Squeers,

I am using this forum to answer your last post to my article as have run out of posts.

No, I apologise if you feel I was disparaging of theory.

I am merely saying that is not my prime interest. Of course, one should have a conceptual framework to make any case.

Thanks Chris but no--I'm sorry. If there's one thing I should have learnt by now here it's that whatever you say it won't please someone. And I've no cause to complain since I haven't properly responded to your article. Time's my enemy :)

*I dunno Poirot, most of the chains people struggle against are self inflicted*

Well exactly, Houllie. The point is, people have more choices then
ever before, its up to them to live as they see fit. Personally
I choose to work as much as I need to work or I enjoy it. The secret
is to find something that you love doing and people want to pay
you for it.

Poirot, if you read up your anthropology, you'll find that the
hunter gatherers worked least of all. Today, a great many people
don't work more and enjoy a far cushier lifestyle. No picking fleas
off each other, no dying of every bacterial infections.

So how much do these people sitting in offices really work? 35
hours a week or so, a good deal of it on facebook or fooling around
the internet, chatting to friends at work and the rest.

Houllie's other great point, was the question of what is too much
and in whose eyes? Squeers gets his knickers in a twist about
eating meat and SUVs. Well where I live eveyone drives SUVs,
country people need them. Where I live there is no shortage of meat
either and no reason to think that you will save the planet as
you go veg.

I just have a problem with hypocrites. We had a classic case in
Perth, of a now infamous Indian couple. She'd rave on about the
environmental evils of eating meat. Meantime they were building
their 65 million $ Taj on Swan house and flitting around the globe in
their private jet. Pfffft.

I've had solar hot water for 25 years, never owned a clothes dryer
either, whilst there is a sun out there. OTOH I recently decided
that the old 35 year old stove needed replacing with a modern one.
I also wanted to find out what the Apple story was all about, so
ordered an Ipad 2 and a Macbook and some software to find out.
I love good design and clever design. Err so what?

Squeers just a couple of weeks ago I met a retired engineer who was involved sewage.He had invented a system of using the swimming pool water and filtering system recycling 80% of water (excluding sewage)in a domestic situation for a capital outlay of just $1,000. Sydney Water did not want to know about it since they would lose too much money with such an efficient system.It is all about revenue and the environment can go to hell.

The greens want to get rid of the human environment.

Dallas,
"The greens want to get rid of the human environment". True but they with their policy on death want to rid the planet of humans, by abortion, euthenasia, same sex marriage, reduction in human population and industrial activity etc can all destroy the viability and emotional health of human society.