Happily Ever After?

Last night, I got the rare quiet moment to myself. Sitting on my neighbor's couch, while she went out and her husband went out somewhere else and her children played happily with mine upstairs, I leaned into the cushions and opened The Atlantic Monthly.

On page 56, I noticed Thomas Friedman, going on about the green revolution. And this is what he said...

This isn't a green revolution, friends. This is a party....Twenty years ago...we all talked here about the [information technology] revolution. Do you think that was pain free?.... Oh, everyone wasn't a winner in the IT revolution. There are a lot of old-legacy industries that didn't get it. And they got steam rolled....today the old-legacy indurstries, they control this story; they control that policy mechanism in Washington. They are tough, and they will fight dirty. They are not going anywhere.

And that's why we are having a green party, not a green revolution. Do not kid yourself for one second.

As I read this, I wasn't sure of Friedman's meaning. Did he mean to say our efforts are futile? Or did he mean to say that our efforts will be painful, have to get painful to bring about change?

In any case, there in my moment of quiet, I thought, "This sounds like a challenge to the average citizen. A challenge to take Friedman's breath away. A challenge to write the green story we want to see, behind the tough guys' backs."

We've done this before, in different sectors. Just think of how consumers forced industry to change their practice of CFC use. (Remember when you stopped buying aerosol cans? You brought about a revolution simply with your hairspray, bugspray abstinence.)

Happily-ever-after probably isn't pain free, as I think Friedman implies. But then again, it was never pain free in the fairy tales either.


Prince and Princess photo, by Sonia.


Green Inventions Invitation: If you write a post related to this post and Link It Back Here, let me know and I'll link to yours.

Kindling

"The number of catastrophic wildfires in the U.S. has been steadily rising," reports Scientific American (p.47, August 2007)

Ironically, this increase in catastrophic fires is based on suppression of smaller, natural wildfires. These smaller fires clear the forests of excess brush and debris that build up over time. When such fires are suppressed, the excess brush and debris make fodder for intense fires that are virtually impossible to fight.

Proposed three-fold solution? Let certain natural fires simply burn. Set other areas on fire, purposely. And thin out low-hanging tree limbs, brush, and debris.

When such a policy is pursued, forests are actually strengthened. Also, it's interesting to consider that certain pine cones, like the Redwood cone, must be burned to release their seeds into an environment that ends up conducive to germinating.

This is all highly fascinating to me. On the one hand, it makes me cautious about simple environmental solutions like suppression, that seem wise but ultimately are not. We really do need to take our cue from Creation and see how it preserves and propagates itself. On the other hand, it kindles my thoughts about spiritual growth. Should I be suppressing certain fires that arise in my life? Should I fight the fires of God? Maybe I should let the smaller burnings speak to me... even offer up my soul for kindling now and again.

Acceptance

When I first moved to this tiny tudor on the hill, I had visions. Of tomatoes and green beans, corn and blackberries, peaches and kiwi. I wanted to make my tiny parcel into a lush mini-farm of fruits and vegetables. I even considered giving some of the bumper crops to my local soup kitchen.

Well.

Tomatoes won't grow here. Not enough sun. Green beans and corn can't get the proper space (unless one is happy with enough plants to yield 10 beans, 2 ears of corn). My spouse didn't want any more trees on the property. And I did plant kiwi, but one of the plants died, and you need two (male and female) and I don't know which one is still thriving (kiwi are uncooperative that way... they don't wear dresses or ties so you can tell them apart).

So.

I began to learn the discipline of acceptance. As it turns out, I have a good number of wild edibles that are quite happy here. My herb garden grows in spite of me. Snap peas climb the hemlocks. Blueberries like my acidic soil. Peppers thrive in the front yard, against prevailing social convention (and I'm trying tomatoes there this year too).

Maybe this is the lesson I need in many areas of life. To put aside my visions, if only for a season...to see what wants to, will even delight to, grow.


Mint in the Rock Garden photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Green Inventions Invitation: if you write a related post and LINK back here, let me know and I'll link to yours.

Wordless Wednesday: Just Ask

Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16


Path photo from Secret Place by L.L. Barkat.