Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I Don't Care!

I don't care about global warming. It's rather irrelevant. There's a camp that believes that global warming is man made and another that says it's a natural phenomenon. The Inconvenient Truth movie has been found to be grossly embellished. Documentaries have aired that state this (warming) is the earth's natural cycle. To me it really doesn't matter.....But let's face it... global warming is now big business. The big corporations...eg. McDonalds and Walmart can't wait to jump on the big green bandwagon. Is this because they care or is just good business? Our Governments can't wait to give grants and tax cuts for green enterprises because it buys votes. Meanwhile...people... average people, like you and me, we make the real efforts to counter global warming... like recycling, switching our light bulbs to cfl's, buying unbleached paper towels, eating less commercial red meat and buying low-flush toilets. We dream about the 100 mile diet. Sometimes we remember the cloth shopping bags and weather permitting, we'll walk the two blocks to the store.... to negate driving the two blocks to pick up our lazy, TV addicted kids from school. In reality, our combined good deed, global efforts may extend the life of the earth, by about 30 seconds. The mega corporate polluters offset our efforts beyond our comprehension. So, I really don't care about global warming... it is what it is. What I do care about is the earth. Man is parasitic to the earth... parasites eventually kill their hosts and move on. Our problem is we have nowhere to move, yet. The important thing is that we stop poisoning the air, earth and water. If we do that, the climate will take care of itself. But, mega polluters also generate mega tax dollars and are mega employers and that means mega votes come polling day. Food for thought.... In the 1940's teams of scientist gathered to save the world by splitting the atom. (boom) Once again the great minds of earth were assembled in the 60's for the "space race". In the 50's a computer with the memory of the one I'm using, (laptop) would've been as large as a house. Do you think If all the money spent on environmental band aids was spent on research to find another way to make the wheels on the cars go round and power our homes and factories, we could end our nasty oil dependence? It seems like a small feat comparatively. Instead we'll pour buckets of cash at global warming symptoms but none at the real cause... our dependence on oil. "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." H.D.Thoreau.

Straw Bale House update: Work on the roof line is progressing while the weather cooperates. Some days there are real decisions to be made... like what size window you you want there? This weekend we went to Demxx in Coombs to scoop a couple of antique, leaded, stained glass windows. Demxx is a treasure trove of recycled building materials for the enviro-builder. The old windows will be stripped from the original frames and remounted in frames made from the Douglas Fir on the property and stained to match the beam work... something I can do in my spare time? I've been extremely fortunate that a long time resident of the Island has agreed to help me build, (at least for the time being). He's in the process of completing his own home, (coincidentally a design from the same home designer) and is well versed in post & beam construction. So far he has been extremely patient with his apprentice, Moi.

3 comments:

James said...

Nice blog.

Straw bale building is definitely on my agenda.

I have been considering Canada. The land prices are far more sensible than in Europe.

I might travel to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia to have a look, sometime in the spring.

Dave said...

I've spent a little time in Nova Scotia, it's beautiful there and more affordable than the west coast where I am.

RJDK said...

Cheers to the like minded statement regarding global warming. I couldn't agree with you more.

I have been enjoying seeing the progress on your home. It is inspiring to see people actually following through with something similar to what I hope to achieve myself.

Best of luck to you on your continued adventure.