Was: Money. Now: Modern Life

[Guest guest]

Well, IF I had the money, and IF I were convinced that I HAD to have organic in

order to heal myself, then I would probably go to the trouble of only buying

organic.

However, I got a 30% pay cut some years back, I've been through literal

financial HELL in the intervening time, and I'm doing the best I can with what I

have. And I'm healing using conventional meats, veggies, and butter.

I find it important to do the best with what I have. If I get to the point

where I can do a fancier diet, then I will buy some organic things.

But with the economy the way it is, I'm not going to sweat it. I see all these

people out there struggling, with or without a job. I see the government

screwing up the economy (in the US) more and more each day.

I for one do not want to do without industrialization. If I get the chance to

live semi-rurally, I will do so, but that still takes money, and to earn money

takes industrialization. I am not willing to do without my computer... it helps

me earn a living.

I do medical transcription from home, a job I could not have done before

industrialization. I can move anywhere in the contiguous 48 states (in the US),

and as long as I can get broadband internet service, I can still take my job

with me (technically I am an independent contractor, but I have worked for the

same company for over 13 years now). And to me, that is better than moving some

place and having to take an even bigger pay cut.

I'm not saying don't respect the earth. I AM saying that I believe there is

scaremongering which is WAY over the top. The sky is NOT falling.

The earth is going to be here in a million years, and no one will know or care

who we were.

As it happens, a lot of the Third World nations' peoples are in worse shape

health-wise than a lot of people in more industrialized nations. We at least

have the choice of eating well or eating junk. Some of those other people are

on the edge of starvation or worse.

And in fact, starving people in Third World nations don't worry about pollution

nearly as much as people in the First World, where we have the luxury of

worrying about pollution. But I still don't think the sky is falling.

I messed up my health by eating a lot of junk food when I was younger... but at

least I have the choice of whether to eat that stuff again; in that respect, I

am luckier than people who are literally starving.

Yeah, simpler times. We all say we want them. They probably weren't as simple

as we have been led to believe. I love horses, but I also love my car. In past

times, when there were horses but not cars, there were also massive problems

with horse manure and how to keep streets clean of it.

People had interesting clothes back then, too. But they didn't wash them very

often, and buying someone else's used clothes meant that you might be exposed to

their diseases too. Do you realize how lucky we are to have things like clean

clothes? Not just being able to buy more than one or two outfits, but having

things like cheaply available, new clean underwear?

And having things like washing machines and dryers to get them clean? And

vacuum cleaners and dishwashers? Not to mention refrigerators and freezers?

If you want to go back and have to do all that by hand, be my guest. I'd like

to live semi-rurally and have bunches of critters to raise for food and

companions, but I've got to have my computer and my household appliances and my

car, for starters.

There probably never was such a thing as a " pristine environment. "

Pam Maltzman

>

> i personally choose to support only organic and sustainable farmers. we in no

way can afford it right now but what my kids put in their mouths matters to me.

i don't think it's necessary to take that 'chance' and screw up what nature

intended. you don't find it important to keep this place as toxic free as

possible? huh. honestly i'd rather forget industrialization and go back to

simple times, the computer would be easy for me to leave behind in exchange for

a 'pristine' home. <snip>