Time to pick up your toys!

Haven't posted here in quite a while, but of course I'm pretty busy with the forum and a zillion other issues--which is great, as after all, I ought to be spending my time working out the bugs of my "sustainable lifestyle" rather than blathering on about it. Still, I've heard from a number of people who were a bit surprised at a lack of a diatribe around here about the oil spill--especially considering my background. Hell, really, what is there to say? It's a terrible mess, and an obvious and unavoidable result of the demands of our lifestyles. Don't be blaming BP, blame us, all of us, and do a good job of it. Wallow in it, in fact. That would be my advice.

But let's not add insult to injury by not only refusing to relinquish our consumptive ways but in fact adding to them by indulging in extravagant group catharsis and weeping and wailing together in a sugar coated but oh so satisfying fashion-- getting that hypoglycemic hit so we can go on without upset tummies. We all have low blood sugar, you know, we need that kind of attention to our delicate appetites. We can't really be bothered by reality as we'll be squabbly at nap-time. Look, reality is that while the spill is a hell of a disaster, all in all it's anybodies guess whether or not the ecological impact of the spill is worse dumped in the gulf or rather all that oil, even though burnt in trendy Prius hybrids--, remember, it still ends up in the atmosphere, right?--hell, what's worse? I really don't have any idea at this point. I know CO2 is transparent to most people and oil is nasty looking and sticky, and I suspect that's why oily birds get more attention than the melting of the permafrost although it's the latter that's going to cook our goose. Mother goose, in fact. Back to comforting nursery rhymes, of course.

Look: sustainability. As complicated as people want to try to make it living the sustainable lifestyle isn't really all that complicated. It's really about one thing at the end of the day-- whether or not the total sum cumulative effect of one's lifestyle has a net constructive or net negative affect on the larger planetary ecosystem. Whether or not the earth is a better or worse place for yours or my having been born. This isn't a rhetorical question, either, it's capable in large part of being empirically derived. I've been at the "sustainable" lifestyle thing for a long time now, and I'd say while I'm very sad about the spill in the gulf, I don't feel any "guilt" in it as I've bent over backwards, made huge sacrifices in lifestyle for years, educated, advocated, and worked tirelessly for a better world to offset the very modest levels of consumption that I enjoy. That's an option open to anyone. But that's not how most of us want to go about it. We're like whinny spoilt children who want to scatter our expensive toys and treats about, never satisfied with what we have and wanting more all the while, and refuse in any way to be responsible for the mess we make. If someone were to ask us to "pick up our mess before bedtime" we'll squeal and raise all hell and expect to be coddled and rewarded even for our tantrums. Everyone has seen children like that, but we're in reality a nation of children like that. . .

Anyway, practically and today why this comes to mind--Jay's Chicky-Poo has a lot of hair and hairdryers are part of the forest project. I need to get back to work as we run a generator out here, and in order to responsibly clean up our mess I'm planting another half dozen Koa our here to eat our share of CO2 that this little indulgence creates. Hardly a big deal. It will take me a couple hours and we can run hairdryers out here for life. . .

Enjoy whatever you want, just be sure to pick up after yourself. . .