Brain Fertilizer

Okay, so I drive a Jeep Cherokee, but my fuel efficient minivan wouldn't pull the pop-up camper, and we wanted to camp by Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone and Glacier and the Grand Tetons. I do recycle and get angry when a competing trash company throws my recycles in their garbage truck! (I even bring home the recycles from work!) I would love to look into the hybrid cars, but we're trying not to go bankrupt! (grin)

Well, I didn't say everyone should drive a Honda Civic. It comes down to the vehicle you feel you need.
...but that's not going to stop me from feeling smug when we both pull away from the gas station but I've got an extra $20 in my pocket to spend at the used book store! [grin]

I heard an interesting story on NPR this morning where ranchers who describe themselves as being in the "radical center" are rejecting both hard right and tree-hugger perspectives on the environment. It sounds like a cool concept, where they're creating conservation easements across groups of properties that will guarantee that the properties won't be broken up into smaller properties with wildlife-disturbing roads and fences, and in return they get collective grazing rights and are allowed to burn scrub down to create better grazing land. They also limit the number of cattle to prevent overgrazing.

I think it's good to develop ideas that allow for sensible land use, as opposed to the we-can't-touch-the-environment theory. Win-win.

I probably didn't describe it well, here's a link to the story.

A little lacking in self-confidence for someone named Hubris, I must say...

It makes a good argument for libertarianism, I gotta say, or decentralized/localized decision-making at the very least (since I'm not libertarian).

The thing is, I think the US is populated enough, and we have enough "global consciousness" these days to understand that looking at long-term maintenance is much more wise than short-term profit. If you want your family land to stay in the family, you have to find good ways to use it...and you can do it better than some bureaucrat sitting in Washington who thinks he's in the wilderness if there isn't a Starbucks within 30 miles.

Actually, I have cash in my pocket when I leave the gas station, too! We have a grocery store here that has a gas station out front and for every $50 you spend on groceries, you get .10 off a gallon (they keep track with your store card), so I've gotten a full tank of gas for a mere $4.50 and that was for Super!! (grin)
I do want to get a more fuel efficient car and only use the Cherokee when we camp, but until our oldest is really in need of a car (within the year), that isn't going to happen.

Yeah, but that's cheating! [grin]
Seriously, though, I'm really not trying to set up any sort of competition here, just making the point that growing up in Montana, I loved the pristine wilderness of the Beartooth area so much that I don't think I could stand to see it ruined by pollution and overdevelopment....but that the draconian measures demanded by most eco-people goes too far and is usually counter-productive to boot. So as I grew in political savvy, I retained my love for the environment and always bought the most fuel-efficient vehicle I could get by with in every situation.

I'm just giving you a hard time! We were in Hungry Horse, Montana two summers ago where we met up with my dad and spent some time in Glacier National Park. VERY beautiful area...I would be even more mindful of conservation living there. We actually have conservation land surrounding our rather suburban neighborhood and we are strict about how it's taken care of...I suppose that we are IEC's, too!

P.S. Hope you have a nice few days off!

I'm not into stupid things like taking aluminum cans to the recycling center. I take them to the same scrapyard the winos use, and get fifty cents a pound for them.

Woot! Nice thinking.