breaking the cycle

It is encouraging to hear that many people are trying to do something about our environmental problems. Often however, they appear to get side-tracked on minor issues that matter very little in the overall scheme of things. Perhaps that is not surprising because the overall problem is too overwhelming to deal with. These smaller issues look easier to tackle and are therefore more gratifying. A good way to cure that eco-anxiety that invades our lives.

I read a New York Times article about eco-moms in Marin County. The County, one of the richest in the country, and as the NYT points out, one with a bigger than average footprint, is also a center for activism. Here so-called eco-moms meet to do something to save the world. But when I read what it is they are worried about, it turns out to be a newer spin on the old "Berkeley" favorites. Berkeley, for those of you who do not know, is just across the bay from Marin, and many former Berkeley residents and students have moved up to Marin to enjoy an All-American life-style. They have not given up though and continue to preach the ills of such society. These ills are rather insignificant pet-peeves such as plastic grocery bags, out-gassing paint, PVC toys and tainted pet food.

All of these Berkeley transplants may not realize that the very act of moving to that big McMansion in suburbia is the real problem. That action alone nullifies all their subsequent activism. They could have done no greater service to the environment than stay in their Berkeley apartment where they could walk to everything instead of having to drive. Never mind that they are vigilant not to idle the car while waiting for the kids to get out of school. Never mind that they just bought a new hybrid that cost as much in oil to produce as it will save over its short duty-cycle. The problem is of their own making. The kids should walk to school instead.

Our eco-moms could have walked to the store as they did when they lived in Berkeley. No plastic grocery bags needed. No oversized refrigerators either. Plus some healthy exercise to boot. No need to drive to that health club and fire up the 1.5 hp treadmill, while blowing the fans and turning on the television.

President Bush had it right when he talked about no compromise on the American way of life. He laid his finger on the core issue. The (current) American way of life. It is unsustainable and that is what we need to change. We need to abandon suburbia, turn in our cars, and stop shopping. Shopping is not patriotic. It is a self-destructive habit. That is what all addictions are. And there again, our beloved President had it right when he said we are addicted to oil. Because that is our real addiction: oil. Not heroin or crack cocaine, or crystal meth. America's real killer drug is oil. And America's real drug pushers are the oil companies. The president knows, he is one of them.