STRONG Salem is for everyone who wants to help and participate in getting Salem, Oregon, to quit chasing Growth Ponzi Scheme plans and instead become a resilient, fiscally responsible place that lives by the wisdom that "Communities exist for the health and enjoyment of those who live in them, not for the convenience of those who drive through them, fly over them, or exploit their real estate for profit."
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
MUST WATCH: Our New Video: Introducing Petrolify! (Please watch and share)
From the geniuses at Post-Carbon Institute.
"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."
Imagine there was a pill you could take every day that would provide you with wealth, freedom, and luxuries beyond the imagination of even the wealthiest kings of yesteryear. Taking this pill would give you the equivalent of hundreds of slaves, working for you 24/7, to grow your food, cool and heat your home, entertain you, carry you however far you wanted to travel, fill your bath with hot water, you name it… That'd be amazing!
Well, guess what? You're already taking it. And it's called Petrolify®.
You're ingesting Petrolify® with nearly every breath and every footstep you take. Most of us don't realize that Petrolify® is being pumped into our water and injected into our food. But we reap its magical benefits regardless. Did you sleep indoors last night? You can thank Petrolify®. Did you eat breakfast today? Again, that was thanks to Petrolify®. Are you reading this message on your mobile phone or computer? The miracle of Petrolify® never ends!
Except that miracle comes with some deadly side effects, and an expiration date.
That is why we created the above parody commercial, to remind as many people as possible that the dream we're living—a dream fueled by a one-time, finite fossil fuel bonanza—is far darker than they might suspect.
When we open our eyes to the hidden costs of Petrolify®, it's easy to blame the 'corporate bad guys'—the manufacturers, the drug reps, the doctors—who are pushing their product on an unwilling populace. But we're not quite so unwilling, are we? No, we want what they're selling. And, there is no "they". They are us.
Thankfully, our wellbeing doesn't have to depend on Petrolify®. We can choose for our energy needs to be met with renewable, and more ecological and socially just, sources. More important, we can learn to live well with less. Conservation doesn't have to be the "c" word.
The first step is recognizing our pill-popping addiction for what it is. Please help spread the word that Petrolify® may not be right for us.
Communities exist for the health and enjoyment of those who live in them, not for the convenience of those who drive through them, fly over them, or exploit their real estate for profit.-- Ted Roszak, "Where the Wasteland Ends"
"Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us." (Henrik Tikkanen)
"Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends." (Lewis Mumford) Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay
If you are thinking a year ahead, plant seeds. If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people. Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it’s my responsibility to make it better. (Gov. Tom McCall)
Jan 19, 2008: LOVESalem reaches the web, bringing a vitally needed message to Oregon's capital city: We must Oregon-ize to put the needs of people before the needs of cars. This requires that we live our environmental values -- that we LOVE (Live Our Values Environmentally) Salem -- by working to stop the Sprawl Machine.
The Sprawl Machine is a ravenous beast that feeds on green space, close-in neighborhoods, and property taxes and that excretes monstrous, ugly road projects that pollute the air, increase mortality and morbidity, promote climate change, weaken families and neighborhoods, and help weaken the social fabric and civic participation.
The Sprawl Machine works by constantly luring its prey with promises that the problems created by cars can be addressed by doing more of the same -- building more lanes, more bridges, consuming ever more money. In other words, the Sprawl Machine promises that we can keep doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result this time.
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