October 16, 2007

Does this strike anyone else as a case of fiddling while Rome burns?

posted by JJ at 5:12 AM CDT on October 16

Then someone suggested ultimate frisbee and we have never looked back.

LMFAO!!!!!!!!

I move for a man law vote..... Frisbee is an activity not a sport, and so men shall only engage in it while trying to impress bikini clad women.... All in favor?

posted by firecop at 8:54 AM CDT on October 16

He does have a point, but as ever with him, he makes it in a very childish way and his comments are littered with sweeping statements. All golf courses, he claims, use vast amounts of water and are covered in chemicals, but he neglects to mention the many courses in his native Britain that need not water, but drainage because *looking out the window* it never... stops... raining. He also doesn't mention that the rough on most German courses is virtually non-existant because of the tight restrictions on fertilisers there.

Both omissions ironically would have furthered his cause had he included them - mentioning that it rains enough itn Britain indicates how much water is needed, mentioning the light rough in Germany highlights how much fertiliser must be needed to grow it up in other countries.

As usual, he spends the first half of the article quoting obscure or irrelevant sources (a book Player wrote thirty years ago?) and accusing people of being vague with the facts, then he fills out the article with his own little collection of vague and unsubstantiated "facts".

And why only talk about Player in the environmental context? If his company won't talk to you, talk to someone else. There are at least a dozen ex-pros with very high-profile course design businesses, any number of which would happily talk to you, George. Or maybe they did and he just didn't find what they had to say inflammatory enough. He lives about half a mile from my house. I'm going to the driving range on my way home tonight. Maybe I'll drop in on the way and see if wants to come too.

posted by JJ at 10:29 AM CDT on October 16

Does this strike anyone else as a case of fiddling while Rome burns?

Not quite. From the first article:

One of the reasons why so little has been done to stop climate change is that everyone makes an exception for themselves. We can all agree, for example, that there are too many cars on the roads, while insisting that we cannot possibly leave ours at home. The same problem applies to businesses: the people who run them might agree that collective action urgently needs to be taken, but unfortunately their sector is just too important and its requirements too demanding. This seems to be the prevailing ethos at the moment in sport.

He's got the central point right, IMO: any solution to the problems of climate change will require individuals to do the right thing and not proclaim their specialness and their entitlement to an exemption. Regardless of our politics, we've become far too accustomed to looking to policy solutions for big nasty problems, and neglecting our individual responsibility to create the solution in our everyday behavior. The devil is in the details, and the details add up: one person who says, "One person won't make any difference" and (for example) tosses a bag of litter out their car window won't have a big impact; a million people saying and doing the same thing will have a huge impact. The way to act is the way that you wish everyone else would act.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:37 PM CDT on October 16

Is there any way that you can push that rain towards the Southeast part of the US? This is what is left of Raleigh's water supply:



That was a lake. It hasn't always been some sort crazy-ass looking river.

posted by NoMich at 3:13 PM CDT on October 16

I did some work for a humanitarian agency in Burma earlier this year. If you deal with the Burmese military in any way, shape or form, you are despicable, in my opinion. To get any kind of business underway there you will have had to pay off the junta. Maybe Player is ignorant or knows this but isn't saying. The only golfers who will be able to afford to play on the course are the same kind of people. Whatever George Monbiot's faults, he's right on this one.

It's the middle of the worst drought in a century in Australia. My creek (and main water supply) nearly dried up for the first time ever, and my area isn't even drought-declared. In some places, any outdoor use of water is banned. The local football pitches have been rock hard for the last few seasons, but you get a good bounce off the fairways.

posted by owlhouse at 6:23 PM CDT on October 16

No need for superballs, when you can actually hear a 40 metre wedge shot landing on the green, followed by 10 minutes fishing the ball out of the Brunswick River.

Velcro balls would be good, but then they would stick to the club face.

posted by owlhouse at 10:27 PM CDT on October 18