Skip to main content

Spitting in the ocean.

     At the age of 56, it occurs to me that I have roughly 30 years left in my life give or take a few.  I've (sadly) never had kids.  So in some ways my newly found environmentalism might be my way of leaving some sort of lasting legacy?

    I honestly don't know.   I'm no dummy, I know that what ever I do is spitting into the ocean.  However I also feel that not doing anything is morally bankrupt.  You can make a difference in one persons life, even though you may never see that outcome.  


    For whatever reason I've been coming across a lot of info on No Mow May - which is a simple idea to let your lawn grow wild during the month of May, allowing bees and other pollinators to do their thing and help re-establish a needed but diminishing species.  I let part of my yard "go wild" last year and I'm planning on letting the same parcel go wild this year. 

    Only I'm planning on never mowing that parcel of land again.  I'm going to let it be absorbed back into the woods it came from.

    It's also one of the reasons that I'm planting native flowers and trees.  I'm debating if I want to plant one or two fruit trees like the Granny Smith Apple (overall its the apple with the highest nutrition levels - and I like the idea of some future forager finding it).  I prefer to plant the dwarf apples, because they would fruit within two or three years and I want to pick an apple from a tree that I planted.  I don't want to wait the six or seven it can take a tree to mature.  I'm not that patient a man.

    My glacially slow evolution towards a vegetarian diet continues, although that's going to be an uphill battle.   The local supermarkets do not seem to offer much in the way of variety and Sue does not seem interested my making vegan/vegetarian dishes.  I have little to no interest in learning to cook. 

    So I eat what I can, where and when I can in the hope of doing my small part to reduce the impact of meat consumption.  Again, I am spitting into the ocean.  Still though, I feel it's important to do my little bit where and when I can. 

     I find a lot of per-packaged foods, even though they are "meat free" are high in salt.  It's a common preservative but when you have heart disease running in your family like I do...you want to avoid salt.  

    Earlier I was doing a "taste test" series, I'm half tempted to return to it because if I can influence one person to try something new or encourage them along that path.   I should do that.   

    Our home improvement projects, replacing the windows and updating our kitchen will help in reducing our electric bill, saving energy and water.  Yes, it's costly in the short term, but again I'm looking long term.  That's the only way to look at things today.

    I've always been interested in Science, earning my degree in Science Education and Biology.  I fell in love with philosophy in college and have always maintained the study of it.  I was always concerned about the environment but it's only now, in my later years, that I am actually taking it "seriously."   I just hope it's not to late.  Although I know it is to late, but I'm spitting into the ocean anyway.

    Morally I feel it's my duty to spit into the ocean and leave this world a little better than it is.  I would rather have a little hope than accept that "Everything is fine" while the room burns down around me.


    The choice, of course, is always up to you.  Do you spit into the ocean?  Or let the rip tide take you under?

Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

The summer that I go to war

When I first moved into my house some five, nearly six year ago, one of the first things I noticed was that we had a tree out back that was nearly strangled by an invasive woody vine called Oriental Bittersweet.   At the time I didn't think much about it as other more pressing problems, like a new roof and insulated windows, came first.  Other problems and projects kept pushing that "little issue" back onto the corners of my mind.   Small "little issues" tend to become bigger ones.  Oriental Bittersweet That's the problem with home ownership, their is always "one more project."  One more bill. I was considering where to plant the Pawpaw and new Bur Oak   and this corner seemed to be a very good option.  That's when I noticed my problem,  I have several Multiflora Rosa growing in my "wilds" and one that somehow I've missed over the last few years, it's become rather well established.   The Oriental Bittersweet was reaching o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Digging in the dirt

In a lot of ways I feel rejuvenated.  It's a glorious morning as I am driving down to Pittsburgh with the local radio station playing a mix of old and new that elevates my mood, the sun shining strong through the sun roof.   I am on my way to buy plants.   I have a list in my pocket and I expect that I'll be coming home with a few of them.  I had hoped to buy spicebush and maybe serviceberry , in addition to what I did end up buying.  As I talk to people there, I use the term " food forest " because that's about the closest definition to what I'm trying to do, although it's also not the best one.     What I'm more interested in doing is creating a refuge.  A place for a weary traveler in the future to stop, rest under the trees and have access to wild strawberries and blueberries (which sadly didn't take last year), apples etc.   A place of respite rather than a place that can self maintain itself over time, although I do...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why didn't Erie, PA develop into a bigger city?

          Recently I had to travel up to Erie, PA for business.   It's about an hour north of me and is a rather small city, having just under 100 thousand people living in it.   It played an important role in the founding of America,  - where it was the headquarters for Oliver Perry's flagship Niagara during the battle of Like Erie in the war of 1812 .            It was also a important shipping center, being Pennsylvania's only access to the Great Lakes which was the easiest way to trade with parts of Canada at the time as well as move goods to the cities of Detroit and Chicago, which in the mid to early 1800's were just starting to develop.  It was also directly north from Pittsburgh which was a major industrial city at that time.     Yet Erie never really grew beyond it's humble beginnings and I wondered why.   Like any good sleuth I turned to the intern...
3 comments
Read more