Signs Of The Times
Seldom do I make comments about politics or culture or the offspring of both on this blog, but in the case of a recent drive this past weekend, it hit home somewhat more personally than just watching it on CNN.
In what is normally a serene, smooth and quiet drive from NYC out to Long Island, I entered the throes of absolutely ridiculous gusts of windswept rain. Yes, this post is about The Weather. Boring perhaps, but understand that it had rained 12+ inches in the NYC area over the past 36 hours and was supposed to rain more. I would normally isolate it as some random case of extreme weather (relatively speaking, for NYC), but in the shadow of hurricanes Katrina & Rita, and with hurricane Wilma brewing on the horizon, it’s quite clear that Mother Nature is quite pissed off at us. I can tell you to not drive SUVs, ride a bike 70 miles to and from your job, till I’m blue in the face but I doubt any will listen. Instead, do your own part to leave the smallest footprint in what you use everyday. Do you REALLY need another paper or plastic shopping bag, everytime you buy lunch or go grocery shopping? Do you do your part to recycle? Do you carpool when you can?
I’m no Captain Planet, but I do my best to try. And given human civilization’s relative ignorance to the footprint we are leaving on this planet, there are some screwy things happening and we should do our best, whether by the gas we use, the politicians we elect, the disposable shopping bags we use, how we waste precious water, and more to make a difference.
Photograph
The image is of some extreme weather phenomena taken by storm chaser Mike Hollingshead. Enjoy and now, go recycle or something…
Entirely agreed. And you can look beyond the US for more cases of extreme weather as well. Australia is in the longest drought since, well, a long time ago. There are (seemingly) more and more devastating earthquakes (and, in some cases, resulting tsunamis). The list of recent extreme weather is growing.
It seems that every time I go to any store, ever, I’m offered a plastic bag no matter what I buy. A few years back when I worked in retail I worked along side people who just couldn’t be convinced that for small purchases customers should have to ask for a plastic bag. One person consistently, by default, put single packets of cigarettes (and don’t get me started on that) into a plastic bag when making a sale.
Please people, think before you take your 4.7 litre V8 four wheel drive (SUV) to the shops less than 200m away to buy one bottle of juice, which you won’t bother recycling, and for which you get an oversized plastic bag, before going to the next store and buying one packet of chips (crisps) (which if you hadn’t noticed, come in a bag of their own) and get another oversized plastic carry bag.
S.
Amen to that.