municipal messes

I am certainly no environmentalist. I think nature is wonderful, and as a civilization we need to prioritize its preservation, but it is not so simple. Temporarily disregarding the fact that recycling is, for the vast majority of items, total bullshit requiring more input energy and or waste than new manufacture, economic viability is key. It needs to be both temporally and fiscally advantagous. As it stands recylcing is so incredibly inconvienent that it is absurb to expect that the average over burdened american citizen to take the high road over the convience of the trashcan. Sure landfills are disgusting, but that is why they are so far out of town. Businesses, to expound in a grander scope, are social machiens desgined to make as much money as possible. They are intrinsically capitalistic and, as such, amoral. They will not help the environment until their profit margins find it favorable. But I’ve digressed, what I want to talk about is littering.

Littering in the purity of nature is a reprehensible act. I’m overstating the point, but it does have a negative ecological impact. Don’t throw coffee cups in the forest, or on the mountain peaks, but if you happen to be in the city, toss at will. Not only does littering in developed areas gainfully employ fleets of street sweepers, the negative consequences are purely asthetic. You are not hurting anything except the tidy sensibilities of others with your carelessly scattered burger wrappers. Once we moved in and destroyed all that was natural to create a humanoid paradise of asphalt and concrete we did about all the damage we could possible have done. It is naiive to think that littering even makes a difference.

I like living in clean places (with some extremist exceptions like Irvine, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of that haven of unsettling sterility), but it is not your responsibility to cater to my visual sensibilities. And in return, I vow not to cater to yours.

Libraries

Recently, I have renewed my passion for libraries.

During college, I appreciated them, but more in a utilitarian sort of way. I liked them because they were an easy place to study or nap on campus. I also came to enjoy the fact that by borrowing your text book from the library you could avoid paying for it at the bookstore. But all of these things were very practical.

Now I that studying and text books are no longer part of my daily life–at least not for the time being– I have rediscovered some of the more enriching aspects of these fine literary establishments.

As an economically challenged avid reader, I love the fact that I can check out book after book and entertain myself for weeks on end without paying anything (as long as I turn my books in on time). This guesture of good faith toward the community is touching to me. Knowing only a person’s address and name the library is willing to give you free access to all the books you could possibly want. I look up and down the aisles filled with worn books like a hungry child in a bakery examining pastry. It is literary grace.

After having rediscovered the wonders of the library, I have expanded my literary horizons. Now instead of only reading what I have to, or what I know I will like, I am able to experiment with genres and authors learning more about myself and the world around me. Some of the time I end up reading something that I don’t like or agree with, but there is no loss of money, only time and at this point I have plenty of that.  Libraries in this way allow people to discover themselves within their walls and pages. And for that I am incredibly grateful.