Tuesday, November 17, 2009

enviro-moment

slaughtering sacred cows and grilling sacred steak...

as an american, i've found the differences in environmental consciousness [or is it just marketing/behavior control?] between england/europe and america a study in contrasts, indeed! one facet in particular interests me: namely, everyday individual actions and my own assumptions about my beliefs.

for instance: my daily life in america before i left had little regard for any environmental ramifications of my actions, as did my culture, even in politically bluest boston. and i thought i was somewhat progressive, or at least sympathetic to the cause. yeah, there was a rush of self-righteous pride from refusing a plastic bag at the store---when i could actually plan a shopping trip and remember a reusable sack! small sack of potatoes... i drove a lincoln town car [filled with relatively cheap gas] for crissakes! why? because i like to hear the earth scream? because i'm callous? uninformed? no.

my whole point in wasting energy powering [your] pixels here is that my behaviors have little to do with convictions/beliefs but rather with simple/stupid effects of logistics, or, to make a pun, environment, as in surroundings...[by the way, an interesting article in the economist makes the case that computer use worldwide contributes just as much carbon to the atmosphere as the entire aviation industry! click here to read. and gaia help those who clatter away on their laptops during a flight ;-)

but now, i'm a totally different person! i've been transformed into a model marching member of the green army! i bike to the store with my eco-jute bags...i buy local and organic when available, which is most of the time...when i don't bike, i walk...when i don't walk, i ride the bus or train...when any of these options don't exist, i don't go...i use energy efficient appliances...windows are double and triple glazed...hot water is heated as needed...i wash dishes in tubs...i shave in a basin sink...recycle everything...compost all kitchen scraps...dry clothes on the line, weather permitting...eat out of the garden...pick berries from hedgerows...pick various and sundry objects out of dumpsters....heck, i'm even developing an environmentally friendly product with james...

so, what happened to me? captured and reprogrammed? joined the green party? no...i moved to england! gas is about $7-$8/gallon...the state wields considerable power in people's lives [knicknamed the 'nanny state' here]...i don't/can't own a car...however, the infrastructure exists to provide alternatives...in fact, i'll soundbyte my point: it's the infrastructure, stupid!!! a true freemarket wag could say, 'if you really want to change the world, vote with your citizenship as if it were a consumer product---move out of countries without ecologically supportive infrastructure [if you value that type of thing, of course]. don't support them...ahhhhh, imagine if we had that much freedom as individuals? that would be real globalization...not the monkey-business-as-usual that is sold to us as such...

yes...individuals can't make an infrastructure [try even making a pencil from scratch], but governments and big businesses can...though, can individuals effectively steer governments and big businesses? mmm...i wonder...

even if still divided by a common language, england and america seem to cross-pollinate culture with each other in our reciprocal laboratories. if this is true, my fellow americans, be prepared for an unglamorous, pared-down lifestyle---not to be hip, but because you'll have to...though you might learn to like it just the same...it might even be a better way to live regardless of the climate change debate...

it's not bad...really...

love,
dan

1 comment:

  1. this in-depth comment is from hugh who is having trouble posting here [thanks for your insights!]:

    Your comments about infrastructure remind me of Maureen Waller’s “London 1945: Life in the Debris of War”. http://www.amazon.com/dp/031233804X One of her primary assertions in the book is that having people in London during the Blitz necessitated a massive infrastructure, and an unprecedented level of government involvement with, and control over, people’s lives. She claims that the Labour Party was a direct result of this infrastructure, and could not have existed without it. Government structuring of people’s lives proved to be a Pandora’s Box: people not only wanted that degree of imposed structure, they refused to go without it.

    The U.S. has never had remotely that much above-board governmental control, so it sounds like the disparity between state-mandated environmental policies in the U.S. and the U.K. is a direct result of the disparity between their experiences in WWII.

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