The Titanic

The good news of the Deprived Society

In my first article in this column almost 3 years ago, I wrote about a genie whose miracles were not capable of providing a long-term solution to the environmental crisis. That genie reappeared the other day and we had an interesting dialogue that I convey here, in my last 'Leveler' article in greekarchitects.gr.

- You seem to be worried again. Last time it was the environmental crisis, now what is tormenting you? he asked me.

- We are having another crisis now, economic this time: Wages are falling, taxes are rising, hope is hibernating, I explained.

- I know all that, he said. It's not too bad; on the contrary it is good news!

I was surprised and invited him to explain.

The genie

A fairy-tale casting light to some others

cartoon by Chris Madden ©

One night, a powerful genie jumps out of my lamp and tells me that it will materialize any miracle that I wish. Being an individual with an ecologic consciousness, I ask for help to solve a few major problems that, in spite of our efforts, keep troubling us and the planet more and more.

Miracle #1 is an amazing invention to move our cars for free, without fumes or noise pollution. The genie obeyed immediately.

Miracle #2 is to convert all power plants so to use only renewable energy sources to produce electricity from now on. Zap, the conversion was done!

Miracle #3 is about garbage: The genie replaces all dirty dump sites with ‘hygienic waste burial sites’ and makes recycling a widespread reality!