Being Wrong is Maybe a Good Thing

David Atkins (pic found on Facebook)

I've been immersed in reading this week and not really ready to do a book review yet. It's going to take some time for me to digest what I have read and will most likely reread some of the sources I have found.

The big idea that I am working on is this: we are pretty much wrong about most things we do in this civilization of ours. 

We travel wrong ~ Our fossil fuels are throwing more and more carbon into the atmosphere than our ecosystem can address.

We farm wrong ~ Our soils are diminished and in various stages of 'addiction' by years of throwing nitrogen, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other synthetics on our land. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, we let what soil we do have remaining lay exposed after harvest allowing it to blow away in the wind or run off into our streams and rivers . 

We garden wrong ~ See above.

We ranch wrong ~ We keep our livestock standing in one place most of their lives causing land loss, soil loss which eventually leads to desertification. Not to mention that the livestock lead pretty miserable lives.

We heat our homes and businesses wrong ~ We use a source of fuel that pollutes our air, our land, our water supply, causes ill-health in those who provide these fuels, and fills our atmosphere with carbon.

We use water wrong ~ Somehow we think that water is not as precious as we need to be thinking of it. All of the above wrongs jeopardize this very valuable commodity. 

And those are just a few of the 'wrongs' I am considering this week. What I see as a silver lining though is that so few of us are happy. Look around you. Can you think of more than a handful of friends or family who are truly happy with the ways things are or how they spend their days? Rethinking how we live our lives may be something we are all very much ready to explore.

If you could use your car to travel where you wanted for little cost - would you support it?

If you could be assured that the food you ate and set on your family's table was nutritious and guarded your loved ones against disease - would you support it?

If you could live comfortably in your home in all seasons for little cost - would you support it?

If those last three interest you - stay tuned. That's where I am heading on this blog.  Being so very wrong about all these systems is maybe the only way we would have chosen to do things right.  

The future may be just exactly what we wanted all along 

and better than we thought it could ever be. 

Things to Do Today

Had an opportunity to deliver the sermon on Sunday, August 11, 2013 at the Unitarian Universalist church I attend. The sermon was titled: Satyagraha 'Truth Force' and our Climate Reality and it being only 23 minutes long was just a taste of the presentation I was trained to give early this summer with the Climate Reality Project (more on that in a later post.)

Here is an excerpt from my sermon on what we can do now as individuals:

Are we conserving water? If we need to water our lawns and gardens – do we do it early in the morning rather than in the full heat of the day? Do we use tap water rather than bottled water which drains our aquifers and/or other people’s aquifers? Do we use a rain barrel to collect water to use in our gardens?

Are we conscious of the chemicals we use on ourselves and in our homes? Are we aware of what chemicals go down our drains or filter thru our lawns to our aquifers? Read the labels! Be very aware of Green Washing – if the bottle is green and there is Green in the title – if can still be very very bad for the environment. The Environmental Working Group is a great online resource to use to find out the actual ingredients in products we use AND they also provide links to the research that say which ingredients are not so good for us or the environment.  

Do we buy local whenever possible? Making local purchases your first choice reduces the amount of transportation and the loss of other diminishing resources needed to bring the item to your doorstep. 

Can we reduce the plastic in our lives? Plastic is made of petroleum – glass is good. Cotton is good. Many of us are already using cotton bags when we grocery shop – let’s do that more. We already know there are great containers available – metal and glass - to carry water and other beverages with us rather than buying it in plastic bottles – let’s do that. Storing food in glass is better than plastic anyway as it avoids the plastic poisoning we now know happens with that.  

Can we use public transportation more? Can we walk or ride our bikes more?  

Can we unplug our electronics that run when we are not in the room or at least at night while we sleep? Those battery charging things we leave in our wall sockets that we use for our phones? They are using electricity when they are plugged in. Unplug those.  

If you have an investment portfolio, have you divested from the oil, gas and coal companies? If you only have a 401K and can’t really control the investment bundles that are among the choices – can you call your investment brokerage firm or speak with your contact there and tell them that you personally would like to see an option that supports renewables or that intentionally avoids the oil, gas and coal industries? 

When we come across climate change related articles – read them. It’s important to know what’s going on. Share that information with family and friends. Talk about it. It’s important we all work to break the silence on this issue. This silence on climate change was likened a few times in our training to having an alcoholic parent in the home. Everyone knows it’s a problem but no one talks about it because you know that there will be a ‘blow up’. We need to stage several small interventions I think and get us collectively past this reluctance to say that this issue scares us and we need start doing something about it. 

We will feel better taking action – that’s how this works.