So Why Do We Bother?

I want to pay less for gas but I don't want to bike to work

I don't want to eat pesticides. Poison for insects and and rodents might not be that good for human consumption

I don't want to pay more for electricity.

True. And so what?

 

"Your ethical consumer spending habits, your Prius-driving, your organic diet curation, your diligent efforts to dial down the A/C"

I do the things I do because I believe it is the right thing to do.

 

They do not mention my lack of multiple children, which in the end will matter.

 

When the rapture comes none of this will matter anyways...

 

Why do we bother? Because it is the way humans should live given the conditions we've created. Why do I not rob banks or commit rape? Because it is wrong, of course; hurtful to individuals and detrimental to civilization. Why should living green be evaluated according to different metrics?

 

Ah, the wonderful 'drop in the bucket' analogy. Everything you do is just a drop in a huge bucket. The thing is, the only thing in that bucket are drops.

Another pathetic example of people trying to justify doing nothing (or rather doing quite a lot in the wrong direction).

I keep trying to improve, I try to help other people improve. I try to remember at the end of the day that it still isn't enough yet.

 

So Why Do We Bother?

Maybe because it's not a "bother"???

 

Because we are suppose to be good stewards with what we have. Here is a pretty good list of scripture some of you all might be able to relate to.

 

Don't forget to recycle that nail.

 

I thought we had an oil problem and an obesity problem in this country and this is turning into a chain restaurant? HELLO!

 

Exactly.

I really do not have to say anything these days to put my opinions out on the 'net. I just wait for Corwyn to post.

That said, there is a fundamental problem with conservation in our current market economy, in that my actions encourage others to consume more*. This is why it is *so* important to introduce externality costs into consumption.

* supply/demand equilibrium

 

We should bother because as a self-aware and thinking creature it is
the correct thing to do.

In this case, bothering is a measure of our maturity and fundamental
character.

We should bother because, although our ultimate fate as a species is
unknowable, we have it in our power to not act like lemmings in getting
there, whatever it may be.

 

This arguement is raised convienently from time to time.

And I think it's pure BS...or idiocy, take your pick.

Simply look at the converse. I think very few people would argue about the damage created by unethical, or uncontrolled spending habits, the choice of driving indulgent vehicles that use a maximum of resources and do not fit our actual needs, consuming and demanding foods year round with a heavy reliance on processed foods and I think we all know the "cost" of keeping an AC blasting continually. I think very few would argue that a vast majority within our culture do many or all these things without thinking, and I think very few would argue that symptoms of these choices have risen up in many negative ways.

So I'm NOT suppose to apply ethical spending habits, drive an efficient vehicle that matches my needs, try to make consumer food choices that are good for myself and for the community and I can't decide to sweat a little more and the "reason" is that my choices have already been pre- determined to never amount to anything or have any impact on a global scale?

I call BS. That logic is like saying it doesn't matter if you decide to burn down your house, because there are plenty of other houses in the neighborhood, and the loss of one house won't make a difference....

Well it makes a difference. It makes a difference to me. And as far as making positive ecological and enviromental decisions? Even if it argueably isn't making an impact on a global scale, it's a start. IMO better to work for a new begining than continue to run full on, to a finish line that could spell disaster for this planet.

History has shown a humanity that has often made decisions without being able to fathom the long term implications or reality that would arise. And for good or bad, it always starts out slow, with little impact.

When personal transportation for most of the worlds populace took the form of Horse and Buggy, or bicycle or walking....I'm sure the Horseless Carriage was seen as a personal choice of the wealthy or eccentric. The gasping, sputtering engines weren't seen as a threat to anything because so few people actually owned them or used them...I could of wrote an article at the time declaring that adopters of these machines were wasting their time, because there "choice" to embrace this new technology wasn't immediately changing the world. But I would of been wrong...the world was changing.

Sure I know that most of the cosmetic, almost superficial choices I can make today, aren't going to restore the ozone layer, clear the airs, clean the rivers, and fix the complicated and intertwined social and political realities that exist from an economy tied to dependence on foreign oil. But I still reserve the right to make those choices, and I believe it is it worth it.

Why bother?...because change always happens one person at a time. The fact that it appears nothing is changing, is the real illusion. If humanity didn't make choices for advancement or improvement based on immediate perception, we'd be very stuck. Would you tell Charles Lindberg to abandon his flight...because it really wouldn't make a difference? After all? One person crossing the Atlantic...what does that REALLY mean?

BS...I bother...because WE bother..and we should bother...and if it BOTHERS you...good...that's part of change...

 

March 4th, 2011, By COURTNEY HUTCHISON, ABC News Medical Unit . . . . Blair River, the 575-pound spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill, an Arizona restaurant that serves shamelessly high-calorie burgers and fries, died Tuesday at the age of 29, following a bout of the flu.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartH...attack-grill-spokesman-dies/story?id=13056400

No real surprises here.

 

^^ To paraphrase a Ferengi, moral outrage and an empty sack will get you an empty sack

Some days I wake up and think my time on earth would be better served by knocking off a few republicans. Then I go back to my meek existence.

 

The Heart Attack Grill has been around for awhile. The original spokesperson died already.

 

Anyway, a flood is only made up of drops of water.

 

I think that this is an outgrowth of what I would call "religious laissez-faire capitalism" that has taken hold in the US - if it makes money for (usually rich) business people, it should not be limited (and especially not taxed) AT ALL.

This probably grew up under the protection of anti Communism during the Cold War and is transparently idiotic. People forget that the reason we were supposed to be against the Soviets was not their communism (they weren't really communist at all, anyway), but their aggressive totalitarianism. Also, isn't it funny how strict conservative views on personal morals re sex and abortion can coexist so easily with their laxness on the evils of greed and sloth?

We live in utterly weird times.

 

If we watch the ounces, the pounds will follow.