Can I please be taken off this mailing list.
Thank you
--- Original Message ---
From: Paul Routledge <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: August 31, 2012 8/31/12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Take the Train
Dear Alison, Susan, all:
Agreed..about the synergy between individual behaviours and mass movements and cultural-economic practices.and about the privileges of some (usually vs the many). The link between the two is crucial I think, as Susan rightly highlights.hence the contradiction of privileged flying to Nepal but in solidarity with (and at the request of) movements..
Best
Paul
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Allison Hayes-Conroy
Sent: 31 August 2012 13:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Take the Train
The vast majority of people taking part in these conferences (academic geography ones to begin with) are coming from places of privilege. The very fact that we are able to fly to California, or London -- or Nepal for a Via Campesina conference for that matter -- is surely indicative of some kind of privilege (or a lot of support).
I think it's OK to look at this critically. It seems to be shirking responsibility to say, oh, it's just an individual decision, so paying attention to it is not necessary, and not aligned with our critical theorizing. Who gets to fly around the world is NOT fully an individual decision. That's the point. So while I agree with Walter and Paul about the need to move away from individualistic thinking in the green movement, we are talking about more than voting with your dollar here.
Allison Hayes-Conroy
Visiting Assistant Professor
Geography and Urban Studies
Temple University
[log in to unmask]
On Aug 31, 2012, at 7:05 AM, Susan Ruddick wrote:
Hi Paul and Walter...
Agreed of course the major issue is not individual behaviors but larger questions that go to the heart of modes of production, growth for growths sake, and the links between neoliberalism and environmental destruction (one of my colleagues, Scott Prudham, has written some great stuff on this w James MacCarthy), and *exclusive* focus on individual behaviours can have a disciplining effect while relentless destruction continues apace in other quarters.... and of course I fly places as well where alternate travel is difficult (AAG Hawaii is a case in point)
But, that said, I don't think it needs to be an either/or, and I think (perhaps following Tarde) that there can be a synergistic effect between localized cultural shifts and the emergence of mass movements, or even links between struggles in production and consumption (think Caeser Chavez and the grape boycott) - so properly posed I don't think these things are incidental
and to my mind shifts in one set of practices can have knock on effects that speak to the collective reorganization of everyday life...
so although the question I posed seemed focused on individual behaviour, for me it's not about rejigging a set of individual behaviours to get into a kind of competitive "my carbon footprint is smaller than yours" but rather reshaping a whole array of cultural practices that might feed a different kind of vision and a different kind of movement...
On 31-Aug-12, at 5:56 AM, Paul Routledge wrote:
Greetings all:
All good stuff on the use of trains.
Though, I have to agree with Walter on this. Environmental change will come from organized and radical mass movements initiating societal transformations rather than individual behaviours. I was recently in Nepal (I flew) for a climate change meeting with La Via Campesina (South Asia). Peasant leaders from the Bangladesh landless people's movement argued that mass occupations (in their case, of land) were the best way to address climate change, thus preventing corporate/state uses and environmental abuses of said resources.
Best
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nicholls, Walter
Sent: 31 August 2012 10:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Take the Train
This is all fine. I prefer trains over planes any day.
However, doesn't this focus on the behavior of individuals shift the responsibility of saving the planet (or achieving justice) to the virtuous acts of individuals and away from the structural forces of capitalism? The green movement's disproportionate focus on individual behavior can provide corporations an opportunity to get off the hook. For example, I know a guy who works for KLM and remarked that only 1% of customers choose the carbon offset charge. He then said to me, 'You see, the people choose not to be green when given the option."
Best
walter
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Murakami Wood
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Take the Train
I recommend this site, 'The Man in Seat 61', as an essential resource for everyone trying to book long-distan
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