A Leaner, Greener Me

I've been thinking a lot of late about my ecological footprint. There are some really great `blogs that I read about reducing consumption and all that jazz. I must say that I really want to try these things, but I am so stuck in the American consumer mindset. I was elated this morning when Amazon told me that a book I had pre-ordered a while back has shipped. To be honest, I'm still kinda elated about that! So I guess this somewhat underscores the problem: I like to collect certain things: books [both real and comic], correspondences, things to which I have attached irrational meaning; and this conflicts with my desire to, well, dump most of my stuff and lead a simple life.

My parents are in the process of pairing things down, making everything a little easier. This has the big advantage of leaving them freer to just travel at will, something they are doing more and more. I'm just not sure where I stand with all of that. I completely support their actions; I just don't know if I could do it.

Many of you no doubt recall that this is a perpetual problem for me. Many will no doubt recall my ill-fated "worm composting" idea (thank you for your support), my ill-conceived miniature cow+dung+methane-plant-on-the-porch idea, and my desire for a composting toilet (still there). I'm just not sure at this point if I'll in the foreseeable future in a place where I can make big modifications to the structure, have a huge garden, raise bees and a cow and live like a gentleman farmathematician.

And to think, I used to tease my father about his obsession with being a farmer when I was younger...