Warning, rant.
It seems everywhere I go, people are talking about how much gas costs and how much food costs. People everywhere I go are talking about gardening. It's strange for me to constantly be in conversations where I have something useful to say (mostly along the lines of "It's easy! Anybody can do it."). Gas here costs slightly less than it did a few days ago, $4.16 a gallon. That's an awful lot of money. I remember when $1.05 a gallon was the expensive stuff and could get you a fluid check and your tires aired up, along with your gas pumped. Food costs have risen dramatically, which is hard on folks, especially since the "fresh" vegetables and fruits aren't very nutritious (containing vitamins and minerals) or tasty.
Since we live in Illinois, everyone seems to remember the garden tomato. You just can't buy them in a store. Picking them out of the garden is the best. I read a story that fishermen are striking in Europe, and blockading ports, because of the tremendous rise in gas costs. They have to go waaaay out to sea, since fishing stocks are so depleted. It makes you think. There's going to be a hard adjustment for some folks. So many folks have already gone through it, like any city or state founded on the American factory (Detroit stands out). Factory jobs are few and far between anymore, with our global economy and "cheap" imports.
I gotta think, thank god the gas prices are finally getting higher. Quick! Before even the deep sea fish are all gone. Quick! Before we lose all this biodiversity forever (before we turn it all into plastic). Before the forests are completely gone, before the rivers are completely dammed and polluted, before all the topsoil is gone, before the ice caps melt completely. I hope these quick slides of the peak in the oil curve poke enough americans in the butt to get them to think of other ideas besides work, drive, shop. I hope everyone gets to taste some fresh food before we all forget how to grow it.
Oh, yes, riding the bus, talking about gardening, witnessing community and people caring about each other, seeing people have a good time, despite extreme poverty. This is what gives me faith, in what I do not know. That there is a lot more to humanity than what they report in the papers (especially police beat), maybe.
carey
It seems everywhere I go, people are talking about how much gas costs and how much food costs. People everywhere I go are talking about gardening. It's strange for me to constantly be in conversations where I have something useful to say (mostly along the lines of "It's easy! Anybody can do it."). Gas here costs slightly less than it did a few days ago, $4.16 a gallon. That's an awful lot of money. I remember when $1.05 a gallon was the expensive stuff and could get you a fluid check and your tires aired up, along with your gas pumped. Food costs have risen dramatically, which is hard on folks, especially since the "fresh" vegetables and fruits aren't very nutritious (containing vitamins and minerals) or tasty.
Since we live in Illinois, everyone seems to remember the garden tomato. You just can't buy them in a store. Picking them out of the garden is the best. I read a story that fishermen are striking in Europe, and blockading ports, because of the tremendous rise in gas costs. They have to go waaaay out to sea, since fishing stocks are so depleted. It makes you think. There's going to be a hard adjustment for some folks. So many folks have already gone through it, like any city or state founded on the American factory (Detroit stands out). Factory jobs are few and far between anymore, with our global economy and "cheap" imports.
I gotta think, thank god the gas prices are finally getting higher. Quick! Before even the deep sea fish are all gone. Quick! Before we lose all this biodiversity forever (before we turn it all into plastic). Before the forests are completely gone, before the rivers are completely dammed and polluted, before all the topsoil is gone, before the ice caps melt completely. I hope these quick slides of the peak in the oil curve poke enough americans in the butt to get them to think of other ideas besides work, drive, shop. I hope everyone gets to taste some fresh food before we all forget how to grow it.
Oh, yes, riding the bus, talking about gardening, witnessing community and people caring about each other, seeing people have a good time, despite extreme poverty. This is what gives me faith, in what I do not know. That there is a lot more to humanity than what they report in the papers (especially police beat), maybe.
carey
