FI: 91-122 ; 169-177

I really enjoyed Robert Bryce's article ("The Ethanol Scam") because it answered a question that I had been asking my internally during the whole viewing of Food Inc. It seemed to me that ethanol didn't sound like a very good idea, rationally, because it took something that could be consumed by starving humans and converting it into something that runs our Hummers and SUVs. It doesn't solve the problem, but only absolves those who abuse the ecosystem by being able to say, "I drive a vehicle that gets 5 mpg, but it uses ethanol. Therefore, I must be environmentally conscious."

Then to top it all off, Bryce indicates that it actually causes more environmental issues than just plain ol' run-of-the-mill Saudi oil. I think can think back to that naive age when I thought, "Gee, making fuel into something that should actually be eaten by starving children sounds like a bad deal, but the government subsidizes it, so ethanol must be good, right?" Oh, how the university makes cynics out of us all.

To be honest, I kind of blew past Lappe's (imagine an accent over that e) article because I'm frankly fatigued on conversations dealing with global warming and all the things that lead to global warming. It's kind of like when a news story comes out that explains how there's a strong link between oxygen and cancer, you just resign yourself to the idea that anything you do will eventually lead to cancer. It's the same with global warming. I could lessen my carbon footprint, but some contrarian notion inside me wants to burn coal in my front yard for kicks and giggles and leave my kids to clean up the mess.

However, "Why Bother" by Michael Pollan made me want to grow my own vegetables. I don't know if its the way he writes or... yeah, it's the way he writes that speaks to "sympathetic Pat." He captured my attention with the cynical "We're all doomed" talk that always gets me excited. But somehow, he seamlessly segued from doom and gloom to hope and change. He did kind of what a negotiator does when dealing with a person who's about to jump of a building. He sympathized with my cynical notion and then all of sudden, he made me not so cynical about environmental efforts and for the rest of the day I was hopeful, thinking "Be the change you want to see in the world."

And then I woke this morning. Good day everyone!