I was in Whole Foods and saw the magazine San Francisco from this month with the tagline, "It's new. It's green. It's eco-anxiety." That sounded familiar so I bought it, hoping it was printed with soy-based ink on post-consumer content recycled paper. (If not I can loan it to five other people before recycling it.) That may seem like an obsessive thought process but it's not that far from the truth and I'm not the only one apparently. Apparently this bubble I live in breeds us eco-worriers: "There's a Bay Area personality type--perfectionist, hardworking, inclined toward extremes, self-righteous about many things--for whom environmental worry is the ideal platform on which to pontificate." Sounds about right.
Since I settled back down in the Bay Area, I seem to be constantly assessing my impact as a human being in this world. I was sure the end of oil was going to plummet us into the new dark ages; I read the ingredients on processed food trying to avoid corn products (I think high fructose corn syrup is its own food group now); I want my burger from a cow that was grass-fed while getting daily massages for stress; and won't somebody please think of the polar bears (a la Mrs. Lovejoy.) These are exciting times and I like the movement towards living "green" and saving the environment, but it's easy to go overboard sometimes. Forgive me if I've tried selling you on the latest and greatest like a new cult member who's sure he's found the answers. But please do recycle my Nikes if you find me face down in the rising sea when the ice caps melt.
I have been trying to do my part in my industry, though. I specify sustainable building products and try to design efficiently to minimize the amount of materials used, but there's still only so much I can do as the engineer. I took another green building course, which always sends me away so inspired. There are some many cool things that I want to try out: I want to harvest rainwater, set up a gray water system, keep chickens in my backyard, redo the yard with bay friendly landscaping. I need my own house to use as a laboratory for these experiments. Maybe this is the year to do it.
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Thought you might find this interesting:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN21464356
It's becoming harder and harder for me to be "green" out here. I recycle by leaving my glass bottles out for the homeless. Every day I'm plagued by car/diesel exhaust and the burning of coal. Coal for f&ck's sake. Le sigh. What have I gotten myself into??
Let's try that again with some embedded html. Thought you might find this article interesting.
We need some forward thinking politicians for the "green" movement. Without official regulations, it will most likely always be a small percentage of people making an effort. They need to eliminate the subsidies for the oil companies and give them to the solar, wind, etc. otherwise they will always be at a disadvantage. Here's hoping for a new administration of change.
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