Re: [pf] thinking of a sustainable world "nice to live in".

by David MacClement

09 December 2000 03:01 UTC

At 23:27 7/12/2000 -0800, I (David Mac) wrote:
>· Prugh, Costanza and Daly say: "As Donella Meadows has pointed out, 
>most discussions of sustainability focus on implementation and 
>ignore the critical questions of what the world of our dreams would 
>actually look, feel, and smell like." 
>

· Today is the sort of thing /I/'m looking forward to, in a sustainable
positive future.

· While Bera was sleeping-in (this is Saturday), I heard a familiar
occasional roaring and went outside to find a great hot-air balloon close
by with its basket only twice the height of the local big trees (do any of
you know Norfolk Island Pines?). It was trying to land in the soccer-pitch
(field) which is our Greenhithe War Memorial Park. I dashed inside, grabbed
the point-&-shoot camera, and ran after it. That was after talking with the
ground crew who had just driven up; he said there was so little wind it was
difficult to pick a height where the wind was going where you wanted.

· The balloon /nearly/ made it: it went over the roof of the house adjacent
to the park. Eventually it landed further away (in Greenhithe), in the Pony
Club pasture.

· Bera and I by now had put on our back-packs and were on our way up to the
local store to catch the bus. We did our usual shopping; she went to the
organic-&-other green-grocer while I shopped for the rest of the groceries
in the supermarket. Today I was pleased to find that they'd started
stocking several more organically-grown items, like tea and two kinds of rice.

· After buying some locally-baked whole-wheat bread and getting home, Bera
did various things on the computer (a Google search, and printing out the
registration-form for The Greens Summer Gathering, were two), then she went
onto something else while I started my First-Half-of-November environmental
report. (I'm getting a little faster as I get used to this new version, so
I may catch up in another couple of months.)

· After lunch listening to the radio, including advance notice of a Sunday
programme about the damming of the Yangtse River (which I sent an e-mail to
Ruth about - she tried quite hard to see the area for herself while she was
there), Bera played some games on the computer while I read some more of my
current Sci-Fi book. I read some of it out to her, and the upshot was that
she's now reading it (and has just commented on how well it was written, in
contrast to many other of my Sci-Fi books she's looked at), and I'm on the
computer.

· That book is the second of a series, these being the first two:

Title : In the garden of Iden : a novel of the company  
Author : Baker, Kage. 
Call Number : SCIENCE FICTION BAKE 
Publisher : New York : Harcourt Brace, c1997. 
Subject Heading(s) : Time travel--Fiction.
England--Civilization--16th century--Fiction.
 
Description : 329 p. : 22 cm. 
Notes : Trained by the Company ... Mendoza is sent to live amidst the
turmoil of Renaissance England with the assignment to safeguard a species
of holly ... 
ISBN : 0151002991  
DBCN : ABJ-9507 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Title : Sky coyote : a novel of the company  
Author : Baker, Kage. 
Call Number : SCIENCE FICTION BAKE 
Publisher : New York : Harcourt Brace, c1999. 
Subject Heading(s) : Time travel--Fiction.
Chumash Indians--California--Fiction.
California--History--To 1846--Fiction.
 
Description : 310 p. ; 22 cm. 
Notes : In 1699, in the heart of the Mayan jungle, lies ...
ISBN : 0151003548  
DBCN : ABJ-9509 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

· This afternoon, Ruth and her Swiss boyfriend Emanuel and her brother
Peter are out at a beach in the late-Spring sun and breeze - it's a
beautiful blue sky about 1/3 covered with fluffy clouds - which they could
have got to by bus. Emanuel's leaving tomorrow evening, so they'll probably
be driving around some, before and after going to the beach.

· If I was younger and more energetic, I probably would have offered to
take them sailing in our 25 foot keel boat. Currently it needs a new
mainsail, so I didn't offer. They're well aware of the UV (sunburn) danger,
and will be using long sleeves and sunblock, and sitting in the shade much
of the time.

· Later this evening, Peter's going out with his own friends.

· Oh, and the icing on the cake is that today is the first day our cat is
clearly close to being healthy, after removing a big scab off the top of
his head: the result of weeks of a festering sore after he was scratched in
a cat fight.

· So things are fine today; just the sort of living I would like everyone
to be able to do in 25-50 years. By the way: there's not been a whisper
about Christmas-Hannukah-season purchases! The nearest is the Advent
Calendar given to Bera by her mother in Wales: it's a long embroidered
strip of cloth with 1 to 24 next to a pair of crocheted rings from which
Bera has hung wrapped candies. We each take one, usually first thing in the
morning of each December day.

David. (PS I enjoy my "sense of humour"; sometimes dark, often unseen.)
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz