I have a huge blister on my fat ass and am sunburned. Poor me! --Grin. My cousin wants me to watch her kid and a friend, and I had to tell her that they'd have to bring bikes if they want to go anyplace once they're here. I avoided a party with my family last night because I didn't feel like biking my fat ass up the canyon, where they live. (More specifically, I didn't want to have to bike home down the narrow canyon with crazy drivers in the dark.) Taxis might have to become one of my interim strategies..
Reading "Radical Simplicity" by Jim Merkel, and it's blowing my mind. I'm looking around for everything I could do without, and getting grumpy. It's way too much. I need to prioritize. I think I need a plan, like months to years, because this is major detox, but I'm addicted to like, 1000 drugs (isn't there an anti-war song that says that)? 1000 First World socioeconomic drugs.
I pretty much feel like having a heart attack if I imagine giving up the internet. Or the TV. Or my iPod. I got my graduate degree in Technological Communications, for the love of God. (Ok, ok, Merkel was a technological engineer who made high-grade weapons systems. He wins.) But I believe in the transformative power of technology. I believe technology can be used for good. We got Obama elected using the internets...
I gotta calm down. What CAN I do differently without keening and wailing, as I warm up to this new way of evaluating my life? That is, what Merkel calls "Earth efficiency." The most value and sustenance using the least amount of land and resources. This is a form of capital or currency, as opposed to, say, monetary production or "time saving" in the pursuit of monetary production. It reminds me a little of Al Gore, who said we need to switch to a carbon-based economy (that is, rewarding carbon efficiency).
But I need to think first of the close targets, the low-hanging fruit, as it were..
We already recycle a lot and compost most everything we can. But we still throw away a lot. So,
--Reducing waste. Buying in bulk. Avoiding plastic where possible.
--Local food. Local drink. Organic whenever possible. Rewarding establishments with local, organic and sustainable practices.
--I think personally I can go without meat, and can eat eggs from our free-range chickens. As for the family, I just badgered dear Gary ("I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat plants!") to bike with me over to the college farm (mostly pastured animals, humanely treated) to buy meat for the week. But I know any large-volume, methane-producing, grain-eating animal meat (pork, cattle) is not really sustainable. Goats are really what thrive here, in the semi-arid desert that desperately needs firebreaks.
--I can do without milk, but cheese and cream? Another story entirely. We're already buying milk/cheese from a cooperative (Organic Valley) that buys from the College Farm a mile away. I wonder if I can switch my dairy addiction slowly to goat.. Dear Gary's daughter has one and is generous with the goat yogurt.. Ack, but the cream for my coffee, it can't be goat or soy.. ick!
--Which brings me to coffee. It comes from 2000 miles away at least. Oyoyoy. Ending coffee might be one of my down-list accomplishments. Meantime, organic Fair Trade Shadegrown from the Co-Op.
--Conservation. This I can do. Turning off all our computers and electronics. As little A/C as possible (tough, in this climatic kiln). We have a pool (doughboy), in-ground (I know. But there's no getting rid of it, not my call). It might be a matter of tossing myself and the dogs in it throughout the day.
--Killing the car use. This is the big one. Does it matter that revenge against the oil companies is my main motive?
Back to reading Merkel..
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