The view from here

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:26:41 -0700

Well, when I wrote that these blogs would be infrequent, I didn’t think that would be over a year between them! Alot has changed since that last blog, we have a new president who ‘gets it’ on so many issues including creating a green economy. We are also at a time when many of our institutions are collapsing all around us and the fallout of egregious greed is everywhere. I don’t envy Mr. Obama for the tasks has to work on.

We all have to play a part, we can’t just vote and stop taking an active part. If we don’t we will end up with a worse mess that we’re trying to dig out of.

We can ‘vote’ every day with our checkbook by what we buy or don’t buy. For example, we recently bought a new washing machine, a Miele. It is the lowest energy and water use machine available. It is as if they started at square one to design a very different type of appliance. It will probably last 20-30 years, is so gentle on clothes that they will last 40% longer. The high cost is offset by our even lower energy using dryer : 3 retractable clotheslines - a very viable year-round option in our climate. It uses more human energy, but most of us are not exactly ‘over-exercising’ ,
and it allows one to spend more time in the yard with the smell of flowers and the birds singing. If we do things like this we can relearn that there is more to life than sitting in front of a computer. I love my Apple computers, but balance my time on it with more nature centered tasks.

I think we MAY be moving in the right direction in this country, forced by crises to change. Heaven forbid we should be proactive in our lives. So, as our former president ”W” suggested after 9/11- “go shopping”, BUT let your money cast a vote for a sustainable and ecological economy. The words ecology and economy both come from the Greek, Oikos- home!

It’s time to put ECO back in economy!
www.treehugger.com

Photo: Mark at Joshua Tree National Monument by Melchor Ruiz

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:18:59 -0700

It is very easy to feel overwhelmed by the immensity of ecological damage we have created and choose to do nothing and ignore the problem. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the current moronic administration there is finally a strong momentum for moving forward in alternative energy and more gentle technologies.
With the upcoming election we may be able to push past the tipping point. Please do your part in helping us move in this direction and make the US respected for helping the world instead of helping ourselves to the world. Vote; think about what you buy and buy less; eat local and organic; build organic ! Become part of the solution.