a little rant

just read my friend kim's
blog about listening to olivia newton john and realized i like reading what she writes because it is a good mix of the past and the present. i used to write a lot about my past. i would take events, small or large, and make them into vignettes, poems, or short stories. they were distilled, composted, whatever you want to call it. now that i am a mom the past is barely allowed. there are a few "before you were born"s, and maybe when things slow down there will be more, but right now the future feels huge in my mind. the future, large and small, as in, how are we going to get the kids to daycare and school without a ton of stress in the morning when i return to work next week? should we sell our apartment in case there is an earthquake soon? will i get any sleep tonight? and thoughts about miles and maya as teenagers, in a city or a small town, doing....???? i shouldn't even go there because it is just too scary and unproductive to imagine your now 1 and 4 year old making responsible decisions about drinking, driving, being safe and on their own, etc. yikes!!

what is starting to feel like a productive worry is the future of the planet. i have finished some of my light summer reading about climate change and it seems to boil down to politics. so i guess i am reaching the outraged stage, outraged that things are as bad as they are and could be quite a bit better. i don't want to be a preachy wierdo, but i don't want the future of our lovely world to be awful, and it sounds like we are on that path and need to get off it, immediately. things are going to change, in a bad way, soon. so, for all you 2 readers out there, please think a little more about global warming and what you can do about it. the best and biggest thing would be to get the conservative government out, and greener people in, right? and the way to do that, i guess, is to spread the word, and annoy people by making them consider a nasty future, and press for a better one. i think about my poppop, who had some causes, and how it seemed to bother certain people, and make him seem childish, or idealistic, but i am identifying with him more now. of course it feels more urgent because i have kids, but i want to do something, urge others to do something to help get onto the right path. if you haven't yet, read some serious stuff about global warming. the predictions and proposed solutions are becoming more uniform and there is some real scientific consensus. read, watch the al gore movie, and the more you know the more you will want to make some change. and if you want to talk to me about it, i'm here.

california is doing a lot of good things with energy policy
environmental defense fund