Thanks for the comment. I grew up in West Michigan, and even in the 80’s I remember more and more of the Lake Michigan shoreline disappearing behind condo’s and strip malls.

Our consumptive “If we build it, they will come” attitude is what helped get us into this economic downturn. The answer is not to “do more of the same.” The answer is to “Renew” older structures, do more with less, conserve, re-use.

I agree with everything you said. Progress does not have to mean tearing down the old and building the new.

I have begun to volunteer my time and efforts to the Land Conservancy (here in west Michigan) to put my energy into a positive direction. But…I still feel frustrated and betrayed by others ideas of “progress”.
Susan

quote*Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. *end quote!

Now! if there be 182 country’s making items for the world to buy and they have only 5% of the pie in China…duh! This company makes the nice people of China support their currency(yuan) by keeping it in their country working for the people there…. but with the yuan going up in value and the US dollar going down…all the foreign items that the American consumer buys thinking it is cheap has went up in price.

People…its all about the currency and to keep a currency strong you got to keep it floating around the country you live in so it can work for you. For the past 12 years all them US dollars are being shipped overseas to a foreign bank and with the American worker not making anything for the foreigner to buy the “we the people” have to turn to the “second” largest employer in America(Uncle Sam) to sell “we the people” debt in order to get all them dollars back!

50 years ago a foreigner would had given their left nut for a US dollar or a Hershey’s chocolate bar and today the same foreigner has got Uncle Sam and the American consumer by both all the while Hershey is moving the chocolate factory to Mexico. Wake up! America and think “MADE IN AMERICA.”

quote*”Considering that there are over 30,000 ships at sea this morning,” writes James Carlton, director of the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, in an e-mail, “the total number of organisms and species in this global ‘bioflow’ on the morning your readers read your piece could be staggering – billions of individuals, and thousands of species.”

Indeed, scientists have long considered ballast water the primary way invasive aquatic organisms are introduced. From the zebra mussel’s arrival in the Great Lakes, to an American jellyfish severely disrupting Black Sea fisheries, the potential costs of accidental introduction of a species to new homes can be tremendous. Aquatic invasives cost the US $9 billion yearly, according to estimates by David Pimentel, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Zebra and quagga mussels (a cousin to the zebra) alone cost the $1 billion annually.*end quote!

yeap! $9 billion of hidden cost to all taxpayers for tat so-call “cheap is chic” items from a foreign land. Cheap is not what made America the powerhouse of the world… made in America did. Remember…when you buy a foreign item a person in the USA didn’t make it…put the word pride back into your towns…..shop around!

Cheers

Perhaps when the oil runs out, or before then when it becomes to pricey , society will realise the values that you listed, and value them once again.

By the way, I love the graphic.

Cheers