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HOT-people
HOT is short for Hope Optimism Technology.

HOT-people are those comrades in power - on the hills of Washington and Bern, on the top floors of Exxon and Nestlé, in the ivory towers of Harvard and St Gallen - who almost religiously believe that money and technology will solve all environmental problems, together with sufficient hope and optimism.

The HOT people are telling us fairy tales about yet-to-be-discovered technologies, as well as "dematerialised", "sustainable", "green", "different", "balanced", "etc." growth, which will be win-win-win for all, for climate change, for wildlife and biodiversity, for the economy and jobs, for the poor and the rich alike.

Factually technology cannot recreate depleted resources or revive extinct species.
Technology may - on the surface and temporarily - reduce visible pollution.

Technology increases the speed of resource exploitation and destruction, such as is happening in mining, fishing, deforestation, destruction of biodiversity, industrial agriculture, motorised transportation, water use by electricity and irrigation dams, groundwater pumping, and industry and high speeds in general.

Hope and Optimism relegate present problems to the future and prevent acting here and now, with the knowledge and techniques that we do have.

HOT-people have a tendency to deny real problems and finding relief in ilusionary solutions.
HOT quotes

HOT links:

  • The Davos Open Forum on Sustainability and Economic Growth
  • "Don't count the sheep - Talk to the shepherd"
  • Jacques Grinevald discute avec Beat Bürgenmeier
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