It's what's wrong with us, Starboy.

We want OTHER people to change to make OUR comfort zones sustainable.  And we are insatiable.

In my youth, in New Zealand, I spent an awful lot of time in seawater. I enjoyed diving around sharks because they are so beautiful in the water. The thing is that, when a shark eats its fill, it is no longer a predator... fish aren't fearful and neither was I. A shark in hunting mode gives off potent warning signals: it moves differently, it's a different creature. Only then is there fear in the water.

Sharks satiate. Lions and snakes satiate. All the the most fearsome predators you can name take a break once they've had enough.

We don't.

Our society and economy -- permeated with artificial, fabricated mechanisms (most of them no more substantial than pieces of paper and data entries) like investment, profit, speculation, debt and credit -- encourage us, even enforce us, to store up consumption capacity when we're not actually consuming. And it's competitive.

We don't satiate; we live in a fear-drenched context of constant predation. The fear makes us consume more, "just in case". And the "better" our economy performs, the more we see global poverty rise.

We seem unable to hold back from more of anything: we tell ourselves  NEED entertainment 24/7, we NEED prime cuts and pick-of-the-crop lines from the other side of the world, year-round, , we NEED the latest clothes and sounds and cars and styles. We NEED our pills to avoid the least pain, to manipulate the moods of ourselves and our children, to sleep, to stay awake, to suppress appetite, to lose weight, to gain weight ... forget illegal drugs: prescription drugs keep half the population off its hinges. And we have an education system that prepares us for our futures "in the economy"... not in the real world. It what you'd have to call a decadent society. And the church should be barrelling into the bullshit of it all: it has the means to do it.

We have been driven mad. Mad as in "insane". We are NOT rational... we are out of frikkin' control. And the planet is trembling.

Personally, we can live with less, be proud of living with less and witness the joy of living with less: it's a step towards freedom of the spirit, the mind and of action. It lets you start moving. But we have each of us been told that it's impossible, irresponsible, unreasonable...

That may be the theory, but it's very seldom the practical application.

Politicians have agendas of their own. Self-sacrifice in the name of public service is, unfortunately, very rare in a politician.

Don't you think a dude your age should be enjoying life and partying rather than getting into all this depressing adult stuff ?

Life goes by so quickly ..... you cannot save the world or delude yourself into thinking that you can make a difference , we have no control anyways .... no matter how many coffee cups we recycle

party like its 2099

We're among the highest standards of living in the world

When you start paying your own bills , clothing food and shelter you'll see how untrue that is , right now you are talking from the safety of your room in your family home ..... i know this because you're kind of thinking does not pay for things in the real world ......

Adults are also full of crap.................... everyone who says that they are now saving the planet ...... raped the hell out of it in their youth............ spending , screwing , and wasting at any cost so long as they could save a buck so don't let all this sanctimonious crud fool you ..... we are all guilty .... ain't nobody innocent .....

I enjoyed diving around sharks because they are so beautiful in the water.

Yeah i bet if you had a Great White on your tail you would not be so sentimental .....why not go diving with one of those and see how satiable they really are .....

Jes: you do it. I'm sure it would enhance the darkened little closet that's your comfort zone.

I'd happily swim with a great white provided I knew had just eaten and was past it feeding frenzy mode. I'd be pretty confident that in temperate waters like those around New Zealand, it would swim away from me. I have certainly swum with makos and hammerheads and, once, I'm pretty sure, a grey nurse (which are often blamed for attacks around Australia). I have fed school sharks from my hand. Makos in particular are magnificent creatures... incredibly fast, powerful and beautiful. Hunting, they will come up at a school of fish from below like a rocket... and can fly 30 feet or so into the air. I have seen that once... unforgettable. 

The point is that modern Westerners do not satiate and all other animals do. But few seem willing to learn from other creatures, know anything about them or even take an interst.

If I ignore the fact that you're making an analogy and this doesn't really apply to food, I think of some place in East Asia where people live for about ten years longer than the life expectancy to countries around them. And they attribute much of this longevity to eating only until they are 80% full.

