Tis a lovely day here in Asheville. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the mercury is standing tall and proud, and people are smiling with good will and cheer.
Somehow though, I can't seem to enjoy sunny days like I used to. Moments of joy and ecstasy are inevitably interrupted by thoughts of global catastrophe, rising sea levels, massive drought, terrible storms, and drowning polar bears.
If you have not yet seen "An Inconvenient Truth", please go out and rent it today. It is well worth watching. While you're at it, go read "The Omnivore's Dilemma", a book by Michael Pollan that I have previously mentioned in this forum.
Finally (and I don't mean to sound high and mighty here, as I too am an environmental sinner in many ways), might I suggest taking a few steps toward lessening the impact of your carbon footprint? I'll merely mention a few things that I (and my roommates) have been attempting to change about our daily lives.
1. Don't get shopping bags at the grocery store. They are completely unnecessary, non-biodegradable, silly, annoying, and flat-out ugly. Buy a reusable bag (many grocery stores now sell them). Paper and plastic are both terrible, and are filling up our landfills and streets at an alarming rate.
2. Throw away your light bulbs and buy the new energy saving fluorescents. The light is not nearly as ugly as the old-school ones and they use something like a quarter of the energy.
3. Unplug your laptop chargers and cell phone chargers when you aren't using them. They continue to suck power even when not being utilized.
And that's that for today. Enjoy the sunshine (but ponder its provenance).
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