An Anecdote and a Profundity
So let me first just tell you a little story from this afternoon. I take the bus home from work, waiting at the bus stop for about a half hour. Another bus comes right before mine. Today, I saw a young woman in a white tanktop, white skirt, and short blond dreadlocks get on the bus. Thing is, she had bare feet and apparently the bus driver wouldn't let her on in that fashion. So, she took her jacket out of her bag and stood on that as she shuffled onto the bus. Apparently that was temporarily good enough. However, later, I saw her leave the bus, and, through my iPod, heard her shout at the bus driver, "I have INVISIBLE shoes!!" then disappear around the front of the bus. Oh Northampton. But that's only the most recent tasty experience I've had in the past two weeks.....
I think I mentioned in my last post how CET really represents this new, vibrant, growing environmentalism. Striding the line (nay, gulf) between crunchy, hippie, back-to-the-land, screw society environmentalists, and neo-techno-environmentalists who sometimes lose sight of the goals in favor of their glitzy eco-fashions and technological gadgets, CET is about solutions. Most of the work in the smaller Northampton office is about green home building and reducing the energy use of existing homes. Climate change is the problem, over-burning of fossil fuels is the cause, reduction of fossil fuel use is the solution, and every one of us reducing our energy use is the means.
So where was I? Oh, different kinds of environmentalism. In my Environmental Philosophy class this past semester, we focused more on esoteric aspects of environmental ethics and aesthetics. One of the things we talked about was Animal Rights ethics. I've come to realize that animal rights stuff is how a lot of people come to environmentalism. Y'know, "look at the cute polar bear/turtle/puppy/baby chicken! How could people be mean to it! Let's save it!" While I have a lot of respect for people who make strides in this line of thinking, I come from a different area of the movement. I'm concerned with Climate Change (aka Global Warming), and am setting about to fix it as best I can. There are many other important things that are included in "environmentalism", such as preserving biodiversity and reducing waste (to name just two), but that's not what I'm mainly about. CET as well, though we do waste management stuff too.
Anyway, why did I get onto this? To tell you about an amazing, profound, and mildly ironic experience I had last Wednesday or Thursday.
I was biking to work, as I do, on the Norwottuck Bike Trail (Rail Trail? I forget what it's official name is; it's along where a railroad track used to go, but now most people just call it the bike trail). I was still kinda sleepy, as I'm not at all a morning person. There were hardly any other people on the bike trail that morning, and I was consequently seeing all sorts of wildlife. Squirrels and birds galore, but also rabbits and chipmunks, all scurrying away as I rapidly approached. Then, as I was nearing Hampshire Mall (about a quarter of the way to work), I looked to my right and saw two white-tailed deer foraging, then prancing along in the field next to the trail. I was stricken, because I rarely see deer, and was just drinking in their magnificence. Then I realized they were loping toward the trail, in front of me, and I slammed on my brakes. They came to the side of the 6-foot wide paved surface flanked by trees, just 10 feet or so in front of me. They stood still for a second, then went trotting along in the direction I was going. I started pedaling again, and was completely ecstatic as I kept pace with them for a few seconds that seemed like minutes. Then, I changed gear, which makes a clicking sound, and they abruptly changed direction, darting off to the left, off the trail, and into the woods below. I sighed at the loss of such a moving experience, for it is more than uncommon to come so close to such majesty.
So, that's cool, you say, but the title says something about profundity, right? Indeed it does. After the deer left, I was struck that I experienced on this nature-imbued commute the source of passion that inspires the other branch of environmentalism I mentioned earlier. And wasn't it ironic that I encountered this awesome spring of dedication on my practical commute to my practical pastime toward a practical goal? And yet, it affected me as much as any animal-lover! I guess I have that aspect to my environmentalism as well, and it has merely been tabled due to the pressing urgency of my main pursuit.
Nature is stunningly heart-stirring, and I think we all of us long remember these occasions when we become removed from our artificial, sterilized world and look right into it. Into the eyes of the deer, into the roaring fury of a torrential storm, into the swirling silent tumult of a blizzard, at the alert cleverness of an animal, small or large, that passes by us.
So, stepping back from the sublimity of nature, I will soon belabor you with another entry. Not as astounding, but interesting and more to the point of my internship.