Interesting, huh?

Then, of course, I could make an analogy of my own and say that if we all consumed 20% less, the world would be so much better off. But it's a tragedy in the commons; the initial gain from greed is with more in the forefront than sustainability.

We human beings are mad.  

I love the "planet is trembling" line. It sounds really perfect to the situation.

*sigh*

But in North America, for example, I would think we'd notice if a politician was embezzling funds, or whatever. Not so in Latin America, or wherever. But here! 

Why would a politician become a leader if not for the good of the country? Power, right. But what good is power if you're not going to use it. FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY. 

I'm not talking about individually making amends to the planet. I mean, this isn't one of those long overused "save the planet" speeches. XD I'm talking about the government. The people in charge.

Don't you think that they more than anyone should realize the long term effects of pollution and all that agricultural stupidity that I talked about earlier? It's easy to ignore the environmental effect of throwing a coffee cup out the window, but when you divert the Colorado River to irrigate false farms and in so doing destroy an entire ecosystem and the livelihoods of millions of people in Mexico, how is there no governmental conscious? 

How can THEY not care about the future?

 And jes, blame my geography class. 

 STARBOY: We DO get the governments we deserve and they DO give us what we want, or allow others to say we want. The "Economy" is their Teflon buzzword to shut you up. Things do not change at the initiative of government. Government is always by a measure of consent. And the ball is ALWAYS in the individual's court.

JES & BESH: At the risk of exposing myself totally to your scorn, and without giving you an autobiography, I can only assure you that:

I feel very happy and fulfilled as a person; I cannot remember having had a nightmare; I cannot recall ever feeling bored (although I know I was at times as a child — because my mother made me wash the bathroom with a cup of water and a toothbrush both times she heard be say the word “boring”.)

I have had books and poetry published, plays produced and have travelled to Antarctica, the Arctic, across most of Europe, parts of South America and to several Pacific Islands. I have been arrested as a civil rights activist and been a political candidate for the Scottish National Party.

I have degrees in anthropology, psychology and cultural studies. I got a PhD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. I put myself through undergraduate degrees by working as a dishwasher and labourer but ended up managing a jazz club by night and studying by day. I paid for my postgraduate degree with my writing. I have been a rock and mountain climber and caver, hiker, swimmer, sailor, diver, surfer and mostly a writer.

I have done all of this without a great income — mostly at the request or requirement of other people because I have tried to use what skills I have as generously as possible. I have been a journalist, teacher, editor, hotel night desk manager, labourer, sailor, event organiser, publicist and various other things. I am vice president of the Italian Pipers Association. And I have good, close friends in New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Uruguay, Italy, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. I’m an honorary Life Member of the Falkirk Writers’ Circle in Scotland, a well-known actor dedicated a book to me and two musicians have written tunes for me.

I have been married very happily for 33 years and have one daughter who’s a superbly caring Registered Nurse and a grand daughter, both of whom we’re very proud.

Our combined income has never been great. We love each other more as time goes on and relish the diversity of life we’ve experienced together in three countries.

We have lived (by choice) without electricity and grown our own food, we even did the thing about selling all you have and giving it to the poor, we do not have television or toys; we have one 10 year-old car which my wife needs for her work as a United Church minister.

We usually fast once a week, eating only oatmeal. It gives us pleasure to then eat more varied food the rest of the week. I cook because I learned how, first in the Navy, then in Italy where I learned to cook for flavour, freshness and variety. I cook as an act of love for people we have to meals — we aim to do this once a week.

Besh, in all sincerity, could I suggest you get a bit more experience of real life. It is far better than the bullshit.

 STARBOY: check it out: a child in the West consumes several HUNDRED times the resources of a child born in the East. And as "our" economy picks up, global poverty rises. 

Poor people do eat less and it can help some of them live longer. The big killer in our part of the world is not terrorism, it's obesity. Another big killer is cars. 

