Ok. So, realizing that I was ranting an awful lot about my slavery and monoculture pet-peeves (see below), I want to counter that with a few small ideas of what I see as being solutions. In other words, while I frown on the listed examples of slavery to the monoculture, I also have these other things which I admire in people, and which I think are effective ways to break yourself from monoculture bondage and become and all-around better person.
In a list format . .
Support Progressive Charity Organizations:
Instead of spending your money on the latest gadget, the newest fleece, or the biggest car, find ways to be thrifty, and with the money leftover, help make the world better. Buy a llama for a Peruvian farmer. Take a day off work and help harvest an organic farm. Tutor a kid whose parents could care less.
These things not only help the world (rather than inadvertently corrupt or destroy it as slaves to the monoculture do), but they enrich you as a person.
Excercise and Activity:
Hike through the woods instead of just driving there. Walk or bike to the store as much as possible. You can help preserve the earth, and at the same time, get your energy and physical health way up.
Write a Letter:
Keep in contact with your friends and family in a way that's more meaningful and permanent than electronic communication.
Write your local congresman and involve yourself in reshaping the political process (by advocating real change).
Read:
Learn more about whatever it is you're supporting. Figure out where the money goes once you spend it on a certain product.
Reading and learning helps raise your general awareness and gives you the potential to be a positive force in shaping the world that we share.
Ditch the Stuff:
Like I said before - get rid of the gadgets, the cars, and the new jackets that you think you need. You'll realize that life is much happier when you aren't so greedy, you brat.
If anyone has any other ideas for this, please feel free to shout them out. I think we can all use some positivity. Especially me after spending a two-and-a-half hours typing all this.
This is all way too long . . .
Trent . . .
You have much to learn, my friend. The amount of waste that llamas produce is, I'm certain, far lesser from their cousin, the SUV. In fact, a llama to a Peruvian farmer actually helps PRODUCE, rather than waste.
Check out the Heifer guys site if you don't believe me.
http://catalog.heifer.org/llama.cfm
Posted by: andy at January 12, 2005 8:46 AMGreat response Andy...we must not neglect how much the SUV consumes in natural resources without redepositing what it uses compared to the llama.
I had another idea for you: cook without a microwave. The rewards are amazing when you don't dig into "electrified" food.
Posted by: Johnny at January 19, 2005 3:33 PM
If I didn't know you better, I might have thought you'd gone mad, or fruity. I can just imagine some soft male voice reading this entry as some public service announcement. I don't see how giving a Peruvian farmer a llama is any different from giving an American an SUV.
Posted by: Trent at January 11, 2005 9:07 PM