Challenging Thoughts

What a winter and it just keeps coming!  Storm after storm and now some rain and the groundwater is certainly filling up.  There is still so much snow on the ground.  It's both beautiful and a pain in the butt.  Next winter we're going to have to put up some snow fencing because trudging down the driveway is highly annoying.  

Lately I have been realizing that I will live with a lot.  The driveway full of snow is just one thing.  Thankfully I have someone to remind me that other options are available.  For instance, regarding this issue, I could buy a snow blower, put up a snow fence, ask a friend to plow the driveway.  But my default is to just accept things and park at the bottom of the drive.  I would probably just do this forever and accept it.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my commitments in other areas.  A few years ago I decided to stop flying.  Flying, I've read, produces a lot of greenhouse gas emissions and has multipliers so water vapour is also released into the atmosphere which acts like a greenhouse gas.  I even had a friend who asked me to come to his wedding (in the UK) and I said no on principle.  

But what have I achieved by doing so?  I missed what might have been a fun wedding for one.  But does my principled position achieve anything?  I'm very happy to have not given the airlines any of my money.  But there are still thousands of airplanes flying everywhere.  Maybe all of us non-flyers have taken a few out of the air.  But it's still a pretty dismal prospect to realize that you are suffering (arguably) by not flying but nothing is really changing.  

Maybe it's okay to jet off somewhere.  Since it's looking like we're going to be at 500 ppm CO2 in probably a decade at this rate (and never forget we're supposedly in a recession).  If we're going to fuck up the planet we might as well have some fun right?