The Cowtown Chronicles

And also some complete losses of reason.

Once again I’ve given in and read the comments on a story at the S-T’s website. The story happens to be about how the increase in gas prices is affecting commuters around the city. Generally the people quoted in the piece are handling it like adults, taking responsibility for their actions and choosing to modify their behavior or downsize their vehicles. (Huh. Proof that the markets really do work!)

But the comments are where the REAL action is. Take this nutjob for example:

Conservation CANNOT solve the problem. Congress should stop taking money from the Environmentalists and pass legislation to unplug wells first and then allow drilling in Alaska and off California and New England and the building of refineries on fast track (minimal environmental restrictions). Most of all Americans need to get over this national guilt conplex over using Earth’s resources.

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Posted by: Tired of the stupidity of the ignorant masses

Apparently it’s the ENVIRONMENTALIST lobby that’s been raking in all those massive profits on oil and funneling that money directly into the pockets of legislators. Damn! How could I have been so stupid?

I hope this isn’t a commonly held opinion in conservative circles, because it (obviously) couldn’t be more wrong. (It’s a “guilt conplex” that’s making us want to protect and conserve Earth’s resources? Apparently we’re all stupid because we don’t want to breathe poisoned air or drink poisoned water.)

I agree that conservation cannot solve the problem (although I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the root of “Conservative” is “conserve”), at least not alone. Conservation combined with exploration of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, etc. IS the answer. Clinging to dirty, destructive energy sources like coal and petroleum JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE CHEAP is a ridiculous position.

If someone said “I’ll give you this truck, but I have to take one of your legs in return,” would you make that deal? That’s essentially what we’re doing when we refuse to give up environmentally damaging things solely for convenience or frugality’s sake.

We’re poisoning ourselves slowly and causing untold damage to our ecosystems, but at least everyone has a car, right?

Just in case you were wondering, you CAN build a sustainable home that anyone looking at it would immediately identify as a HOUSE. Have you ever noticed that kids always draw the same thing when you ask them to draw a house, no matter where they grew up? Peaked roof, two rectangular windows in the front, maybe a dormer or two…

I’ve never seen a kid draw Fallingwater when asked to draw a house. Not that there’s anything wrong with a modern house, believe me, I LOVE modern houses, particularly of the mid-century flavor, but I think this one is a good response for those neighborhoods where a more modern shaped house wouldn’t be a good fit.

You might have heard me say that I abhor “green” as a descriptive word. Unless it’s describing the color of something. Let’s talk about another word… Sustainable. The dictionary built into my trusty Power Mac provides the following definition of sustainable: “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.”

What does that mean when someone uses it in reference to a lifestyle, building, city, etc.? Fortunately it means exactly what it sounds like. To live sustainably means to conduct your life in a way that makes you able to maintain your lifestyle at a certain rate or level. To build sustainably means that you use only what you need and that the built environment respects the balances necessary in nature both for sourcing materials and for heating/cooling and landscaping maintenance.

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