the UN flag." But I realized the UN didn't have the organizational talent to pull off a project this big.
You may be right on the environmental impact report and green-house-gas emmissions. The EIR was designed to give options for projects that had less impact on the environment. That is a good tool to have when building for the future. Unfortunately, they've often been used as tools of obstruction and contribute to much higher costs of infrastructure.
I can see green-house gas emission used in the same way.
Although I think even if emissions were an issue this project would contribute very little. A larger impact would come from all of the growth and building efforts underway at CSU Chico, which prides itself on sustainability efforts. Even a green building is less carbon neutral than no building at all.
It's always interesting to me that the largest business in town never has to explain its growth impacts on the community.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at April 11, 2007 07:11 AM