Kicking Things Off (Mac)

I am just coming off my weekly 36 hour fast (about my diet here) and started the day with a five egg, tomato, leek, mushroom, and asparagus omelette with a freshly ground cup of Kicking Horse coffee spruced up with some rich coconut milk.  Let me tell you, the first meal after a fast tastes incredible!  Roasted duck and mixed veggies for dinner :-)

My wife, Jody, and I have decided to make some major changes in our life with regards to our impact on the environment and we thought it would be fun to share our progress in hopes of inspiring others to make some changes as well.  I believe humans have made a massive and detrimental impact on the planet since the Neolithic Revolution some ten thousand years ago.  I also believe we have crossed the point of no return.  By that statement I mean that I believe we have damaged the earth so badly that our current ways of life and the current population cannot be sustained - nature will correct itself despite human beings' thoughts to the contrary.

We have lost tens of millions of acres of top soil, destroyed or used up countless fresh water sources, decimated fish stocks, obliterated forests - I could go on.  As the world population continues to expand our demand for food and energy increases with it.  We can't even supply the world now - how are we going to do it fifty or a hundred years from now?  Our reliance on fossil fuels to grow the grains that many vegetarians proclaim is the answer to the world's problems will increase at the same time oil gets more costly and scarce.  Our way of life, especially the North American way of life, is simply going to change.

I absolutely love George Carlin's thoughts on the idea of saving the world (video below...profanity warning for you delicate types).  The world is just fine and will be just fine - it is us with the problem and who will suffer.  Do I think I can save the world by composting?  Not a chance, but I can reduce my participation in the destruction and I can become self reliant and not have to worry about where my food is coming from, what oil prices are doing, etc.  Being able to live without the reliance on other people especially people in other countries for my food makes me feel a lot better.  Not to mention the money we will save by attempting to let nature provide for us as much as she can.



Are we going to become radical, tree hugging, evangelists?  Not likely.  I fully intend on keeping my Ford F150 4x4 and enjoying - responsibly - the fruits of modern life and I think the fruits of modern life can be harnessed to provide a much more sustainable and economical way to live - albeit with a little more effort than we are used to putting in these days.  I think we have gotten lazy.

I think humans have lived irresponsibly and without account for long enough.  We have reaped disease, global destruction, and an unsustainable way of life as a result.  Is life bad now?  No, not really and not for most North Americans, but I think it is time people woke up and smelled the coffee.  Thanks to us the world is going to change - it is changing and we are the ones that are going to be impacted - at some point in the future.  The world will go on with or without us - it doesn't care either way.

I hope you follow along with us on our journey as we aspire to lessen our impact on the planet and attempt to live within the systems nature has perfected over billions of years instead of controlling and abusing them.  We aren't going to "fix" the world, the Industrial Revolution most certainly marked that turning point, but we can all live more cleanly, more locally, and with more health for now and hope that when the Earth corrects herself from the activities of human beings it isn't too unpleasant for us.