no smoking

My current reading list includes The World Without Us by Alan Wiesman. The first section was fantastic and fun- a great mix of science, history, archeology, and imagination. But over the past few days I've found myself bogged down in the chapters on plastics, fertilizers and farming, and the petrochemical industry. I have been profoundly disturbed by the insanely naive and selfish way civilized society is destroying the natural world. I've ended up feeling just sick about the ways we are all complicit in the destruction of other living things and the beauty in th world around us.

Strangely enough I found some odd solice on a recent flight. We we on a fairly new jetliner and as we were settling in I noticed the illuminated signs above the seats were both turning on and off. One of those signs was, as always, allerting us to fasten our seatbelts. But the other one was different. For as long as I can remember the other sign was a no-smoking sign and was always illuminated. But last week on this new plane, it was replaced with a "Turn off your Electronics" sign. And this week I am clinging to that change as a sign that society as a whole can change. Smoking was not limited on airplanes until 1987- and then only on flights of 2 hours or less. Now it is so accepted that smoking on an airplane is forbidden that they no longer need the sign. We were watching the Dick Van Dike Show a few weeks ago and seeing actors smoking cigarettes on screen was jarring. Americans have certainly changed our attitudes towards smoking. Maybe we can change our Earth destroying habits as well- and hopefully as quickly. Maybe using 13 mpg Hummers to drive to church, meat at every meal, chemically processed foods, and our disposable society will also one day be a relic.

Most of our friends appreciate enviornmental science, buy (or grow) organic and local food when they can, use reusable bags, and are at least conscious of our energy usage and think before cranking up the air. So maybe. Maybe Jonathan will grow up in a greener world and find it jarring to think that we used to so actively destroy the earth that sustains us. I can only hope.