The world is abuzz with Michael Pollan’s article from Saturday’s NYT Green Edition titled "Why Bother?” (This was the same issue that featured the Dervaes family). I have already seen many of you already post your reactions to it! Well done friends.
It’s long, but like everything Pollan writes, a joy to read. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE those of you that haven’t read it to do so now.
I’ll pause while you take the time to read it…
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On this Earth Day, some points to take away from the article:
It’s not technology that will save us from our earthly predicament. It’s people taking responsibility for the way they live their lives, and the IMPACT their activities have on our environment. (Just because you CAN buy a new TV every year doesn’t mean you SHOULD).
The more people that care about the environment and talk about it will lead to a viral movement that changes this consumer lifestyle which has caused much of the problem in the first place.
More people will want to change based on seeing those that already do live differently and are incredibly happy.
Start a garden. It’s the best way to combat climate change. Calories created by the sun are damn near free. Calories created by synthetic fertilizers and tractors aren’t.
Take the garden a step further and turn your front lawn into a community garden. Now there’s a wonderful act of civil disobedience.
And most importantly, don’t be dissuaded by the naysayers. Spin doctors have you believing that riding your bike to work is worse than driving there (you will actually consume more calories, presumably from meat, meat takes a lot of carbon to make and be transported to you, and you might as well just drive in the first place).
Or my personal favorite is that it takes more energy to make and reuse a mug a thousand times than it does to make a 1000 disposable paper cups. You HAVE GOT to be kidding me! That’s it folks. Keep putting your head in the sand. It’s easier that way, isn’t it!? As the garbage and stuff piles up around us, you’ll be wishing you’d used that mug.
A friend once asked me why in the world do I buy organic ketchup. I told him because we can’t make our own until this summer when our tomatoes are ripe. This obviously was not the answer he expected because (I think he was trying to make us feel stupid), but frankly, I hope that my decision to make my own ketchup weighs heavily on him.
The ketchup story is actually a metaphor for the way Chris and I live. Your life is made of thousands of decisions every day. Little ones. Big ones. Medium ones. If everyone made decisions for the good of the planet, like choosing to use reusable grocery bags and foregoing the plastic ones, by walking or biking whenever possible, or by growing food in household gardens, you can see the impact “one” decision applied in aggregate has on the world.
Like the butterfly effect.
Or a viral social change.
My favorite quote is “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Ghandi). This has become my mantra and creeps into all decisions I make. Walking to grab a bite to eat from a local lunch place yesterday, I picked up trash on the way there and said hello and smiled at a gentleman painting a new railing - all part of this newly discovered mantra.
It’s long, but like everything Pollan writes, a joy to read. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE those of you that haven’t read it to do so now.
I’ll pause while you take the time to read it…
-----------------------------------------------------------
On this Earth Day, some points to take away from the article:
It’s not technology that will save us from our earthly predicament. It’s people taking responsibility for the way they live their lives, and the IMPACT their activities have on our environment. (Just because you CAN buy a new TV every year doesn’t mean you SHOULD).
The more people that care about the environment and talk about it will lead to a viral movement that changes this consumer lifestyle which has caused much of the problem in the first place.
More people will want to change based on seeing those that already do live differently and are incredibly happy.
Start a garden. It’s the best way to combat climate change. Calories created by the sun are damn near free. Calories created by synthetic fertilizers and tractors aren’t.
Take the garden a step further and turn your front lawn into a community garden. Now there’s a wonderful act of civil disobedience.
And most importantly, don’t be dissuaded by the naysayers. Spin doctors have you believing that riding your bike to work is worse than driving there (you will actually consume more calories, presumably from meat, meat takes a lot of carbon to make and be transported to you, and you might as well just drive in the first place).
Or my personal favorite is that it takes more energy to make and reuse a mug a thousand times than it does to make a 1000 disposable paper cups. You HAVE GOT to be kidding me! That’s it folks. Keep putting your head in the sand. It’s easier that way, isn’t it!? As the garbage and stuff piles up around us, you’ll be wishing you’d used that mug.
A friend once asked me why in the world do I buy organic ketchup. I told him because we can’t make our own until this summer when our tomatoes are ripe. This obviously was not the answer he expected because (I think he was trying to make us feel stupid), but frankly, I hope that my decision to make my own ketchup weighs heavily on him.
The ketchup story is actually a metaphor for the way Chris and I live. Your life is made of thousands of decisions every day. Little ones. Big ones. Medium ones. If everyone made decisions for the good of the planet, like choosing to use reusable grocery bags and foregoing the plastic ones, by walking or biking whenever possible, or by growing food in household gardens, you can see the impact “one” decision applied in aggregate has on the world.
Like the butterfly effect.
Or a viral social change.
My favorite quote is “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Ghandi). This has become my mantra and creeps into all decisions I make. Walking to grab a bite to eat from a local lunch place yesterday, I picked up trash on the way there and said hello and smiled at a gentleman painting a new railing - all part of this newly discovered mantra.
It’s such a beautiful way to think, really. And Pollan’s article boils down to it at the most basic level.
You DID read Pollan’s NYT article, didn’t you?
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
You DID read Pollan’s NYT article, didn’t you?
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