The latest figures I've found are that around 30,000 children die in the world every day because they get too little to eat.

And that's NOT because there isn't enough to go around. In North America, something like 40 per cent of the food that's produced winds up in garbage dumps --- and that's largely because our eyes are bigger that our bellies: we throw away what we've bought but can't manage to eat.

And we are too picky to eat heart, liver, kidneys, shanks, brains, fish entrails and eyes (which can be very good) etc... we like white bread, prime cuts of meat and perfect looking fruit and veges that call for heavy loadings of pest killers and fertiliser. Our food is processed to incredible degrees and it's very profitable for the food corporates. It's not so good for the environment. Do YOU want the government to close down McDonalds and Tim Hortons? Just don't go there.

If you are sincerely concerned about the planet, the place to start looking is your own dinner plate, not at governments, especially governments not your own.

 And YOU are doing?

I told you what I've done for a long time and it has been about deliberately moderating demands and consumption. 

The computer by the way is the one my wife needs for work and I need as a writer: no-one accepts pen-written manuscripts these days.

I don't know what your life story is supposed to prove to anyone except gross ignorance of the world around you that you say that you are supposedly so aware of 

do you really think that the vast majority of people can earn a living writing books and plays and being a musician maybe that worked in the 40's or 50's but I would love to see you try to survive like that today and provide for a family .... you would never get beyond one mortage payment before having everything you own tossed on the streets ....you're spouse would probably leave you and your child confiscated by social services for neglect .... 

you must have been the anomaly of your generation................unlike other young men  out making money and nailing everything in a 10 mile radius and providing for their families something better than oatmeal for supper  ...

Hoohahhhhhhh then you were ............working as a dishwasher or a labourer as some kind of hobby to prove that you are like everyone else  ?

Some people work as dishwashers and labourers their whole lives they do not eat prime cuts of meat they live on the cheapest cuts of meat like ground beef , rice , pasta and corn the worlds most used crops ....  people eat at Mc donalds because it's cheap .... they don't have the luxury of fasting once a week they are hungry much more of the time than that.

I guess you never had much of any ambition to make something more and acquire more things so you scorn other people for wanting the better things in life that you could never acquire ..... under the guise of wrecking the planet ........... oh the rest of us should just envy your sacrifice ... if you want to eat dirt that's just fine but don't be jealous of what others worked for to get  be it two jobs or 55 hour work weeks .... because they have marketable degrees that are NOT anthropology ..... don't pretend that it does not bother you that you cannot afford to get a new car for your spouse or don't care enough to do so since saving the world is more important ....

Jes:

A newer car? You are very funny. I detest cars; I'd be delighted to NOT have one. PEI has no public transport system. I prefer to walk or bike but work creates requirements: the economy works that way.

Writing books, etc? Jes,  I AM surviving like that! 

Of course, not EVERYONE can do it. Just as not EVERYONE can sweep streets or be doctors. We need to be what we, individually can best be.

And each of us CAN follow our own dreams and, if you work hard at something and get really good at it, you can survive doing anything you want. That's real work because it advances your life, not the stuff that owns you. A comfort zone is a trap.

As for what you can and can't do...I have a friend  who turned a love of diving into his life by building an international guided diving  and dive trainaing service. Another who was a vet, saw where his real "self" lay and now makes some of the world's finest Scottish smallpipes for a living. I know many people who have done such things. Most of the artists I know have long pusued life  and living over gain and appropriation.

It's far better that getting rich THEN doing what you think you want to do because when you do get around to it, you won't have the knowledge to enjoy more thatn a skimming of it. You'll be a tourist not a traveller.

And the trouble with "goals" is that getting there changes you and, when you finally attain the goal, it no longer satisfies you because you are a different person. And, in the meantime, the world is likely to have changed and the goal you dreamed of is no longer what you imagined when you set out.

Chasing goals and money is to lead a hollow life, which is partly why our society is so troubled and in such great need of painkillers. 

Better things? I can't imagine better than what I've enjoyed. I have always been curious about the world and its diversity.

