I ran into this recently, a chart that shows the levels of pollution that nations are contributing towards our polluted oceans.
However, there seemed to be one discrepancy. While I have no doubt that this is has some measure of accuracy, it nonetheless seems misleading that the United States would be on the bottom of this list, when in fact, I believe that a good percentage of the trash that we would find in the oceans would likely clearly be American, in some way or another.
Let me explain: while the United States might not directly pollute the ocean waters as much as some of these other countries do, they nevertheless make consumer products and packaging that find themselves clogging up our waterways and oceans all around the world. Being the richest economy in the world means that American goods are sold literally the world over, and so many American products are what you will find in these waters, and that should not be so easily dismissed. Also, since this is such a big economic engine, it needs a lot of energy to fuel it, to make that economy run. Thus, the oil that so pollutes the ocean waters near, say, Nigeria, is at least as much the fault of greedy, mostly American corporations, as it is of the Nigerian people or government that allows this to happen. Also, let's face it, those big oil companies would not bother if Americans were not, as former President George W. Bush once stated, "addicted to oil."
The fact of the matter is that the tremendous waste and pollution found around the world is more a product of extreme, unlimited and unchecked capitalism as anything else, and it is choking the life out of this planet. And nowhere is this extremist version of capitalism as virtually unquestioningly and proudly championed as it is right here in the United States, where mindless consumerism has been a way of life now for many decades.
Many Americans like to think of themselves, and their nation, as exceptional. Hell, many even outright subscribe to the very political notion (although many of them would deny that it is, in fact, a political doctrine) known as "American exceptionalism." Those who believe in this believe that the United States has every right to do whatever the hell it wants wherever the hell in the world it wants to, and whenever the hell it wants to do it. If that means starting an illegal and immoral war in Iraq under false pretenses, than fine. If that means having economic hitmen essentially bully third world dictators into setting up a favorable political and economic climate that gives major American corporations the means to exploit their land and/or people, then so be it. If that means that the trend of closing down a way of life exemplified here by what used to be smaller scale capitalism on Main Streets throughout small towns in America, and now choking the life out of smaller, more specialized shops, including local food specialties in Europe, in favor of mass marketing of fastfood chains and cheaply made frozen foods and such in their supermarkets, then so be it. If that means that children in other countries skip education and work instead in sweatshops that exploit them with nearly slave wages to produce consumer goods that are then sold at tremendous discount back here on American shores, then so be it. And if that means that rivers and streams where people get their water in third world nations in, say, Southeast Asia, are now choked with plastics and garbage, and need to be freed so as not to clog up the flow of the river, then so be it. Indeed, if entire parts of oceans are now littered with our consumer trash, so that our goods are sold around the world and major corporations meet quarterly expectations, then so be it.
Of course, those who subscribe to what is known as "American exceptionalism" will deny outright ownership of all of these horrific results, but the fact of the matter is that this version of "freedom," as they see it and advocate for, does indeed lead to these kinds of results throughout the world. And many who identify with this thinking simply shrug their shoulders, and sometimes outright mock, the results, as if it is their right not only to impose all of this upon so much of the rest of the world, but to take sheer joy in it, to boot.
And we here in the United States wonder why much of the rest of the world views as collectively as the "ugly Americans?" We keep electing so-called leaders who serve the interests of their corporate sponsors and champion this nightmarish way of life, that is producing staggering levels of pollution throughout the world.
So yes, technically, this is a chart showing which nations produce the most pollution towards our oceans, although I think that the United States, which ranks low on this list (although it is definitely still on it) deserves at least an asterisk for a uniquely damaging role that it plays here:
The fact of the matter is that the tremendous waste and pollution found around the world is more a product of extreme, unlimited and unchecked capitalism as anything else, and it is choking the life out of this planet. And nowhere is this extremist version of capitalism as virtually unquestioningly and proudly championed as it is right here in the United States, where mindless consumerism has been a way of life now for many decades.
Many Americans like to think of themselves, and their nation, as exceptional. Hell, many even outright subscribe to the very political notion (although many of them would deny that it is, in fact, a political doctrine) known as "American exceptionalism." Those who believe in this believe that the United States has every right to do whatever the hell it wants wherever the hell in the world it wants to, and whenever the hell it wants to do it. If that means starting an illegal and immoral war in Iraq under false pretenses, than fine. If that means having economic hitmen essentially bully third world dictators into setting up a favorable political and economic climate that gives major American corporations the means to exploit their land and/or people, then so be it. If that means that the trend of closing down a way of life exemplified here by what used to be smaller scale capitalism on Main Streets throughout small towns in America, and now choking the life out of smaller, more specialized shops, including local food specialties in Europe, in favor of mass marketing of fastfood chains and cheaply made frozen foods and such in their supermarkets, then so be it. If that means that children in other countries skip education and work instead in sweatshops that exploit them with nearly slave wages to produce consumer goods that are then sold at tremendous discount back here on American shores, then so be it. And if that means that rivers and streams where people get their water in third world nations in, say, Southeast Asia, are now choked with plastics and garbage, and need to be freed so as not to clog up the flow of the river, then so be it. Indeed, if entire parts of oceans are now littered with our consumer trash, so that our goods are sold around the world and major corporations meet quarterly expectations, then so be it.
Of course, those who subscribe to what is known as "American exceptionalism" will deny outright ownership of all of these horrific results, but the fact of the matter is that this version of "freedom," as they see it and advocate for, does indeed lead to these kinds of results throughout the world. And many who identify with this thinking simply shrug their shoulders, and sometimes outright mock, the results, as if it is their right not only to impose all of this upon so much of the rest of the world, but to take sheer joy in it, to boot.
And we here in the United States wonder why much of the rest of the world views as collectively as the "ugly Americans?" We keep electing so-called leaders who serve the interests of their corporate sponsors and champion this nightmarish way of life, that is producing staggering levels of pollution throughout the world.
So yes, technically, this is a chart showing which nations produce the most pollution towards our oceans, although I think that the United States, which ranks low on this list (although it is definitely still on it) deserves at least an asterisk for a uniquely damaging role that it plays here:
The Countries Polluting The Oceans The Most by Niall McCarthy, Dec 11, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment