The Awareness Of Carbon Footprint

Somehow forgotten, the concept of lessening my carbon footprint and the behavior adjustments that went with that concept. I have since veered radically off track. I gave up red meat in 1970. I gave up automobile ownership in 1973. These were my large moves toward being kinder to my neighbors and the planet. Twelve years later I returned to automotive addiction when I took on a used car and a used truck. I used them sparingly, we commuted to work and school by bicycle and cross country skis. Somewhere along the way we returned to eating turkey and chicken, but never the red meat. I don't think I ever abstained from dairy however, I knew I was lactose intolerant very early in the game. Cheese and yogurt agree with me and by consuming more than my fair share of these two foods I am encouraging large clouds of bovine methane. The new century witnessed us partaking in next level environmental degradation...jetting across the Atlantic. We were also deep into the internal combustion behaviors...occasional commutes by foot and by bicycle help allay feelings of guilt that might haunt us from the last century...but now, we find it so satifying to gather the camping gear and for remote warmer locations via motorcar, escaping uncomfortable temperatures. It's not like you get credits for previous conscientious behaviors...the warming earth is still in trouble and our neighbors are struggling and dying from the impacts, 'we the privileged' foist upon them.

One Less Worry

As I walk out the door this morning my biggest worry is....Space Junk. It comes back to earth at speeds ten times faster than a bullet. My sister assures me that it mostly burns up on reentry and if a large piece did not burn up and happened to hit me, I would never be inconvenienced with injury anyhow, i would expire suddenly so, why worry? Actually what I am celebrating by expressing that my biggest worry upon starting my day with Space Junk, as my top worry, has resulted from the fact that my sweetest of sweethearts was found to be permanently cancer free and will no longer need her morning chemotherapy pill. CANCER... The enemy of us all has been dealt a lethal blow by careful and conscientious attention to strategies, including surgeries and follow-up treatments...and we have won the battle to keep breathing, laughing, playing hard outside, loving and imbibing in this experience we call LIFE. It was four years ago that a genetic glitch (egfr) was found to have embedded a carcinogenic tumor into the lung of my favorite human on the planet. We have worked hard to follow all the instructions and submitted to all procedures necessary to rid ourselves of this monster. Worrying less is a good thing and I'm thinking if my biggest worry is that the sun may not rise the next day or that I'll be incinerated by space junk then I'm in a pretty good place.

The Number One Thing I Can Do To Save Planet Earth.

I have been looking for the best way to save the big blue ball we call Earth...well, for six decades anyhow. I don't seem to be able to convince others that this is the single 'most important' issue that humanity faces. I haven't really motivated a single person to change any of their behaviors while they live out their appointed session on this planet. My opinion and counsel about Earth rescue does not register with a single soul within shouting distance of me. I am not an "influencer". Doesn't matter how I vote or what I promote. The world continues to roll down this slippery slope toward catastrophic fever and eventual unlivability. So, what am I left with? What can be my greatest contribution to solving this Earths dilemma? Where can I make a difference that will pull humanity and it's ultimate Mother out of this daily tailspin? When I walk down the path from my house (which I built with my own two hands and a couple of good friends) two hundred feet to my garage, which harbours my two gas-powered motor vehicles. I check the temperature and road conditions, deciding to not fire-up either of these dragons, making the all important decision to pedal my acoustic/non-electric bicycle to work...it's all I've got. Seriously, it's the only important decision that I have to make which possibly leads to the world evolving into a more livable environment and to bring down Earth's fever.