Archive for the 'Environment' Category

Monica mentioned I should watch this video/flash movie.  It’s about all the crap we consume and buy.  We all contribute and participate in this system (ok, there may be a few that don’t - e.g. Scott and Emma for 8 weeks) for the most part.  It tied into many thoughts and principles of mine - e.g. it’s important to consider the big picture and without my health I don’t have much at all.  Anyhow, it’s a good perspective on what’s going on in the world and aligns with my recent scary thought while in Costco this weekend - what happens when China’s majority needs to consume the same way we do today in the US?  Planet meltdown, that’s what.

This morning while reading through some healthcare news I saw a CNN summary of the most recent Diamond  health/wealth  paper.  One thing that stuck out to me while reading the summary was that the best way for this to work is for it to be “mutually beneficial” (between the consumer and healthcare co’s).  There’s a lot of marketing spin from the payers around Wellness (type) Programs and the messages around these and other programs and benefits for consumers come out smelling like roses.  However, consumers should never forget that for the most part healthcare is a for profit industry and it will/should be run as such.  That is, improving health will be placed after improving profit in terms of importance unless improved health means additional revenue for the healthcare companies as well.

This is similar to a computer server company saying they are “Green” focused when in reality they have always been trying to reduce power and heat so they can reduce footprint and AC costs in data centers, thus improving the sales of the product – it is just now that they actually are making it more of a point to the consumer and starting to leverage that intrinsic goodness around their original design goals.  This is a nice segue into why some consider a National Healthcare system better – i.e. clearer motives (debatable for sure).  How do you think the business model works if we move to a single payer and/or more regulated industry post 2008 elections?

I decided to watch this movie after some post kayaking discussion with Brian, Winsome, and Flan at Bridgeport brew pub. This evening I actually watched the movie (The Great Global Warming Swindle (2007) (TV)) - a documentary arguing that Gore’s movie (An Inconvenient Truth) and the current “winning” global warming theory, isn’t so much, true. The movie proved to be much more to me in that it spurred a bunch of thoughts, vs. just considering another view on the cause of global warming. I organized my comments about this movie below around other movie titles and quotes (plus a book title) - don’t ask why, it just turned out that way.  By the way, you can watch this movie online at stage6 for free - whohoo!

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION:
The movie was quite refreshing in that it really spurred many thoughts for me - particularly around how we think and interact with one another and how so many things are linked together, actually everything… and just how many linkages we may not be aware of. For example, when I listened about the fact that the sun’s magnetic field has more than doubled in the past 50 years and when I saw more correlation graphs (e.g. temperature and CO2) my thoughts went on a tangent (surprise) about other correlations – e.g. cancer and the sun’s magnetic field? Were they both increasing the past x years? Anyhow, no time to look into that - just a thought.

ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE:
The movie made me once again realize that we should think on our own. Just because someone is an “expert” doesn’t mean their advice shouldn’t be questioned. This is akin to your doctor being your health consultant vs. someone telling you exactly what you should do. Sure, you can take the latter approach, but you should be aware of the consequences if doing so. That is, one may argue that it takes too much time to do all the research when I can just ask an expert. I can understand that perspective, but again, I am just saying you shouldn’t complain when faced with the consequences. For example, Andy Grove decided to take his prostate cancer problem into his own hands and leverage the medical experts involved, not take their directions verbatim. He survived. Would he have otherwise? Perhaps.

CONSPIRACY THEORY:
Trust is another topic that came to mind when watching this movie. That is, who can we trust these days? The media, our doctors, our scientists, our government? It’s tough to say who we can trust. However, understanding people - their intent, integrity, approach, and background, etc. - helps one better gauge trust. Another trust litmus test is asking the question: “Has the position been argued from the other perspective? ” If it hasn’t, caution in agreeing with the argument may be necessary. This goes for this movie, Michael Moor’s Sicko, books, etc.

SHOW ME THE MONEY JERRY:
The movie highlights the subject of self-preservation in that it is a cause for why the current theory (CO2 is the cause) on global warming is winning out over other theories (e.g. sunspots). In the movie more than one person suggests that jobs, and ultimately money drives the theory more than anything. I find this interesting in that if I zoom out on this topic, what isn’t truly driven by money? How about we setup some graphs that correlate financial motivations and self-preservation with the national and worldwide actions/decisions made in the past 100 years or so? That would be an interesting movie.

WHEN YOU ARE SMART, PEOPLE NEED YOU:
The theory of self-preservation in the movie quite frankly disgusts me. I very much subscribe to the theory that when you are smart people need you. Also, don’t forget, when you are untrustworthy, no one needs you. So if you lose your job, move on and apply your experience and intelligence elsewhere but don’t lose your integrity (it’s hard sometimes). After all, there has to be a related tangent which you are just as passionate about no? Bottom line here, a brain is a terrible thing to waste, each of us needs to make sure we are using ours… (sometimes I think we don’t realize that we aren’t using it).