Another story with a guilt theme...
I work with the Environmental Studies Program and am affiliated with the Center for Sustainabilty, so I should be 'green,' right? The other day I was in a late meeting (4:00pm) and knew that if I didn't leave right then, I would be stuck in traffic for well over an hour. I told the committee in the meeting that I needed to leave to beat the rush and a very vocal bike-riding faculty member looked up at me and said "you are the sustainability guy ?!?" Yes, yes, I am. I drive 35 miles each way to work because I can't afford to live in a reasonably sized house (enough for 3 kids) anywhere near the school. I would love to do so, but simply can't. At first I was really hurt, then I felt guilty, now I feel indignant. If he wants to help me be 'green' enough for his standard, he can make my wage livable. I'm just not going to trade having my stay-at-home wife and children happy in a comfortable sized house in a nice neighborhood and great school district far away from school for a tiny house in the ghetto of Orange County with horrible crime and underachieving schools. You can try to 'green guilt' me as much as you want, but it won't work with this, SUCKER!
Oh, yeah... Happy earth week.
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Investing today for tenure later...
1 comment:
Having "open space" in an urban area isn't sustainable, but the same people advocate both. Everyone who wanted El Toro to be a "great park" instead of housing by default also wanted more traffic on the 91.
Environmental question I asked my wife but she didn't find as interesting as I did: would environmentalists have an issue with human colonists radically altering the moon's or Mars's environment to allow for plants and animals (assuming it were possible)? Is the problem with man-induced environmental change the damage it does to plants and animals, or the fact that it's a change at all?
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