Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Destructive Mission

Space shuttle Endeavour will crawl through a 12-mile stretch of South Los Angeles streets to end up at the California Science Center. At first, everybody thought that would be great. Get a glimpse of the big spaceship. Be a part of the legend. But then they learned that Inglewood would lose 128 trees, and South Los Angeles neighborhoods would have to spare 265 trees.

Over 400 Los Angeles neighborhood trees will be chopped down and pulped to clear the way for the titan ship. The titillation and joyful tittering among affected residents soon gave way to protests. Hey! You can’t cut down our trees just to haul that big bastard through our neighborhood.

The California Science Center has promised to plant twice as many trees throughout the impacted neighborhoods in an effort to replace the trees. But is that enough? Of course, it’s plenty of planted trees, but they will be spindly, tree skeletons that will require more than a decade to approach maturity and provide the type of shade and aesthetic quality they do now.

Of course, some city officials are fine with hacking into mother nature’s side for the must cheaper instant gratification of being to able to forever brag that the Endeavour shuttle came through their neighborhood. From a Real Source:

“The move of the shuttle allows the city to be a part of this national endeavor,” said Sabrina Barnes, Inglewood’s director of parks, recreations and library services. “And gives the chance to address problematic trees that have eroded the landscape.”

It’s a ruse. An economic collapse is coming. There is very little in this society for us to take solace in. Our way of life has been dramatically reduced, and is slipping away further every day. But we will always be distracted by another parade. If it’s not sports heroes, it’s a trip to Mars, or it’s a dead, world famous celebrity. 

But how hollow is the victory? How cheapened are the achievements of our space program when thirty million plus people have been out of work for years. Families without homes. Criminals on Wall Street not in prison, and still doing business as usual without any government regulations or reforms. Millions of children in this country go hungry. Homeless shelters full of single mothers and children. Our banks have become spiderwebs that have ensnared most of us, and we’re being sucked dry. 

Our economic models are not sustainable. Consumerism is not sustainable. Resources become scare. People buy more than they can afford. Credit bubbles expand and burst. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to lug a space shuttle around the nation on a congratulatory victory lap, and to replant and repair the neighborhoods affected by the shuttle’s transfer, we could put our last remaining national wealth and energy into sustainable energy, good-paying jobs, and make certain everybody has a place to live, food to eat, and a chance to create their own prosperity.

The goddamned space shuttle! What a distraction.
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2012-09-04 06:49:12

Source: http://www.deardirtyamerica.com/2012/09/space-shuttle-endeavours-final.html