Enjoy different things... just try not to mess up the world too much because it is something to which every person and every living thing has rights.

You seem to be a born follower without dreams and that is very sad. Money, no amount of it, will change your feeling of lack or because your lack in within you. That's a sad waste of lifetime. The economy pretty much ensures that most of its adherents experience disappointment. It's rigged that way, like Lotto.

Loads of luck. On the path you've chosen there's nothing else to wish you.

I know.

That makes me think of the early European gentlemen who would tour the plains of America and shoot dozens of buffalo at a time, only to eat the tongue and let the rest rot.

*sigh*

If you look at it from an individualistic point of view, it's my responsibility to look after my small part of the world and ensure my future. That's all there is to it.

But a government? They're responsible for an entire country, and its future. Yet all many leaders have succeeded in doing is creating a civilization that's built to collapse. 

And really, as an individual, I'm pretty much powerless to 'save the planet.' Sure, you can rant about the power of one and the success of Craig Kielberger or whatever. And yeah, maybe I could do something. But at the end of the day, I'd have to fight for my power, whereas the government is given it freely.

So why won't they do something?

And yeah, one of the books I read was American. Go figure.

A friend of mine used to say that the problem with democracy was that we've gotten smart enough to give ourselves bread and circuses and there's something to that. People are tending to take a very short term view of things. With global warming, rising debt, corruption, and everything else, it's not severely affecting us at this precise moment so we don't make it a priority. We don't consider it to be worth making even modest sacrifices. Right now in the U.S. there is consideration for some "cap and trade" legislation to help sustain the environment. It'll be a tough fight politically for a bill that requires only very small improvements, implemented over several years. It only does a little and we'll have to fight tooth and nail because some people don't want to make even the most token sacrifices financially for our own lives and the lives of our children.

Yeah tell people they don't make financial sacrifices when they have mortages to pay

LOL this forum sure draws in the delusional ............

in a globlal recession people are supposed to give a crap about globlal warming .... ?

yes jes. they are.  because it isn't all about us.  oh and if you wish because unrestrained climate change will cause worse economic political and social unpheaval.

Mike P - a heartfelt smile & pat on the back, and reassurance that some of us are looking for a similiar life to what you &  your wife have been living.  Bah humbug to the others.

Jes- one of the myths of our society is that being green is costly.  Well, it ain't.  in fact, if we reduce our demands, we reduce our consumption.  If we alter our lives, we reduce the costs of it.

I'm not delusional.  I have pinched pennies and raised my kids and found my way.  We eat healthy food that doesn't cost a ton, and since  much of it is vegetarian and local, that is reducing our impact.  And its tasty enough that my young teens like it.  Where is the sacrifice or the delusion in that.

I hang my clothes outside.  It takes a bit of coordination, but I also get 10 minutes to listen to the birds and get some fresh air.  That is a perk that beats running my dryer all night. 

I buy lots of second hand clothes for our family, with my young teens quite happily getting MORE clothes  plus a new outfit sometimes in exchange for LESS new stuff.  We want a rainbarrel so watering our garden of veggies is free.  We walk and talk and rent movies sometimes instead of paying for endless cable & hydro to keep us in the house, stuffed up and insulated.  We keep life simple so that we don't break things, buy stuff, use up stuff, or hurt people.  We work on the idea that 'green is best, cheap is next' to send a message that we care about the world, and we don't care about frills.  (Green to me includes ethical, since people are creatures too!)

Don't tell me a family can't afford to care about the planet.

Jes- one of the myths of our society is that being green is costly.

Gosh you're funny

You're looking at things from a layperson perspective and a consumer................ and like most of the people in those positions have zero understanding how expensive and expansive a process job creation is?

from notes on a napkin to implementing technology............................ you think you can buy that stuff at Walmart ? no?

do you have any idea about operating expenses for a company ...... just an average company ? I doubt it ..... ..... if you have an economics , logistics . mathematical or scientific background .................the writing is clearly on the wall

Consider also how many jobs have been lost to the green movement................. so now we have people who are jobless and can't even afford the locally grown organic produce .... get real just because you save some money on paper towels does not make the green movement prosperous for all ....

