Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Feeling Inadequate

It's one of those days - post ice, gloomy, rainy, dreary and all around depressing.
And then Dave Neads has to go and add to my misery. He has a very excellent blog called Chilton Ark. He built his own home by hand, lives in the middle of nowhere, is worried about (and quite in tune with) what's happening to the environment, and I envy his lifestyle. He doesn't post often, but when he does it's always a worthwhile, excellent and informative read.

I mean, what is one gardener to do? Yes, there are millions of us all trying to do our part, but I still get the feeling that no matter what we do, it'll never be enough. The majority still refuse to see the 'big picture'. So does what I do on my tiny speck of the earth really matter? Some days I know it does and some days I want to throw up my hands and just announce (to no one in particular) that it doesn't matter what I do with my speck if everyone else really doesn't care that their actions are null and voiding mine.

Two small sentences on Dave's blog really crushed my organic gardener side today:

"Even if we were to level off emissions today, there is enough CO2 and other gasses in the atmosphere to cause a rise of nearly 2 degrees C by 2040.

It is unavoidable."


That is what we're leaving to our children and our grandchildren, no matter what we do. The damage is already done. And that scares me.

So, on dreary, low garden morale days like today, I pull up my bootstraps, straighten my spine, grab a pack of seeds and say, "Yes, damn it, the actions I take on my speck most certainly DO matter!"

Even the smallest ant helps sustain the colony.

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4 comments:

Amy said...

I can't believe this - it's a small world! I live not so far from Dave Neads. He's fairly well known in my neck of the woods and I recently came across his blog :)

Tina said...

Hey there, Amy!
Oh, my gosh! That's cool!
I love his blog. He's a rather interesting man. I wish his wife had a blog. It'd be nice to get another view point, I think? lol.

Precipice said...

I am always amazed where things go on the 'net. I thank you for the kind comments.

I, too, believe that one can make a difference. That is why I am a believer in Chaos theory, we are all butterflies and one butterfly can have an enormous effect.

The "It is unavoidable" post was intended to spur people into taking action so that this is as far as we go. Beyond 2 degrees C things start to get really ugly.

Rosemary and you are certainly kindred spirits, she is a gardener deep in her soul. She is aways trying new things, experimenting to see just what our little mountain niche will grow.

Change always come from the roots.

Tina said...

Hello, Dave.
I'm honored to have you drop in! The comments I made about your blog were very well deserved, I assure you. Yours is on the top of my 'must read' list.
I think I'd just wither away if I didn't have something I could experiment with. I'm still a kid at heart and can't resist trying to figure things out and why some things work and some don't - or more accurately, what I did wrong to make it not work.
:)
Hopefully, people will wise up about the environment soon. One can always hope.