So where are they and what are they doing? (page 4 of 33)

Wow, you did that, Agnès? 😮

I don’t know what to think about it; leaving it or deleting it both make sense. It depends on the resentment you might have felt and the emotion or disappointment it caused you. I wouldn’t have thought of it, and in your place, I would’ve left everything: what’s done is done. Erasing yourself is also a bit like denying who you are.

Oh, this reminds me of something I used to hear kids say: "What’s given is given, what’s taken back is stolen" 😛

A few years ago, I was invited to a private forum with a section even more free-spirited than "Travelers’ Reflections." My column—a mix of current events and sharp humor (a bit of Desproges, a bit of early Dupontel)—absolutely and totally outraged the forum’s "snowflakes" and the Master, who was a participant, moderator, and administrator all in one. Meanwhile, in the same section, he ran a pretty extravagant, bizarre, even quasi-surreal chronicle. You could say it was ridiculous, too. I’d taken care to stay well within the bounds of the law and found my writing quite caustic. Even though I’d actively participated in other sections of this very small forum, I was quickly banned. It’s funny how the same people who were singing your praises one day are the first to throw stones the next, as if the past had been completely erased. It makes you wonder how sincere they were in the first place. One day, I got an email informing me that, in accordance with the rules, all my posts would be deleted from the forum. I thought it was illogical not to keep things that added value to the forum. Still, it was in the past, and it didn’t matter to me that everything was erased. However, someone else in my position might’ve wanted their posts to stay up after being banned, if they were still available to others.

For the record, something similar happened to me on VF that I never could’ve imagined. One day, a member took one of my comments in this section *very* badly, even though it wasn’t directed at them personally. We’d had mutual respect and cordial exchanges before. But it wasn’t their over-the-top reaction that stunned me—though they would’ve been better off talking it out (given our history) instead of losing their temper like that. No, what *really* stunned me was that this person went through the trouble of digging up *all* our past exchanges and deleting every single reply they’d ever written to me. Well, *almost* every one— in their haste, they missed a few, which just adds to the absurdity. I wondered if they were stomping their feet, foaming at the mouth like a tantrum-throwing kid. I can’t even say I was disappointed, angry, or holding a grudge. I was just *stunned*, as they say, and ended up laughing about it—the kind of laugh you have when you think you’re dreaming. At first, I thought the act was mind-bogglingly stupid. Later, I was just amazed by how worked up they got. Since then, time has passed, but it hasn’t washed away the respect I have for this person’s qualities. No one got hurt, and there are worse things in life. In my mind, I’ve also hit the "Erase the Past" button.

Anyway, even if you tease us sometimes, I think it’s a good thing you’re back in top form. Because you *are* in great shape right now, aren’t you?...

First and foremost, because an ecological awareness has matured in my mind. Besides the fact that airplanes are an environmental scourge, they’re also a melting pot of the world’s social inequalities.

No kidding? Well, I guess you’ve got to take that with a grain of salt...

So traveling, yes, I’ll give it a try someday, but... differently.

Could you elaborate a bit? No more planes, no more cars either... No more safaris? We’re not gonna bike to East or Southern Africa to see lions and elephants, are we? Or maybe by boat? Do you have any ideas? I’m interested.

I read that post-COVID would change a lot of things. Cruises, at least, still seem to have a bright future ahead... At least, that’s what I’m reading on this forum. Is it an eco-friendly solution?

A cruise ship pollutes as much as a million cars. Cruising is outrageous!

For someone who wants this forum to come fully back to life, you’re really going all out to welcome the returnees... 😇 ( You’re not the only one, by the way)

Hi Kate, Yeah... Iran... so many memories! What a country! Anyway, you're right—the photos section was really great, with some amazing shots. I got so much enjoyment out of it. But like I mentioned earlier, unless there’s a major change, my "exotic" destinations are behind me now...

Or else, one photo a month isn’t much

More like 3, right?[;]

Over time, I’ve forgotten how to do multi-quotes, so I’ll take it step by step.

The real challenge is answering you factually without sounding... guilt-tripping. So, first, I’d suggest reading an article like this one:

https://reporterre.net/Le-tourisme-industrie-de-la-compensation-des-vies-devorees-par-le-travail

For East Africa, unless you’ve got plenty of time, you *have* to fly there. Yes. But that’s not the point. The real question is: is satisfying a deep desire to see hyenas worth trashing the planet? In other words, should selfishness take priority over the common good? These questions are harsh and often seen as guilt-tripping because they push for a broader reflection—one that usually means rethinking your habits and lifestyle. And I get that not everyone’s ready for that... For me, it’s a brutal realization! Meeting people who are nothing like me, seeing unique landscapes, getting close to endemic wildlife—all of that used to be my driving force. I’d barely get back from one trip before planning the next! But here’s the thing... Unless you’re a climate denier, there’s an ecological emergency we can’t really ignore. Ideally, we’d have laws to address this. But we’re not there yet (thanks, neoliberalism and lobbying...). So individually, we’ve got two options: either “Don’t feel like sacrificing, so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing” or “I’ll take action to clear my conscience.” I went with the second option...

I’m using this post to preempt the stupid comments like “Oh, don’t you have a phone, by any chance?” that my message might trigger. So... yes, I have a car, yes, I have a phone... They’re work tools I can’t do without. For everything else, I try to do... my best!

Reporterre, the watermelon website: green on the outside, red on the inside. It’s like a cult, with some charming prospects of returning to the Middle Ages. Just browse the "Luttes" (Struggles) section to get the idea. Fighting against big entrepreneurs who create jobs and still keep the country afloat—only to, let’s be honest, just take their place without having accomplished anything—I don’t subscribe to that. Too bad, because there are so many relevant articles on this site, so many justified demands.

