I Have Friends

Opinion, People, Tech 3 Responses »
Dec 142008

I have friends. You wouldn’t know it from the few snide comments on the site. But for one or two, my ‘friends’ have nothing whatsoever to do with it. I guess they’re too entrenched in their lives, or bummed out, or tired of me trying to be some sort of oracle about the environment. They might even think I’m flat-out stupid for even trying to make a difference in how people live their lives.

I have relatives. You wouldn’t know it from this site. None of them take the content here seriously because if they did they might feel driven to change how they live. They might feel a need to stop doing resource-intensive activities they really enjoy, like riding motorcycles or auto cross racing. Or leaving all the lights in their house on. Of course, they can’t take me or this site seriously. They would have to change.

I have business and professional associates. You wouldn’t know it from this page because they’re all consumed with running their businesses and paying their employees and bills. There’s no profit—and no time to waste—in exploring what they could do to reduce their carbon footprint. So they too ignore this page, even while hiring me to advance their businesses through web development and marketing communications.

I have unknown visitors from the Internet. You wouldn’t know it from this page. They’re mostly too rushed to linger long enough to savor the acrid sentiments of one writer who knows what the real source of the world’s environment problems is.

The real source? It’s you, unique visitor of the moment. I’m not too broke, rushed, bummed out, arrogant or smart to spend time and energy trying to reach you.



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The Birds Lose a Good Friend

Environment, Opinion, People No Responses »
Mar 012007

My mother was a well-known birder, writer, lecturer and teacher who passed away February 27 from lung cancer. She lived from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the new Environmental Great Depression of 2007. She was a true friend of the environment.

This time, the depression isn’t simply economic. America recovered from the Great Depression. This time it’s environmental. Can mankind recover from bankrupting the planet’s natural environment?

While the earth and all its creatures are suffering from our studious neglect and institutionalized indifference, people in this beautiful country continue doing what they have always done, which is buy into an economic paradigm that equates progress with our ability to consume everything that isn’t nailed down, trash it when we’re done, and leave finding a solution to the problem of our declining environment to the supposed experts.

Just after my mother passed away, I was excoriated by someone I care about for taking a “superior” tone about the source of the world’s environmental problems, such as NASCAR and the huge industry behind it. I was told that people “around here” don’t want to hear criticism about their favorite forms of recreation, all of it mechanized and resource intensive. Moreover I was told that I could expect any number of threats from “Bubba.”

Well Bubba save yourself the dime. I’m onto your games and they suck because they’re suicidal. I’m reaching out to give you a hand to save you from yourself.

I’m sorry if anyone finds the truth offensive. Too damn bad. People who can pull their heads out of their asses long enough to see what is going on make great environmental crusaders. You should try it. I might not come off as superior to you.

NASCAR is the problem. NASCAR sponsors, drivers, fans, mechanics, tracks, bobble head announcers, cameramen, etc., are the problem. Bikers are the problem. Bike week is the problem. NFL is the problem. NFL fans are the problem. Stadiums where lots of people drive to week in and week out, year after year, and watch their precious teams are the problem.

Whatever is unnecessary by environmental measure is the problem.

If you identify with corporatized recreation enough to get mad at someone who insists the stuff that passes for “recreation” in a large swath of middle America is a big part of our environmental problems, you should take a harder look at what’s killing the planet and where it’s coming from.

Any mirror will do.

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