free water is a privilege, truly impoverished peoples livein ran shack housing, and their immediate surroundings is their biosphere whichprovides them with essentials. These truly are essentials, and if these are threatened inany way then their subsistence may be in jeopardy, it seems like the villagers at lasGaviotas have come to know this. They are doing more to try to help save the planetbecause while rich suburbanites in America may be able to afford purified water andsheik sunscreen, their economic status is one that if they cannot live off the fruits of theenvironment as is, then they cant live. They are setting the example though, it ispossible, but is America ready to get off its addiction to oil? Thats a whole other story. It requires too much hard work. The people of las Gaviotas dont dress in Armani andHillfiger they work very hard at collecting pine resin to be used in cosmetics, perfumes,paints, and in medicines instead of petroleum-based substances. The worker in thepine resin processing plant at las Gaviotas doesnt make a six figure salary, but he cango home at night knowing that he has caused no ill effects to the environment. It doesntseem to me that America is ready to make that distinct switch from materialism tocommunalism. At las Gaviotas the elements which provide so much potential energy have beenharnessed. Solar kettles have been developed by Lugari to sterilize drinking water;this water can then be heated using solar water heaters to use in the hydroponicgrowing systems of this village.5 Also windmills are used to convert the energy of thewinds into consumable energy. The energy potential of the sun and wind has beenknown for a while, as have the resources to build homes and automobiles using theserenewable energy resources.6 Incorporating these changes though would require thatsome of the most powerful companies loose all their money, and that isnt going tohappen. It would also require that we alt...
