Future eaters

In the words of the band Cake (from "Rock and Roll Lifestyle"):
"Excess is not rebellion./ You're drinking what they're selling."


Check it out - the film's called "The Story of Stuff". It's a good, thought provoking 20 minutes. If my post of the video doesn't work you can also watch it at the webpage www.storyofstuff.com

I'm reading a book called "Future Eaters" that's also well worth checking out, all about the influence of people on the native ecosystems of Australasia, from Aborigines and Maori on to the arrival of white man. New Zealand had no native mammals before people arrived (with the exception of a few bats) - birds, reptiles, and amphibians had filled every ecological niche. There were even flightless ground-dwelling birds that ran around like mice. It only took a single cat on one of the islands to complete wipe them out there. Moas are actually the most widely sited example of an extinct species - giant flightless birds that were extirpated only a few hundred years ago (moa roughly means chicken in Maori).

Now, though, New Zealanders are fiercely proud of their unique natural history and very environmentally conscious. There's far less debate here about environmental measures, and a much stronger more mainline Green party - hopefully a vision of what the United States will eventually have.