Jes just pretty much naysays everything.

She's obviously very angry at the whole world, and very adamant on making sure everyone knows it.

A few people have come out in support of Green, so she's agaisnt it. If you'd started out against it, she'd be for it. It's just pure contrariness.

Once you realize that you can avoid getting sucked in.

You've just proved my point .............. kudos to you mr sheep

You have a point?  Really?  That may be the very first time in all of your troll-ish existence here.  I don't see your point, but since you are new to the concept, I'll cut you some slack.  Please resubmit.

Clearly you have uh shortcomings of your own .......... being angry at me isn't a surgical option ....

I am with Mike here somewhat, there is a huge problem and the magnitude of it is getting worse.

We are getting overfed on fast food and becoming two of the richest nations on the planet. Corporate Greed is the worse there is. 

On the one hand we are told "don't shop at walmart because some child labour practice is behind it whether directly or indirectly. But hate to admit it is a lot cheaper for me to buy a wrench at walmart for $5 then almost $10 at Joes hardware. Even though Joes needs support. 

The government wants to only increase on tax and not decrease, why should we pay a $60 tax on our drivers license renewal on top of the regular cost. That is a Miller tax grab municipallly by "TORONTO THE GREAT." That is BULLSHIT.

Yet our cost of living is increasing each year because too many people want to live in major cities and have to work in them. Congestion is getting worse, I have to think a whole hour and a half to drive in an easterly direction on a friday evening at rush hour just to get to work or vice versa going west bound in the morning.

I love the rainforests and would like to see them protected not have BIG PROFIT corporations move in and clear cut the shit out of the place that drives the indigenous people away or forces them to work for unmodest pay.

You have corruption at the highest level in those countries.

It is expensive to live nowadays. The average price of a home here in toronto gta is $400,000. Who can afford that kind of asinine mortgage if you are not a bank president, CEO or mafia crimelord. 

30 years ago we could handle the influx of immigration but now it seems like its bursting at the seams.

Do people really have to work 3-4 jobs at $10.75 per hour all around the clock just to pay your $1200 a month rent. Really, so the asshole politicians can wine and dine on our tax coin like we've been hearing about and live in mansions with hefty payouts waiting for them , huge bonus' s for their wealthy CEO neighbors and political buddies. Then they can go cruise their yachts up in muskoka while the average citizen is neck deep in  bills and living in increasingly more poverty stricken neighborhoods. 

Since we have the power to determine who represents us, I would agree with Mike Paterson in his first post that the problem is with us...we need to change that if we want to see change in that respect. Why elect those whose first interest is the corporate sector...who dance steps are called by powerful, behind-the-scenes, men? This is not rocket science -- in general, we get the representatives we deserve, in my humble opinion.

I have a sick feeling that our unsustainable civilization is going to become the biggest sacrifice of all.

I am astonished that you fail to see how the environment and the economy are related. You know how much money is spent in Canada and the US for water treatment annually? Billions upon billions of dollars. And that's just one of many examples.

A low-income family buys less expensive food. Sure, buying cheap monocrops does you good in the short term. But when the government has no choice but to raise taxes to pay for extensive research into more agrochemicals because the pests today are growing stronger than they've ever been? When obesity costs billions of dollars in health care?

Environmental degradation? It's going to cost us.

It sickens me to see leaders in politics turning a blind eye to environment crises because of their ties with oil companies and international coorperation.

There's no integrity.

Time for some anarchy.

There's no integrity.

Time for some anarchy.

