OT - It was 20 years ago today.

[Delwin D Fandrich]

My what a lot of anger and hostility my little rant has raised.  Since most
if this has been directed at me, I'll give it one last response and then we
can all go back to our prosperity and complacency:

Guilt.
   I did not bring up the subject of guilt, although it, along with the
hostility that frequently accompanies it, has been the focus of several
subsequent posts.  Instilling guilt has not been the intent of anything I
have written.  I do not have the power to instill guilt-nothing I write can
produce it.  Guilt comes to a person when they are either doing something
they believe they shouldn't be doing or when they are not doing something
they believe they should be doing.
   No, the best I can hope for is that, with some additional information,
some of us might make lifestyle decisions that are less damaging to our
planets once-natural systems.  To find guilt, you have to look within
yourself.

Transportation.
   Yes, I drive a car.  In general, I try to drive as little as possible and
I try to get as much use out of them as I can before replacing them.  I also
am active in promoting efficient and useful mass transit systems-none of
them can yet be called 'rapid.'  No, I don't feel guilty about it.

Energy consumption.
   Contrary to implication, I live in a state that is a net energy exporter
of electricity.so far.  Nor do we import water.so far.  Unfortunately, most
of our power generation comes from hydro-electric sources which are
dependent on relatively stable river flows, which can no longer be counted
on.  For example, we normally receive between 85 and 95 inches of rainfall
per year.  This year, unless something really radical happens, we will end
up with less than 55 inches of rain.  Similar declines are reported
throughout the northwest.

General consumption.
   To live, we are going to consume.  And, yes, obviously, I use a computer,
though it, too, is getting a bit long in the tooth.  Every person must
decide for him/her self what level of consumption is appropriate.  There is
much we can do to reduce our current level of consumption and still retain a
good and comfortable lifestyle.  No, I don't feel guilty about my level of
consumption.
   Nor do I agree that one must live a totally ascetic lifestyle to be
concerned about how one's own lifestyle affects others.  Just because we are
not personally responsible for someone's tragedy, does not mean we cannot
feel compassion for them and help them.  I did not chose to live in an area
where hurricanes are frequent visitors, should my attitude then be, "So,
your house was destroyed by a hurricane?  Tough, I did not build my house
there, go fend for yourself!"

Prosperity and social inequity.
   It is not my fault, either, that some populations continue to do terrible
things to themselves and to others.  But then, neither did I play a great
roll in the prosperity America currently enjoys.  (And neither did anyone
else on this list.)  I've done my studies and done my work, but the
groundwork for this nation's current prosperity was laid generations ago and
I cannot claim much credit for it.  I consider myself most blessed and
fortunate to have been born into a nation which still has a reasonably
stable and equitable government, with laws that still promises some level of
justice, albeit one without the promised equality for all.
   That said, I believe we do have a responsibility to go through this life
doing what we can to help others along the way.  Barring that, is it too
much to hope that we at least try to avoid making the lives of others worse
than it already is.

Starvation.
   I also did not introduce the subject of starvation to this discussion,
but since it now been brought up by several, let's do the numbers -- this
year approximately 35,000,000 folks will die of starvation and hunger
related illnesses (see www.starvation.com).  I find it hard to be callous
about this number, regardless of who or what is at fault.
   I doubt that very many of those 35,000,000 people had a choice in where
they were born, in the social and economic status of their parents, or  in
the form of government that keeps them in poverty.  Nor are they responsible
for the once-productive farmland that becomes arid desert due to changing
weather patterns.  But, what the hell, I didn't put them there so let them
die.  It's just the planets way of balancing things out.
   No, I cannot feed 35,000,000 starving people, but I can at least avoid,
as much as possible, making their lives worse than they already.

   Subsistence living does, indeed, "suck."

   Merry Christmas.

Del