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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW

Why Bother?
By MICHAEL POLLAN
Published: April 20, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=76d14e551d4461fb&ex=1208923200


In a challenging piece on personal response to climate change Michael  
Pollan deals what and why we might do what is needed to save our  
planet as we know it. Ironically, we homesteaders of varying levels  
have been doing much of what needs to be done, without government  
subsidies or laws compelling us to do so.

"Which brings us back to the “why bother” question and how we might  
better answer it. The reasons not to bother are many and compelling,  
at least to the cheap-energy mind. But let me offer a few admittedly  
tentative reasons that we might put on the other side of the scale:
"If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough  
other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain  
reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green  
products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just  
look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised,  
perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take  
root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or  
illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come  
to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things  
might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way  
they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in  
behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even  
other countries. . . ."

Pollan suggests that we consider Vaclav Havel's thought: that we begin  
to conduct ourselves as if we will live on this earth forever and be  
answerable for its condition one day.

We homesteader types already knew we were cool. Maybe more of the  
larger populace will begin to appreciate us. Not that appreciation is  
needed. But it's nice. Just might create lots of opportunities.