The Earth Pope

Flagging Conviction

I support the amendment to ban flag burning that is being sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch and that was recently backed by such stern Democrats as Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senate Minority Leader Henry Reid.  The fact that a recent Senate action failed by only one vote shows the importance of this constitutional amendment.   But it is not just the right of free speech that is at issue here. It is the right to expose innocent people to potential toxic substances when a flag is burned.

Just think about for a moment.  A crowd gathers in a public square in Hometown, USA where a demonstration is taking place against some mild atrocity that the US Government is imposing on yet another foreign country.  As the crowd pushes in closer to see the police and protesters challenging each other a small group of rabid dissidents unfurls the American flag and lights it on fire.  It has been generously soaked in an accelerant to increase the dramatic effect of the burning but it also unleashing toxic substances into the lungs of everyone within 100 yards.

While the flag burning amendment is a small step in the right direction for the wrong reasons it is still a step on the way to the bigger, broader ban that I want the senators to support.  I want the senators to propose an amendment to outlaw burning of any item deemed "waste".  Fire is one of the most effective elements in fooling humans into believing that something unwanted has been made to go "away".  By eliminating burning of all waste as an option we are forced to engage our innovation and creativity to find ways to reduce the waste we generate and reuse or recycle our resources.

So next time you are feeling the urge to burn the flag I want you to stop, put the matches down and instead pick up a pair of scissors.  Take the flag and cut out letters, symbols or images that you can use to make your statement.  Then, with the leftover flag material you can line the inside of a suit jacket.  That's right!  A new fashion statement for the senators and representatives who still wear those silly metal American flags on their lapels.   Image those men spreading their jackets open like a pair of true American wings.  What a statement that will make to their constiuents.

And maybe, just maybe they will all fly away to the same imaginary land where they believe the toxic waste goes to.

Sustainable Sin

Do we really believe we will even get to the starting gate of sustainability with the current policies and planning department procedures we have in place?  Many of these archaic principles were developed during periods of apparent unlimited resources and before the concept of "environmental responsibility" had been seriously considered.

Now, with the prospect of severe climate change a foregone conclusion by all scientists (except those prostitutes to petroleum) and other indicators of environmental degradation revealing a need to take local action in preparation for the worst, it appears that one of the biggest barriers to local self-reliance may just our own outdated ordinances.  I must confess that I had no idea just how bad the issue was until I tried to practice what I preach and become a bit more sustainable in my daily actions.

Being a Goddess-loving man I decided to erect a small building within the First Church of the Last Laugh in order to reside, meditate and write.  This was going to be a small dwelling, no more than 800 square feet, but it was going to be as sustainable as I could make it within my limited budget.  I wanted to make sure that it was built to code so I took my plans to the County Building Department.

Have you ever been to the Planning Department?

E-Waste Sin

In yet another sign of the hazards from the opulent society we live in comes the indicator of death by success in the form of electronic waste, commonly referred to as e-waste.  Once again the consumer and the members of the global society are required to deal with the garbage of multinational corporations that insist they are just trying to meet increased demand and new requirements from their gleeful customers for new computers, cell phones and digital TVs.

Giles Slade has written a new book Made to Break that details the numbers on the amount of e-waste:  315 million working personal computers trashed in 2004, just in North America.  100 million cell phones thrown away.  And these unwanted items that still work are not going to third world countries as donations for schools or business start-ups.  No way! They are gong to third world countries to be scavenged by the poorest of the poor, at incredible cost to human health and environmental contamination.

One element not usually associate with e-waste is computer rage.  So many people are unplugging from the natural world and plugging into high technology lifestyles that a new economy is exploding to calm the stressed out consumers, even luring away suicide hotline workers to work on the phone with the most panicked ones. Academics are studying the issue and some have suggested ways to beat computer rage.

Let me tell you how I know made this connection.