Trying to Remain Neutral

We live in a culture of denial, something you already realized, but you persuaded yourself to forget. Okay, this is going to be a bit uncomfortable, but you can handle it once you wake up and realize what's happening. Our predominant myths? We are all in competition with one another. Only the strong survive. Not everyone can have the good life, so it's every person for themselves. 

We live in a culture of denial where people can say anything. And we want to believe them because believing will keep us from realizing the seriousness of our situation. We can have it all. Drive as big a vehicle as you want. Drive as much as you want and don't give it a second thought. Sure gas is expensive, but just drive a hybrid and forget about it.

We live in a culture of denial where deception is so widespread that there are now professionals who specialize in lying. They lie to themselves, they lie to their families and their friends. And before we know it, we're lying, too. About all sorts of things. Some are small lies, fibs, makey-ups. Others are real whoppers, lies that could kill an elephant or any of a host of other endangered species, lies that can and will kill ourselves and our world.

We live in a culture of denial, and then someone like Bill McKibben comes along and makes the seriousness of our situation crystal clear, he does it in a very simple way. Do the Math. You just need to remember one number: 350. That's 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the our atmosphere, the target amount that will keep the earth livable for you and me and everyone else. Unfortunately, we're already over that amount and there's enough fossil fuel available and ready to be burned that ... well it's not going to be pretty.

We live in a culture of denial and it's time to wake up. We can't have it all and in fact, we need to cut back, consume less. It doesn't have to be painful or austere if we untangle the new myths and remember the old ones. We only have one earth. We are all interconnected. We have the power and the ability to stop the damage we're doing. We are all in this togther. All we have to do is wake up and take action. Here are two simple things you can do.

Reduce your carbon footprint by driving less.

Designate one or two gasoline-free days each week where you walk, cycle, or take public transportation.

Readers of this blog know I'm big into bicycle commuting and there's an event coming up called Bike the Math. You can read about it here. If you live nearby and you wake up in time, I'll see you there.