Saturday, April 12, 2008

Hedonism, Humility

I have been in a nasty meme these past few days... I've been seeing articles about the pending food shortage, an economic collapse and an environmental threat looming larger and larger every day. I get inertia and depression from thinking about what the next 20 years will bring (or even the next 5. On a smaller scale, my adjustable mortgage goes nova and I'm madly trying to refi)... I have an ugly feeling. I find it hard to get out of bed, let alone through a day without thinking this is all hanging by a few threads. I hear stories about the shit that goes on down in the Congo and wonder how thin resources have to be before people lose it completely. What keeps people working together? What tears them apart? Why are we not able to go 180 from something simples as driving to work as opposed to taking the bus? People are buying green - but the problem is not the green part, but the buying. We as a species are truly out to lunch. Marxists said that religion was an opiate, but i beg to differ -- the fact that we think our world will be corrected in fits and starts of buying green products has been a religion unto itself (See ECB's article in the Stranger). It gives people a big sense of accomplishment with only an actual nano-effort of true responsibility. So what do we do? We should list our sins (like religion) and go about correcting them. With that - I will give you my trespasses:
1) I take long showers. I know this is a cardinal sin. What's worse is that I often shower at the gym and then at home (essentially taking 2 showers a day).
2) I take cabs over public transit. This is basically having a car for however many minutes, I realize and shoots down my 'urban-walkability' image.
3) I am irregular in my recycling - meaning, I try to recycle everything, but I'm never fully sure what I should be putting in (and I often do not clean out the containers)
4) I sometimes use cleaners that are not good for the environment (but then again, I seldom clean so there you go).
5) I buy a lotta crap, made in foreign countries with low environmental standards.
6) I turn the heat on -- often when I do not need it.