Oil companies provide jobs sweety

If you're willing to go the anarchy route I hope you don't mind no electricty or running water because in those types of situations those things are the first to go

A lot of times being green can be financially sound. I work for Wal-mart. In recent years the newer stores being built use more skylights. This is considered aesthetically pleasing but it also reduces the electic bill some becasue during daylight hours we're using fewer lights and therefore less electricity. We also now have a "no idling" policy on our deliveries. That means less gas being wasted and less gas being purchased. On an individual level there's the new(ish) energy saving light bulbs. They're more expensive to buy, but last longer so you spend less money replacing them so often and they lower your electric bill, so you save money there. Ultimately they put money in your pocket. Examples abound.

I can think of few corporations who are, on the whole, nuking our environment more than Walmart.

I live on a completely solar-powered house, so don't tell me shit about losing electricity or running water. It's not going to happen. (Maybe more people should live like this.)

How much money did you spend doing that?

those after school jobs must pay well

Strarboy: you've been ambushed by intractible attitude-bearers here who will trample to death any change, or voice seeking change, if there's a chance that the change might interfere with their immediate enjoyment of life or disturb their perception of sacrosanct rights to grab what you can and stuff everyone else... stuff the world, in fact. They know little of the world and have experienced little of what's beyond their back door. Their imaginations and sensitivities are blinkered by what they know they know and they prize those blinkers like life support systems.

It's rule by the rough and greedy. You learn it by taking MBAs, or you can learn it with a street gang. The Middle Ages were a developed form of this. You will not get a discussion here: just a blasting.

This is the big dark, powerful Me Zone where many of our politicians find their support base... unfortunately. It's rooted in primal fears, it's blinkered against wider views or ideas, and it's hell-bent on trashing the world. And they'll blame the world for not having been up to the challenges.

The reality is that the world IS up to the challenges and will take us all out if we don't change our ways. Take heart... many people ARE changing their ways. It is just taking a frustrating amount of time. 

Besh: I really don't want my grandchildren living in a depleted, dangerous, hungry and uninteresting world because people of my generation and other current generations were KNOWINGLY and calculatedly greedy beyond the point of vandalism and stupidity to the point of ruining ecosystems, economies and opportunities for them.

Immediate impacts are necessary to hand on a future that's liveable. And I see no way for those imapcts to be distributed except on the basis of justice. maybe you don't have Vanuatuan friends. Sorry -- I do. And their islands NOW are becoming unsustainable. They've never been rich, and their problems have been caused by those who are, not least by American, Korean and Japanese fishing industries who've stolen resources that the Vanuatuans do not have the means to defend. Now it's their fresh water that's on the way out, thanks to climate change. I have friends elsewhere in the Pacific who are threatened by Western greed... and in Africa who've been getting screwed over for centuries by people ranging from Arab slave traders to Canadian weapons manufacturers. We don't have any natural or acquired right to KNOWINGLY devastate the lives of others.

You are not arguing from a point of view beyond immediate self ineterest and risk to your comfort zones. That's not big enough a perspective any more. the world's got a lot smaller and a lot more closely intergarted and interdependent. Hoew many relatives would I allow to die? Which relatives?

Oh no it's okay if the rest of the world starves so long as your grandkids have a great life on earth

How disgustingly  egotisical of you .... what makes their lives so much more worth it ?

 Jes: re your question: zilch!  What makes you so special? Zilch. What makes me special? Zilch!

It's everyone's future that's on the line -- there's just one World... we are integrally connected by that fact with everyone else on the planet. For a few to knowingly jeopardise all is simply not justifiable.

We are gluttons ? right.............. tell that to the thousands of Canadians who have been using food banks !!!!!

Jes:  Most food bank users I know are well aware of the disparities around consumption and the rapacity of greed in this country: they're its victims. And unnecessarily so... Canada is one of the richest high consumption countries in the world. Yes, we are gluttons because. as a society, we place the freedom to accumulate insane piles of goods, wealth and consumption capacity ahead of justice and security for all.

Do we really think people in those parts of the world bitch and complain about not having 2 percent milk on the shelves and flax seed bread the way we do  either ......... most of the worlds population is drinking dirty water , unpasturized milk and rice and grains that are laced in rodent feces ....... I bet they don't choose not to eat either and become anorexic like the middle class abercrombie and finch wearing  spoiled girls do here .....

