Good Books?

[amber]

Diet For A Dead Planet: How the Food Industry is Killing Us.(2004)

It's kind of light reading, but very good...

[markolas]

Originally Posted by amber

Diet For A Dead Planet: How the Food Industry is Killing Us.(2004)

It's kind of light reading, but very good...

Oh, god. Part of me is intrigued, but part of me doesn't need another reason to think that we are, in fact, a dead planet - it just hasn't caught up to us yet.

[amber]

Originally Posted by markolas

Oh, god. Part of me is intrigued, but part of me doesn't need another reason to think that we are, in fact, a dead planet - it just hasn't caught up to us yet.

Yes, it's painful. But the more you know, the better choices you know how to make. I'm using it for a class speech, my persuasive speech. I'm going to try to persuade the class to buy all organic produce, speech wise.

If it is too daunting, you could just make a tiny change in your habits where you buy all your produce organic. If you buy produce, I know you, Markolas. If not, you could buy all your meat free range/grass fed/no hormone/etc. You could bring your own bags to the grocery store. If you think about it, that is such small effort for the reward it brings. To your health and the world. I mean, you wouldn't purposely eat poison, would you? Or kill 67 million birds per year?

Those are the things I do, my resources are limited. Plus recycling, and I don't drive (no car), and buying recycled products, like TP and Paper towels. It's like...a tiny inconvenience, so much so that I can't really call it one. I can only call it "something I have to remember to do".
Thousands of people making small, simple changes can make the world of difference. I mean, how hard is it to bring your own bags to the grocery store? Sheesh. And organic produce isn't really much more expensive than regular. I mean, I would pay a few more cents for my tomatoes to help a few million birds live.
So, those small changes are very important, and fairly easy. Isn't Whole Foods based in Austin? Aren't you obligated by your Buddhism? (teasing).

And, make no mistake, it is utterly horrifying. We're pretty much made of poison, at this point.

And, remember to ask yourself: Do I really need that? Not talking of food, but about things.
All the things we have require resources to exist. Also, unplug your appliances when you leave. Or when you are there, and not using them. Plugged in appliances take energy, even when not in use. Isn't that weird?

Author is Christopher Cook, he lives in SF.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by amber

Thousands of people making small, simple changes can make the world of difference.

I'm pretty pessimistic at this point. Every day it seems that I read about something else (usually several things) that makes me think it's way too late to save our environment, our culture, or our government. Anyone who tries is a saint, but the morass is too deep; our economic system would have to be completely dismantled, and our entire society would have to be dug up out of the ground in order for this mess to be fixed. And most people refuse to believe there's a problem in the first place.

What I do believe is that people who are aware of some of the problems have to do something constructive with that knowledge, even if it won't ultimately have the effect of saving our species from extincting itself.

[amber]

Originally Posted by markolas

I'm pretty pessimistic at this point. Every day it seems that I read about something else (usually several things) that makes me think it's way too late to save our environment, our culture, or our government. Anyone who tries is a saint, but the morass is too deep; our economic system would have to be completely dismantled, and our entire society would have to be dug up out of the ground in order for this mess to be fixed. And most people refuse to believe there's a problem in the first place.

What I do believe is that people who are aware of some of the problems have to do something constructive with that knowledge, even if it won't ultimately have the effect of saving our species from extincting itself.

Well, since the problem, the morass, is caused by too many people consuming too many things with too much poison, I don't think the morass is too deep. I think the real morass is people thinking the morass is too deep, and so not going out of their way, even in the slightest, to think about things or even slightly inconvenience themselves.
Which is how the morass got as deep as it is in the first place.

It would unseat our current economic structure. In that way that it seems patently obvious that billions of people can't have whatever they want all the time, whatever it is, necessity or not, super poison or not, and expect that things won't eventually run out, or be completely poisoned, or not realize that if you have so much, there will be millions of more people that don't have even basic things, let alone what you have, because you are using everything up.

All the best things come from brilliant and radical change. I don't mean change for change's sake, I mean when people recognize the logic and necessity of the change, and use the available knowledge to make that change occur. From the most brilliant scientist to the mayor to the smallest person that exists.

Everyone is remiss when they don't take advantage of, and use, the knowledge at their disposal. Whatever great or small that knowledge is.

If you don't realize that everything affects everything else, from smallest to largest, every molecule, you have been deliberately ignoring the entire rest of the world. You literally have to have lived in a block of ice.

My point being, that no action is ever without consequence, or benefit, or repercussion, or answer.

Which means that, every action has meaning and answer and consequence and reaction and benefit and detriment. There is no action without reaction. It can look like there is, we can ignore that there is, but there isn't.

