An Eco-logical Mind

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

So which is it?

I often lay awake at night and listen to the wind howling outside my window in a key I’ve never heard before. The weather is just plain weird and if you’ve lost your job, your house, your savings, these are bleak times. We’re all worried about global warming and terrorist attacks and whether the Dow will ever recover.

But even in the darkness I find myself surprisingly optimistic. As hard as it is for many of us, everything is moving in the right direction and things are happening that I could only dream about a few short years ago. The consumer driven society we built was not sustainable. It had to end for us to survive.

Think about it. Because of the drop in consumption, factories are slowing down or closing and Green House Gas emissions are actually declining. People are driving less, saving lives and further reducing emissions. Americans are starting to take the long view and savings rates are going up for the first time since the 1950s.

Companies are reducing people’s hours, forcing them to have a better balance between work and life. Of course if you are struggling to pay your bills on a reduced pay check, you may not enjoy your time off. But our priorities are getting realigned whether we like it or not. Instead of buying stuff, we are spending more time with each other. We’re slowing down and our quality of life is looking up.

Here in Portland a lot of people have been walking or taking mass transit to work for years. But since the crash, the brigade of bicycles riding across the bridges into downtown every day has grown to epic proportions. I recently saw a caravan of bikes pulling small trailers loaded with sofas, lamps, tables, dressers and clothes. Friends were moving someone into a new house, getting exercise and maintaining a zero carbon footprint at the same time! Only in Portland.

Everywhere you look the new paradigm is taking root and people are digging it.