I’m sorry, but the world will always resemble the human being: an animal with an evolved brain, who has dreams, who wants to live better, in more comfort. These traits inevitably prevent leftist utopias from thriving for long and significantly slow down ecology, among other things. By the way, the only way to have hope lies in stopping the growth of the world’s population. Explain to me how to do that when we’ll be 10, then 15, then 20 billion.

Don’t feel alone—we’re probably many who recycle well, reduce our consumption of all sorts of products, walk more and drive less, and wipe away a tear while watching documentaries where humans, animals, and ecosystems suffer. But now, it’s up to America and Asia to make progress. Here, things are improving, even though we’ve crossed some red lines and can’t avoid others: we’re manufacturing electric vehicles whose production cycle makes them, overall, even more polluting than regular vehicles. At the same time, for years, I’ve found it strange that plastic bottles are getting softer and softer, meaning we’re inevitably ingesting more and more of their components. Not to mention the staggering number of products recalled from stores due to their harmfulness. Things aren’t getting better.

When you work all year, being highly productive, under a cool and sometimes too gray climate, with the feeling of being betrayed no matter who you vote for, it’s unrealistic for many to even consider not flying off to the sun at least once a year.

In principle, your convictions—and especially putting them into practice—do you credit. One question: haven’t you ever felt like you’ve gone from one extreme to the other?

Good evening,

When you work all year being highly productive, under a cool and sometimes too gray climate, with the feeling of being betrayed no matter who you vote for, it’s illusory for many to even consider not flying off to the sun at least once a year.

Interesting. I was recently reading an article by an Italian sociologist (which I can’t seem to find any more than Agnès can find her edelweiss photos), about overtourism and the environmental and social damage it causes—places turned into Disneylands emptied of their inhabitants. He argued that one of the reasons for humanity’s frantic hopping from place to place is the stress of daily life, the need to take a break, to do something that stands out and feels good.

The real question might be: how do we escape our work to find time?

Catherine

Hmm, this isn’t really a question for us French folks—we’ve got vacation time that a big chunk of the planet envies. And I’m not even talking about teachers. It’s more about the funding side that there’s a catch.

Reporterre, the watermelon site: green on the outside, red on the inside. It’s like a cult, with some charming prospects of returning to the Middle Ages. Just browse the "Struggles" section to get the idea. Fighting against the big entrepreneurs who create jobs and still keep the country afloat—only to, let’s be honest, just take their place without having accomplished anything—I don’t subscribe to that. Too bad, because there are so many relevant articles on that site, so many justified demands.

I’m sorry, but the world will always resemble the human being: an animal with an evolved brain, with dreams, wanting to live better, in more comfort. These characteristics inevitably prevent leftist utopias from thriving for long and significantly slow down ecology, among other things. By the way, the only hope lies in stopping the growth of the world’s population. Explain to me how to do that when we’ll be 10, then 15, then 20 billion.

Your message seems full of wisdom. Nothing to add. I could’ve said the same thing, just not as well.

At the same time, for years I’ve found it weird that plastic bottles are getting softer and softer, meaning we’re inevitably swallowing more and more of their components.

This is a topic that really speaks to me, having observed over the years the ever-growing and invasive plastic pollution all over the world, which inevitably ends up in the sea with all the dramatic consequences for flora, fauna, and ultimately, humans. The world is literally drowning in plastic! I’m amazed that in economically developed countries, no effective measures have been taken yet to address this scourge... When I was a kid, there was very little plastic packaging. Bottles were all made of glass and were returnable. We’d bring them back to the grocer to save a few cents. Recycling happened that way. Would it really be so hard to go back to such measures? If so, then I’m very pessimistic about implementing the drastic solutions I think are needed in other areas to reduce our carbon footprint and the resulting climate change! As for me, my contribution to ecology is limited to buying only the bare minimum of plastic-wrapped goods—and absolutely no plastic bottles!

The main issue would be with funding.

Why?

When I was a kid, there was very little plastic packaging... Bottles were all glass and they were returnable... We’d take them back to the grocer to save a few cents. That’s how recycling worked. Would it really be so hard to go back to those kinds of measures?

Glass bottles aren’t a perfect solution either—they have their own downsides. Safety first: glass bottles break, and the shards can cut. Dangerous for the people handling them—both workers and regular users. You can find plastic bottles in 1-liter, 1.5-liter, 2-liter, and even 5-liter sizes. Glass bottles of the same capacity would weigh a lot more since the glass thickness increases with the bottle size. You’d need at least three or four times as many trucks to transport the same amount of liquid (leading to more road traffic, fuel consumption, etc.). Not to mention shipping the empties back to the bottling plant. And let’s talk about those returned empties: they require a full cleaning, which means a huge amount of water, detergent (bottles that held milk can have dried milk residue, which is especially stubborn), and energy for drying. All in all, I’m not sure the final balance sheet favors glass...

Nothing's perfect, but these drawbacks seem minor compared to the ones caused by plastic.

Check out this article: https://www.futura-sciences.com/sante/actualites/cerveau-scientifiques-ont-retrouve-particules-plastique-cerveaux-humains-115671/

Glass bottles aren't the perfect solution either—they have their downsides too.

I’m not exactly ready to drink Petrus bottled in plastic...

Even less so after reading this.

Glass bottles aren't the holy grail either—they have their downsides too.

I’m not exactly ready to drink Petrus bottled in plastic...😏

Isn’t that called “la villageoise”? 😏

It’s less dreamy...😕

That’s less dreamy…😕

So this forum’s just about wine now? 😉