The Green Issue

I agree with about 75% of the sentiment of this article, which is about how specialization in modern society contributes to global warming - how we as citizens see ourselves as separated from our consumption and actions.

My favorite bits:

I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart.

I didn't watch "An Inconvenient Truth." But this reaction sums up a lot about how I feel about the "environmental movement" today. So much is invested in trying to scare the living shit out of me, or to chastise others for doing nothing, but there is very little suggestion-wise for practically lowering one's own carbon footprint.

That being said, the past 6 months, I've been steadily improving my carbon footprint. This is not because of a newfound concern with the environment, but because of a few practical decision and lucky circumstances.

The most impressive was moving from Silverlake to Santa Monica to stop an unbearable commute. The cost to me: I don't like my apartment as much. The benefit: saving an hour each way, saving all that gas money (which also helps the environment), also a lot less wear on the car, and lower rent (although again, this was a side concern which was by luck and not design). But the environment is happier because it reduced my overall footprint by a ton...I'm not sure my footprint's been this low since Middle School when I could walk down the street to school each day.

Secondly, I got a bike and rode to work every day this week. I love it! It's fun, probably a bit more dangerous - I almost hit a lady walking two days ago and there are a lot of cars around, but whatever, it's totally fun. Again - footprint lower.

So I'm happy to lessoning my own footprint, but haven't made major overall changes to my lifestyle. If anything, it mostly was a financial and practical decision to move, and the environment is a side concern.

With respect to eating meat and growing my own veggies...not gonna happen. I love meat and will continue to eat it. Sorry, environment.