Convenience at what cost?
The other day I passed a guy blowing leaves with a gasoline-powered leaf blower on a paved area in a park by City Hall. This post isn’t about him. It’s about us, including you.
What is wrong with us?
We buy oil from countries we have adversarial relations with,
pollute the environment,
create loud, unpleasant noise,
so a fat person can work less,
and cart away what would create topsoil,
to fill a land-fill.
Not the guy in the park I saw, but similar leaf blower.
What we could do instead
What if we did this instead?
Rake the leaves
making little extra noise
buying no oil from adversarial countries
causing no pollution
composting the leaves or using them for mulch
filling no land-fills
giving the guy exercise?
Raking leaves on pavement isn’t hard.
Values
What happened to our values?
I know reasonable people made a reasonable set of decisions, likely involving issues like liability and unions that would explain how this situation met some system’s needs. That only raises the degree to which we’ve twisted our society from making sense to whatever you call polluting, noisy, lazy, fossil fuel dependence.
You and me
We all do things like this guy and this city agency.
We drive where we could bike, walk, or take public transportation.
We leave lights on in rooms no one is in.
We go out for dinners we could cook.
We buy gifts to show emotions we could communicate with our actions more intimately.
We behave sedentarily instead of actively.
You get the idea.
How do you choose to live your life?
Do you want machines to live it for you in the name of convenience?
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