Friday, October 07, 2005
Soul Donor
We went for beers the other night with my friend C and his partner S. M always goes on about how alike C and I are, and I suppose there is some truth to that - the man has impecable taste in folk music and books, and it was he who let me know Salman Rushdie was in town so I'm forever grateful for that.
S & M also have much in common - both social workers with similar approaches/ concerns/ frustrations.
And C and I are both eco-geeks who don't always buy into the rhetoric of the left, of which we are card-carrying members. In my case, this is literal - I have an NDP membership card around this office somewhere. I pretended to be a student when I bought it so they only got 5 bucks from me at a Jack Layton function. (I voted for the French dude, Pierre something, not Jack. I've met the man twice and he is impressive in some ways; too whorish in others.)
Anyhoo what frustrates both C and myself about environmentalists is that they live in a self-satisfied downward-looking bubble that prevents them from interacting with the rest of the humans in any meaningful way. They bitch to each other ad nauseum about the state of the world but anytime any of their ideas goes mainstream it pisses them off and they drop it (kinda like some indy rock fans).
Case in point: C's running this great campaign in partnership with Home Depot giving away energy efficient light bulbs - they've given away hundreds of thousands of them. This alone will drastically reduce energy use in a province ever on the verge of brown and blackouts. But even better is that they have a 5-minute conversation with every person they give a bulb to, about energy efficiency. So, hopefully, the impact is lasting. Clever no?
But apparently some jackasses have blogged rather negatively about the campaign, deal with the devil and whatnot. Home Depot, if you're reading, and you wanna give me a crapload of money to do something socially responsible and sustainable, I got my soul right here, signed sealed and waiting for a recipient.
--Bopper
S & M also have much in common - both social workers with similar approaches/ concerns/ frustrations.
And C and I are both eco-geeks who don't always buy into the rhetoric of the left, of which we are card-carrying members. In my case, this is literal - I have an NDP membership card around this office somewhere. I pretended to be a student when I bought it so they only got 5 bucks from me at a Jack Layton function. (I voted for the French dude, Pierre something, not Jack. I've met the man twice and he is impressive in some ways; too whorish in others.)
Anyhoo what frustrates both C and myself about environmentalists is that they live in a self-satisfied downward-looking bubble that prevents them from interacting with the rest of the humans in any meaningful way. They bitch to each other ad nauseum about the state of the world but anytime any of their ideas goes mainstream it pisses them off and they drop it (kinda like some indy rock fans).
Case in point: C's running this great campaign in partnership with Home Depot giving away energy efficient light bulbs - they've given away hundreds of thousands of them. This alone will drastically reduce energy use in a province ever on the verge of brown and blackouts. But even better is that they have a 5-minute conversation with every person they give a bulb to, about energy efficiency. So, hopefully, the impact is lasting. Clever no?
But apparently some jackasses have blogged rather negatively about the campaign, deal with the devil and whatnot. Home Depot, if you're reading, and you wanna give me a crapload of money to do something socially responsible and sustainable, I got my soul right here, signed sealed and waiting for a recipient.
--Bopper
Labels: 2005, non-fiction, politics, Toronto
