An Open Letter To The US Congress and the Bush Administration

Dear Everyone,

I'm writing to you because I'm severely disappointed with the current plans to save the polar bears. It looks to me like an attempt to placate people by putting the polar bears on the endangered species list, however very little is actually being DONE to help them.

The problem, as I see it, is that the bears are being severely affected by melting of the sea ice, as brought on by global warming. Merely adding the bears to the endangered species list is not going to change much, if that is the case. In fact, it seems that they way to protect their habitat needs to STRONGLY focus on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Perhaps enacting ways to tax people and businesses that have higher emissions would be a good way to encourage people to cut back. For instance, your average SUV emits far more greenhouse gases than a small car. Thus, perhaps SUV owners should be taxed on the extra emissions. For that matter, there are plenty of businesses that, I'm sure, could cut back emissions if properly encouraged. I've heard wal-mart has recently devised a way to DOUBLE the gas efficiency of their trucking fleet. Imagine if all trucking fleets were expected to do the same, and soon! Unfortunately, the rising gas prices do not seem to be enough, but the taxes on SUVs (or businesses or whatever) could then go to enhance our public transit within the country, which is abysmal at best for the vast majority of the US.

As I'm sure you know, things are going to have to change in our country if we have any hope of curbing a global crisis, of which the polar bears are only the "tip of the iceberg".

Sincerely,


Your Friends at Freaktopia

To Ecovillage or Not To Ecovillage...

There's a new ecovillage going in just outside of Ithaca, NY. My friend is moving there (her house just started going up not too long ago!). I am feeling like I really would like to do that too. It's funny, when she first told me about it, I got all excited, but then decided it wouldn't be for me. I didn't want the extra imposition of rules and working on projects that may or may not have anything to do with me, and the possible tedium of meetings.

Well, for some reason, my mind has completely changed in the last week. I'm feeling very drawn toward the community inherent in the ecovillage. Honestly, there's no way to get that without immense work, especially this day and age. Participating in an occasional meeting or helping out with the area doesn't seem so bad, anymore. Yes, there may be extra rules and time impositions, but I get a hand in making them. It's cooperative agreements, not imposed sentences. We all will get to reap the benefits.

Not only that, but since we were strongly considering moving to Ithaca (and possibly building an eco-friendly house), anyway, this way we'll have a built-in support community when we get there. There are other kids for my kids to play with, some will be home-schoolers which may be helpful for my children who are likely to be home-schooled. If my husband has to travel on business or while he's at work, I won't be alone, there will be other people around. Our neighbors may well share many of our values (obviously at *least* an interest in community and sustainable living), which isn't necessarily easy to find in this day and age.

The question now becomes is this as good as we think it is? And if it is, can we really afford to do it?