It's that simple.

So try your hardest not to do nothing in the face of ennui and discouragement and jadedness.

Most good changes that ever happened, happened because people did things. On many different levels. Every level.

Just tell yourself to change your mind, and do something different. Just because you always did something before, doesn't mean you can't do something else now, or think something else. Who are you beholden to? Besides your own judgment of yourself? Do you think your old self will be mad if you don't do what it says, and instead takes the advice of your new self? THAT IS ALL JUST YOURSELF. Yourself can tell yourself to do or think something different. If your old self gets mad, tell your new self to beat its ass.
And even if something is a lost cause, then do you gain or lose by acting in favor of the cause? I mean, you don't lose, do you? Is there some other person who controls your life that has made a judgment that it cares if you take action towards something you believe in? And everyone knows that people's lives have more meaning to them if they do something they believe in.

Is there someone telling you that you have to shop at the regular grocery store, and buy polluted food, and not be carrying your own bag around? Not ride your bike there? Is there someone telling you that you will suffer unending pain, or even a little pain, if you do those things? Cause I do that, I carry that bag and buy those groceries, and no one bitches me out for it. My life suddenly doesn't change into something unbearable, or even slightly painful, because of it. The people not carrying there own bag, and driving cars, don't form a gang and surround me outside the grocery store. My friends don't even make fun of me. If someone thinks I am lame, why would I care about what someone who thinks I am lame thinks? That's like, the LAST opinion I would care about.

Like, life is more fun and cool if you work towards what your mind thinks is important. And there is no universal judge on whether that really is important. It's only you, and the assholes around you. Seriously, think about it, you probably only care about what .000000099999% of the population thinks. And even then, they aren't you, and don't live your life, or have your brain. Plz.

PLZ!!

So why the f*ck not do what you think is right? (naturally, my opinion about this is different with, say, cereal (golden grahams!) killers and such, but for practical purposes, I'm coming from the point of view of a fairly normal person, with fairly normal drives and preferences and M.O.'s. We all just~*~want to be loved and do what makes us happy~*~, and have fun, and not be depressed, and stuff. Be free-ish, if you will. To be ourselflings.


Party on. Please. Imagine the best thing you can think. Then talk about it and do it. *



*This does not include anything detrimental to anyone's health, as that is not the best thing you can think. Nevertheless, nothing precludes you from thinking the best thing at any moment, no matter what you have thought or done before. And the two are not mutually exclusive. Bad thoughts live with good. You won't always pick the right one, but if you always try to, really try!~*~ every step will multiply the good expotentially. It's a physics fact, or a mathematical one, I'm pretty sure. I think I read that somewhere. I know I've seen it in action.

And the most important part is not to waste too much emotional energy on what isn't happening, because of whoever, or what you didn't do because of whatever, and save that energy for what you can do, and what people do do, and what there is to do in the future when you can do that thing.

That is the hardest part. So you didn't do something. You still have the whole future of your life to do it, try again! I mean, you can't be that busy. lol. Try it in a week, try it in a month. Try it for an hour, try it for a day. Try to tell people about it, even if you don't try it yourself right then. Then try it. The more you try it, the more it will actually be happening. Because you are doing it. At least for an hour or a day or a week...or four minutes! That thing you want will have happened every time you tried it!!! And every time you talked about it, a new person will have heard you! And maybe they will try it!!! Isn't that great?! Maybe people will see you in the line with your shopping bag, and be all "I can carry a shopping bag". And it is well known in science that the brain creates new neural pathways from repitition of thoughts and actions. That's how we learn, always.
So, if you think and do something over and over, or try it, it will become easier, because you have worked at forming the neural pathways. And if that thing isn't quite right for you, you will have thoughts related to that thing, which may be right, and may be just the thing for you. Action begets action. And we're all works in progress. Heck, I'm way the f*ck behind the curve. But I tries.

P.S. - Like, every person that read this giant thing probably thinks I'm hella lame. Luckily, they are not me, so I mostly don't have to care what they think. Bad thoughts of other people don't actually kill you, they just pain you for a bit, until you eschew. Just take a little emotional therapy, some time, some perspective, realize you have funner things to do and think about, and it's all pretty good.
Unless they control my food supply or some shizz. Like your boss....otherwise, it can never be that bad. After all, you are always left with the bounty of possibilities that is YOURSELF. And you know the best how you have fun, and what you want to do. It's pretty ideal, really. lol.

[suzyvermoesen]

Amber : I can only say : waw !!

and i too take a shopping bag to the store with me and try to do good for the environment in my own small way

Maybe we can start a new thread about this and give each other tips about conserving energy and resources and such.