Happy Birthday - don't kill yourself!

Over the July 4th weekend a 9-year-old received an ATV for a birthday present. This really struck a chord with me because several youngsters tear around our neighborhood on various gas-burning, noise making, dangerous contraptions. The ATV buyer bragged about the great price and the glee of the youngster. Excitement turned to fear when the child promptly crashed. A skinned elbow later the adults urged "get back in the saddle."

Before climbing on my soap box, let me admit to riding some dangerous vehicles in my life. I only had to be thrown from two motorcycles (as a passenger) to decide it wasn't THAT much fun. Open jeeps before seat belts never killed me. And I enjoyed driving fast. My father acknowledged that though fast was fun, it probably wasn't worth the risks. I still drove fast more than I should have. I've been very lucky.

But let's get back to the costs of that new ATV. A well-intentioned person started a child on what may be a life-long affair with a vehicle designed to destroy the environment. Off-the-road vehicles expose people to a dangerous, energy-wasting pastime that causes air pollution, soil erosion, increases in health care costs, reductions in workplace productivity and oh, yeah, death! The Consumer Product Safety Commission cites an increase in ATV deaths of 180 percent between 1995 and 2004. Don't take my word, just google ATV accidents!

My rant is loosing steam, because these vehicles ARE fun, and the American thrill for speed and recklessness runs so deep in our culture and maybe too many people make too much money on this stuff for the situation to ever change. If you think there is hope, please let me know.

Green Beans

Well, they're really Limas. But they'll be green because we grew them ourselves. How much more local can you get? Our gardening started when we moved to the country. (It really seemed like the country in 1984, when we built this house. The subdivisions are encroaching now.) My father-in-law, who helped me every day building the house, had a garden in town that was never big enough to suit him. When we moved onto 5 acres, we said, "Come on down!" The produce and the chance to learn from the master paid off. In the years since we lost him we've had more or less garden. Lately we've realized the great green potential of growing our own. I hope to expand our efforts toward that end.

So not everyone has 5 acres to play with. But even if you have a few container plants on a patio or in an apartment, there is great benefit. You get fresh veggies or fruit, save some cash and make a difference in your carbon footprint. We have also found gardening very therapeutic. Give it a try! Volumes of advice are out there on the web.

Somewhere

Somewhere's where you have to start, right? Al Gore, George W. Bush and my family gave me the push to start this blog. Al's "Inconvenient Truth" movie really made me sit up and take notice. I picked up trash on the first Earth Day many years ago and have been conscious of the mess we've made ever since. Now, with Bush at the helm, we've given the hen house over to the foxes. We can't blame them. Foxes will eat chickens . . . it is their job.

Although G. W. certainly has feathers on his muzzle, he's just another fox. No, my fellow Americans, the blame sits squarely on our shoulders. We voted Bush into office -- twice! And we bought SUV's and jetted around the country with CO2 billowing behind our butts.

America must take on a new role in our beautiful, troubled world. We have shown the planet how to waist resources and, recently, how to be international cowboy bullies. We are better than that and we can lead the world in a positive direction. But this will be accomplished by what we do every day. By how we travel, what we eat and buy and throw away. Little decisions we make in our routines add up to each of our carbon footprints.

My family decided the next vehicle we acquired would run on electric power alone. Not something in stock at the Chevy Dealer! So, my son and I built one (with lots of help from friends.) This is not a solution for everyone, but I am learning things from it that can help many people live lighter on the earth. Stay tuned . . .