Re: [Paddlewise] ACA and Subaru

On Tuesday, February 03, 2004, at 1:14:35 PM PST, Steve Brown wrote:

> Cars, trucks, and SUVs make pollution, use natural resources,
> including habitat to drive them on. They're all bad!

Agreed. Unless we choose, as individuals, to live a completely
"hunter/gatherer/grow your own" lifestyle, the best we can do is
compromise where we can. As I sit here and type away at my computer, I
can't ignore the fact the the materials used to create this machine,
and the electricity used to run it, come from polluting sources. Every
time I drive my car (by the way, it's an '87 Subaru GL wagon), I think
not only of what it costs me in dollars and cents to run it, but I
must also think about what I'm doing to the environment every time I
drive it. As long as we accept the "conveniences" of modern life, we
must also accept our part in the harm they cause.

When I lived in NYC, I did what I could on an individual level (riding
my bike and walking whenever I could, buying my organically grown
veggies at the farmer's markets, etc.). In the greater scheme of
things, however, just living in the city, flying to concert
engagements all over the place, and taking advantage of so many other
city "conveniences" I took for granted, I have to admit that the few
little things I tried to do didn't really amount to very much in
comparison to the "not so good" things I accepted as part of my life.

I've greatly simplified my life since then (and wish to simplify even
further), but I'm still nowhere near as "green" as I'd like to be, and
probably never will be. Even so, I do what little I can. Yes, I have a
car that gets pretty good mileage, but I still do all I can to
restrict my usage of it. Though I might like the idea of long road
trips to find new and wonderful places to paddle, I instead found a
place to live where there's lots of nice local water available, so
that I either don't have to drive at all, or at least drive very
little (I spend, on average, less than $10 each month on fuel for my
car, and spend whatever it takes to keep it running as "clean" as
possible). I may never get to paddle in all the exotic places I dream
of, but I do manage to be quite happy where I am.

Finally, I do feel it's better to support those companies that we feel
are trying harder than others to offer "clean" products and support
"greenish" causes, but that's not always enough. We have to look very
honestly at all the choices we make in our daily lives, and in doing
so, most of us will still have to admit that we're not yet doing
enough. :-(

-- 
Melissa
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