Doing Something

I know, it sounds cliche, but ever since I found out about the giant BP oil explosion on, yeah, Earth Day, 2010, I'm taking my responsibilities as a citizen of earth a little more seriously.

I actually didn't even find out about it on Earth Day because I stopped watching TV some time ago. It's true. I used to watch TV all the time but now I just can't stand it any more.

I found out about the leak from facebook and my igoogle page BBC news feed. That's where I get most of my information these days.

It's not like I didn't care about the earth before...far from it. I pay for recycling, compost my scraps, live close to work, use CFLs, buy used clothes, garden, pay for energy offsets, I even have a push mower and a rain barrel! Hell people, I went to Live Earth. And, it's my vocation. But, the thing is, I look at that picture of the spreading oil slick and everything I do that requires oil, and it makes me kind of sick inside. Like nothing I can do matters much.

But I can still do something.

So here I am with my little sword, taking it to the sun. That's what this blog is about. My small attempts to make the world a better place. The people I meet along the way, the ride.

I actually learned about the giant oil leak about a week late on April 28th or so. I was frankly just disheartened. The 29th however, I bought a new bike lock and seeds. Friday the 30th, I made a move. I backed out of the garage not in my gas sucking car, but on my bicycle. It felt GOOD.

I'm only 4 miles from the office. Why not ride the bike? Really, it doesn't even take much longer than driving. There are even bike lanes nearly the whole way there! I got to work feeling better and more energetic. I had a great day at the office & rode home. After work, I put on my Grandpa's too-big overalls that I just can't seem to part with and set about planting my garden plots here in my inner city backyard. It was nice pushing the seeds into the soil.

Today, Monday, I did it again. I woke up next to my fantastic adorable boyfriend (seriously, he's too good be real) with the sun shining through the open window, a cool breeze full of promise blowing in...and after a cuppa & the am routine I headed out. On my bike. My neighborhood isn't exactly a manicured suburban paradise. I'm sure plenty of people would tell me to be careful or not to go at all. But, I like the edgyness of it here. There are real people here. Lovers, Fighters.

I rode through my neighborhood past the building that will soon be a new food co-op, past the bus stop full of waiting black men, left at the light, then right at corner with the liquor store and pawn shop. Past the high school. Rounding the curve in the road, I saw a man in white walking on the sidewalk & it turned out I knew him from neighborhood work. "Good Morning Tom!" I called out. "Good Morning!" he bellowed with a smile, recognizing me. I went over the tracks and under the highway that seperates the "good neighborhood" from the "bad neighborhood." The bike lanes are relatively new but the paint is coming off. The Cars don't seem to think the bike lane is really real.

Through the heart of the downtown, I get to see the big war memorials and public spaces every day. The bike parking is right outside the door to my office building. I headed inside with my jeans and yellow backpack on. The boss was the first to greet me: "Hey --! Runnin' away from home?"

"no, just rode my bike to work. I'm going to start to do it as much as I can."

"Yeah! The weather is perfect today. Too bad it had to rain all weekend"

"Well, that, and the whole Oil spill makes me not want to drive anymore"

"Oh. Yeah." Boss hangs his head, then looks up, a flash of anger in his eyes, "That's just awful. And they don't have shut off valves? And they can't get to the leak? It's crazy."

"Yeah." We talked about it a bit more. Disgusted. Sad.

I went in my office. Shut the door & changed into my lawyer clothes, did my lawyer work, ate lunch at my desk. Couldn't wait to get back on the bike.

Rode home, and my neighbors waived to me from their porches as I glided down my tree lined street of historic houses, rented doubles, wrecks, rehabs. I still had plenty of energy to mow the yard with my old push mower. Is the yard as pretty as if I'd used a gas mower? No. but STFW? Came inside & felt like good healthy food. I made baked tofu with sauteed onion and carrots celery and peas and rice. Chives from the backyard.

Fruit. It felt better. I felt better. I know I can't do it all, but I can do something.