Not that this comes as any surprise to those who read our Guide to Green Drug Use, but the cocaine habit — indulged by a great many white collar urbanites — is potentially the most destructive thing you can do to the environment from the comfort of you own livingroom — or your favorite nightclub. According to Columbia’s Vice President: each gram of cocaine snorted in the developed world equals the destruction of 4 square meters of the world’s precious rainforests. Ouch.
Thanks, Cindy.
So many drug users are holier-than-thou about purity: organic macrobiotic diets, green this, eco that. I’m delighted, finally, to have a response (apart from the usual, You know that eating a raw, grown-only-five-miles-away carrot won’t help you when the crap your heroin is cut with destroys your vascular system? which never seems to make an impact).
And four square meters is a lot. How many zillion bugs alone could be saved if you just didn’t snort that line?
Oh, and while I’m ranting against holier-than-thou Green Gits, let me say this: stop fucking burning wood in your fireplaces. I can’t breathe. The particulate matter is killing me–killing a lot of other things, too, I should think. And it’s bloody inefficient. Just stop it.
Nicola Griffith 
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, they have wood burning stove police. On “no burn” nights(air pollution), they give you a ticket if they spot smoke coming out the chimney.
barbara, we could do with some burn police around here. Last night the people behind us made a humongous all-day-all-night fire in their fire pit, then as the dark fell, all the neighbours up the road thought burning their rotten applewood (or whatever) would be a tremendously fine idea. My chest still aches. I suspect we’ll have a repeat performance tonight. I want to roast them all, then mince them and throw them to the coyotes.
Just came up from the beach, nice and sunny here today, not as much wind but still on the chilly side.A few months ago I read an article in Fortune about leadership and they had an interesting quote from Indra Nooyi, the CEO of Pepsico. She said that when dealing with people always assume positive intent, when you assume negative intent, you get angry.I try to remember her statement when I interact with people because life can be damn frustrating if I don’t. I’m not sure what the positive intent of burning a cord of wood could be, but maybe there was one?
Oh, I know why they did it, and getting into their mindset it makes sense. They were having an all-day drinking party. It’s cold. So why not sit outside, in the cold, and, like manly men, burn half a tree and get in touch with their primeval wasteful selves?Usually I’m relatively (and isn’t everything relative *g*) live-and-let-live about neighbour-related weirdness, but not being able to breathe makes me testy.
As to the rain forest and dope, I am not surprised that coke sniffing affects it. If we despise nature, it will get rid of us, one way or the other. Fair is fair,
Man– man. Yeah. You know, on a sort of related note, Slow River reminded me a bit of Neal Stephenson’s “Zodiac.” Same kind of– “listen, you are carring about the wrong– listen, you aren’t really– oh. Oh, you are just part of the problem too, aren’t you” thing.Stupid cocaine.
Yep, stupid cocaine.
I wish the whole planet was a “no burn” zone. I’ve been keeping myself away from commenting here, because I’ll just get preachy and I hate being preachy. Meh. I’ll give in a little. This will be one of those “walking for miles in the snow” comments. I’ll rant and then run off to my Martha Wainwright concert. I second what Nicola said in another post, <>“I wish more people would use efficient stoves or simply switch to gas fireplaces.”<> E and I decided three years ago not to turn on the heat until December–and then we do so only for a few hours a day. Our apartment is really small (600sq ft) and energy efficient. We have those green insulated windows and a gas furnace. But any strain we can avoid putting on the environment is great. Right now, we are freezing, especially because we’re used to the warm Mexican temperatures. But it’s not December yet, so no heat in the house. When I sit at the computer, I’m wearing two layers of clothes, ankle and wrist warmers (to keep my hands from cramping up while I type) and a hoodie. E is watching the TV inside her sleeping bag. That’s how freaking cold we are. I know not everyone can afford to do the same. Also, many people live in places that are way colder than Vancouver. What I do believe is that we could all exercise some moderation, trade in a bit of comfort in exchange for hope we’ll be able to offset the environmental disasters our wasteful lifestyles have been causing for too long. We need to invest and try out new ways to power our lives. My mom installed a bunch of solar panels in her home back in Mexico and is absolutely pleased with the results. Her consumption of gas and electricity are almost negligible now. I’m appalled that every country down South isn’t running on solar power already. I guess one step at a time. And “no burn” nights are a good way to start.
karina, solar panels: yes. Suffering over furnace/not and calendrical lines: no. The amount of energy/effort you and E expend to stay warm in a freezing flat might, in my opinion, be better spent writing editorials to convince others to be very slightly less profligate. I worry when I think people might be confusing austerity with sense. I think there are more efficient ways to save the planet.
Oh, it’s no different from what we would be doing in Mexico. The neighborhood where E and I grew up is on a mountain. Houses get very cold in winter, just as cold as it is now in Vancouver, yet don’t have furnaces. No home does, unless it belongs to a politician or a mafia lord. So we’re used to wearing lots of clothes indoors during winter. Outside, the sun would warm and we could shed the heavy jackets. It really feels decadent for us to turn on the heat just because we have it here. Maybe one day we’ll get over this silly guilt and be warm in November. You’re right, though. There are much better ways to help the environment. I have a friend who collects rainwater and that is what she uses around her home. She also grows her own food. And I think she lives in such austerity, I think she tries so hard and yet it means so little in the large scheme of things… it all seems so pointless. But we still have to try.