And don't get me started on the dumbasses that made bottled water companies rich there must be a reason why Evian spelled backwards is NAIVE !!!!

Actually there are organic options in developing countries where it's often the case that only the big corporate landowners can AFFORD the chemistry. And they're exporting.  I have seen beef farming in Uruguay and it's free-range organic: the cattle are rounded up once a year and culled. They free range the rest of the year.

A number of indigenous locally staple foods (but certainly NOT rice) in the poorest parts of the world have NEVER had chemistry added to them. A proven safe pesticide has been used against  coconut leaf beetle in the Philippines and the Pacific where  trees being were particularly heavily infested but a lot the control is through biological controls.

Ironically, it's usually crops grown for the rich that get especially heavily laced with pesticides because we are so fussy about what produce LOOKS like: the U.S. is notorious for offloading banned pesticides to Mexico and other countries. They go mainly  onto crops that come back in the U.S. and Canada as luxury and out-of-season produce for our supermarkets.

Yes but YOU don't pay for anything when you start paying for stuff you will understand how things do or don't pay for themselves ......

Or why don't you tell it to the millions of overweight people?

Explain to me what I don't understand, then.

This is not difficult .... it's easy to TALK about changing the world , implementing more efficient homes , energy sources , lifestyles .... do you think these things are free ?  they cost money .... money that someone personally has to spend , someone that has other responsiblities something which right now at this point in your life you don't have you don't have bills to pay , car payments ,  a mortage , kids to feed so in all fairness the cost factor is not on your horizon .... you are aware that we are in a recession , you are aware that countless people have lost their jobs , homes , cars  ..... very basic things not extravagent things ..... tell me that you are that much more informed about the very basic cost of living that many people are not able to meet .... otherwise this is all great in theory but not so possible in practice.

Of course they're not free, and of course they cost money. I guess I need to remind you that the focus of this thread was supposed to be on the governments. Why aren't THEY doing anything?

And don't go into a rant about how the governments don't have money either – the United States spends billions and billions of dollars in trying to retain soil that's eroding because of the poor farming techniques that they encouraged and continue to encourage. 

Or how much money is Canada putting into nuclear power / fossil fuels research and building? And then how much money goes to waste cleaning up the needless destruction and pollution?

Sure, we're in a recession. It's still not worth it.

Change, indeed, comes slowly. But it comes not at all if we cannot learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. If we see the foolishness of a misspent youth let us not invite youth to repeat the mistake.

To all of you, Starboy has asked a legitimate question about the shortsightedness of government. He used the example of enviromental degradation but the question is "what is wrong with our government?"

Government reflects the electorate. Voters typically select representation that best reflects the voters interest. Governments govern largely by assessing the will of the public. It is all self serving for the majority. So, Starboy, your post wonders aloud why is government not a source of leadership, so your question might be, i would say that your question might be better asked: Hey Folks, where are the wise leaders of your generation, and why aren't they in government?

Many of those who struggle with weight do so because they are consuming low-cost, low-quality foods that are filling but high in carbohydrates and fats. When you can't afford protein foods and fruits and vegetables, you fill up on what you can afford. And, when eating poor quality foods that are high in carbs, it sets up imbalances in insulin, and results in cravings for more carbs. No surprise that true obesity strikes those of lower incomes in higher percentages.

We've somehow been duped into a position where, instead of having an economic system that serves common interests and expresses principles like justice, we feel we have to serve the economy. What IS the economy? It is a knitted together network of assertions, practices, conventions and beliefs (all potentially open to challenge) that enriches the already rich, keeps middle income earners on par decade after decade, and deepens poverty at home and abroad.

It seems like middle-incomers and the poor should be putting a few demands back on "the economy" and the politicians locked in its thrall. 

That's very true.

And so I ask: why isn't the government doing anything about this?

Governments do what will get them re-elected, or what will get them rich afterwards if they don't get re-elected.