Rebuilding

As part of the orientation for the volunteer program that I’m doing, someone from the Rebuilding Center in Portland, OR, came to talk to us. I knew the talk was about building community, but it was so much more inspiring than I guessed.

The Rebuilding Center is basically a thrift shop of home building and remodeling materials. People donate all kinds of stuff that can be reused in conventional or creative ways. The center has expanded since its founding and now includes deconstruction services and furniture built on site out of donated materials. I didn’t get to go there, but it pretty much sounds like a haven for artists and the socially-conscious, as well as people who can’t afford full-price DIY supplies. Two things struck me about the place: one, I always forget that reusing things is a good way to be very green and two, one of the original purposes of the center was to create a source of funding for a community building project, which has its own great story.

So basically what I’m saying is, there’s no need to throw out your counter top just because you’re getting a new one, not even in Buffalo. I love the way one good thing can grow into many.

Can-Do Attitude

After yesterday’s What Is It To Be American kick, this op-ed got me going again. It touches on two of my favorite topics: American values and environmentalism.

What I love about the environmental movement is that it’s based on looking beyond ourselves, and right now, solutions to the problem usually involve making a sacrifice or at least a change. While it may be fun to burn lots of gas or spray pesticides everywhere, damaging the planet and using our resources in unsustainable ways hurts everyone who lives here and the consequences will only be worse for future generations. I like how people who are really into being green recognize our interconnectedness and are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the planet. And frankly, I think they’ve succeeded in making it pretty fashionable. I’m embarrassed to be caught with a plastic bag.

The environmental movement also has its problems though, like why is this a political issue? Why don’t we (and our government in particular) consistently push for the best long-term solutions? I thought we were all about innovation and trail blazing around here. Last week, Al Gore challenged the US to turn to entirely carbon-free energy in the next ten years. In the op-ed, Bob Herbert fears that “the naysayers will tell you that once again Al Gore is dreaming, that the costs of his visionary energy challenge are too high, the technological obstacles too tough, the timeline too short and the political lift much too heavy.”

He goes on to cite times when the country has pulled through in a crunch:

When exactly was it that the U.S. became a can’t-do society? It wasn’t at the very beginning when 13 ragamuffin colonies went to war against the world’s mightiest empire. It wasn’t during World War II when Japan and Nazi Germany had to be fought simultaneously. It wasn’t in the postwar period that gave us the Marshall Plan and a robust G.I. Bill and the interstate highway system and the space program and the civil rights movement and the women’s movement and the greatest society the world had ever known.

Some would say you have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.

The Price of Gas

Thomas Friedman, sometimes I find you a little bit obnoxious, but I really dig this analogy for our fossil fuel consumption:

When a person is addicted to crack cocaine, his problem is not that the price of crack is going up. His problem is what that crack addiction is doing to his whole body. The cure is not cheaper crack, which would only perpetuate the addiction and all the problems it is creating. The cure is to break the addiction.