I'm not a terrorist

Dreams of water rushing through blown up concrete, Wal-Marts burning to the ground, and a life mimicking Ecotopia (a great read written by Ernest "Chick" Callenbach) do not make me a terrorist because I don't act. I would, if I could but I am not an extremist even though some might say I am. I merely yearn for a more ecological and sustainable society. I'm not a crunchy momma. I'm a realistic one who tries to be aware of my carbon footprint, but the sad reality of that is - my lifestyle change must be extreme to coincide with my passion. I want, no, I long for the day when I can drop the grid and live sustainably - growing, catching, killing my own food and building everything I need. Then I look at my kids and think what new kind of crazy torture would that be for them. *sigh* And so I continue on with the way of the lemmings.... oh, but Callenbach had it. Man, that dude nailed it. He knew. He knew 37 years ago when he published Ecotopia that we (we being this glorious American society that we all live in) were destroying our only true mother. America is so far behind many other countries in environmental issues. I'm not saying we should all love PETA and hug dolphins. But Callenbach talked about electric cars and living with what we need back then. Society, and I am guilty too, quickly confuses need with want. We need a renewable energy source. We need science. We need life. LIFE. All life, not just some - you know pick and choose. Nah. "Sorry we needed to build that dam there Mr. Salmon. I know you're screwed now because you can't swim back up river to lay your eggs and in a few generations you'll be nearly extinct. But I needed this hydropower because I can get a dam built but no one can get sustainable energy approval this fast." I'm not suggesting that we all give up and move to a fantasy land that doesn't exist. But Callenbach wasn't high (well, he might have been), he was a visionary. He saw that this world, this country, could be better. He knew a stable-state ecosystem was possible and I think it still is. I think there is too much greed and too many politicians. I think those two things hold us Americans back and refuse to allow us to be great. And we let them. We sit back and want change. We want to do something. We want to make a difference. We lack motivation and we have nothing to drive us. Callenbach said it best: "I mean we don't try to be perfect, we just try to be okay on the average- which means adding up a bunch of ups and downs. But it means giving up any notion of progress. You just want to get to that stable point and stay there..."

So if California, Oregon, and Washington ever secede from the rest of America to form an idealistic ecological super simple life, I'm gone. 

Which is probably where "Chick" is right now. Enjoy the free love and the tree people. Sorry we couldn't ever make the right steps toward Ecotopia. Died April 16, 2012.