Aggregating Consciousness

This morning NPR had a piece centered around carbon offsets – http://www.npr.org/2015/11/12/455717415/npr-amazon-reporting-team-tries-to-offset-its-carbon-footprint– with the rhetorical question – Isn’t paying $50 to plant 18 trees to offset the carbon footprint of the flight you just took, like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound.

I listened as I drove north on the 101 toward Santa Barbara, with a clear view of 7-10 offshore oil rigs. My thoughts drifted to distaste as I thought of all the animals that are effected by the leakage, and then to the bigger picture of the eventual burning into the atmosphere of all that oil. Who do these people think they are? Don’t they know about climate change? Don’t they have compassion? Don’t they care about our future?

I always seem to have those same thoughts about the rigs while Im driving. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t drive places each day. I take it for granted, I depend on it, its convenient, its kind of great. This is why those rigs are in the channel. I can’t imagine the conversation about climate change changing, until I/we are willing to “Be the change”

We are not going to stop driving cars anytime soon, probably not until, cars have been replaced by something that hovers and is fueled by a flux capacitor.  But until that time we can at least be more attentive to SOURCE! Who makes the car?  Who drills for our fuel?  Do these companies have our best interests in mind, are they the ones trying to invent the flux capacitor?  Are they willing to forgo some revenue for the mission improving our well being and considering our future.

This morning I filled up at Sunoco, rather the Exxon across the road. It seemed like the lesser of two evils.  I need a new car, and not surprisingly there are some great deals on VW.  Im going to consider a Ford or a Toyota hybrid.  

Its this constant attention to source that will change the climate change conversation into climate change action.  

The power lies in the aggregation of regular marginal conscious decisions by billions of people!!!