Category: environment

Want some cheese to go with that whine?

Lord knows, I’ve been prone to giving over to a deep, hearty kvetch about living here in the Bay Area, and these marine layer weather patterns this Flower of the Desert must face.

Ok, fine, I own it.

However, today, I’m here to say that all the wet weather actually *does* have some benefits. Occasionally even *I* can find a place of gratitude for all of that goddamn rattin’ smattin’ essential rain.

See, The Good Man and I are renters, and as such, aren’t required to take care of our yard. Good thing, too…cuz we’d have grass a mile high.

My landlord and his son do yard work that’s mainly limited to cutting the grass every few weeks and chopping down nice trees that never did nothing to nobody. But that’s another story.

So over on the side of our humble abode, we have this:

It may be hard to see, but that’s a little spindly tree.

I mean…it’s pretty sad. Look at this puny little trunk:

What you should know about that little tree is that no one really does much of anything with it. We don’t water it. We don’t prune it. We hardly look at it. It’s just “that tree” over by where we store the trashcans.

I’ve occasionally photographed the tree when it puts on white flowers, working on my macro skills. But other than that, it goes totally ignored.

Well. This year, the little tree that decided to get noticed.

This year, that son-of-a-gun put on a crapload of fruit. Apricots.

I’ve lived here five years. That tree has never, not once, put on fruit. It would flower, halfheartedly, but that’s it.

For some reason, even in a fairly dry Bay Area winter, that little spindly tree got enough water and sun and nutrients to fill its skinny little boughs with fruit.

Wow.

And it’s tasty fruit too! VERY delicious. Boy, I do love a good juicy and tart apricot in the summertime.

I remember my college roommate’s mom would put up a fantastic apricot jam…that she’d serve on top of homemade biscuits. Oh my.

So ok, I whine. I jump up and down. I tantrum. I complain that I am a convection-cooled device (a human swamp cooler) finely tuned to the high desert and cannot possibly be expected to properly function in this humidity.

Then I bite into a ripe, juicy apricot and I think, “Hey, all that rain is not so bad!”

Conservationism is hogwash

I know, I know. Heresy to say such a thing the day after Earth Day, but I’m saying it.

Ok, let me be a bit more specific.

Water and electric conservation is poppycock.

I’m mad. Can you tell?

I’ll tell you why in two stories.

One from several years back. One from a couple days ago that got my ire all up again.

First story. Electricity.

You may recall in the early 2000’s, California was going through a power crisis during the hot summer months.

We were subject to brownouts and rolling blackouts. Which is just a nice way of saying, “oooops, your power is out, we did it on purpose.”

Then-Governor Gray Davis challenged all of us to conserve power with the threat of increased power rates. It was a rallying cry. Stores turned off half or more of their lights. The Bay Bridge and Golden Gate went dark (turned off the accent lights, kept the roadway lights on), and I personally worked really hard to use less energy.

What happened?

The state of California conserved 11% energy. ELEVEN PERCENT!! That is a HUGE number.

We were then rewarded by the news that the power companies were corrupt, our overuse was never the issue, and rates went up, by a lot, to offset the crisis.

Conserving power meant nothing. Nothing. We paid more anyway.

Second story. Water.

It’s been noted in the news recently that California is having an especially dry year. Our reservoirs are a bit low. We didn’t get the snow pack that those that know would like to see.

So in Santa Clara County, they have enacted conservation…with the threat of raising rates.

And the people and businesses are doing it. They are conserving.

On the radio Tuesday, I heard a report that conservation has worked SO well that the water company hasn’t been bringing in enough billing revenue to sustain their beleaguered business model.

So they are going to raise rates, anyway.

Working so hard to conserve water meant NOTHING.

This concept of voluntary conservationism is useless and a bunch of bullhockey! Don’t threaten or coerce me. If you are just going to raise my rates then go ahead and raise my rates. That will get me to use less, I promise!

Any first year business student can draw for you the chart showing supply and demand. And price is a factor in demand. A BIG factor.

You raise rates, people will want to pay less, they will use less and conservation of resources happens.

This jimmy-jacking around, blaming the victim, telling me I’m a bad consumer and must use less or bad things will happen…so then I use less and bad things happen anyway?

By the by…I already use so little water and so little power as to be laughable. I turn off lights, I unplug appliances, I use Energy Star. My bills stay pretty low.

So no. I’m done. I’m done trying really hard to conserve even more, only to be rewarded by higher rates anyway.

Done!

/rant

Spare MY Air please!

Another Spare the Air day in the hazy, blisteringly hot Bay Area.

Yesterday afternoon, needing a break from the desk and recycled indoor air conditioning. I went outside to take a walk and didn’t last long. The block ahead of me lay in wavering smoky haze and the heat was oppressive.

This morning I walked to the train station and felt a distinct burning in my throat. Given that my dad suffered a terminal lung disease, these sort of burning lung moments do not give me humor.

The local paper is reporting more of the same.

Ugh.

Image via.

I wanna be supportive, I really do.

Due to gas costs and the mental toll that commute-time driving extracts from me, I’ve been riding the train a lot recently. Today, for a variety of reasons, I needed to drive, so I took my trusty hoopty out on the road.

And as I cruised along (at, yes, the speed limit) I observed a blue Prius cut me off, then slow down.

As I stifled the curse words and angry gestures (yes, I actually *did* pay attention to that driver’s ed course I took and passed), I wondered to myself, quite bluntly, “Why are Prius people always such crappy drivers?”

I know, broad generalizations are never accurate, but go with me on this, for a minute.

So yes, I live in hola-granola, tree-hugging, skunk-kissing Northern California. Which means there are a lot of fans of that little gas sipping automobile. Fundamentally, I have no problem with the Prius. If the financials could bear it out (meaning the premium they charge for that car more than offsets the cost at the pumps) I might even consider one. I can be environmentally conscious, I really can.

Here in the Bay Area, people who drive hybrid vehicles can get a special sticker that allows them to drive in the car pool lane even if there is only one person in the car. So that has definitely helped boost their popularity.

So there are a lot of little Prisuseseses (what exactly IS the plural of Prius?) on the roads out here. There are a lot of other hybrid and electric vehicles too, but today I’m talkin’ about the Prius people.

I’ve checked in with many friends. Their experience matches my own. Something about the Prius drivers is off. Is it bad visibility? Is it the alternate way they have to drive (coasting to build up a charge)? Is it the kind of person who chooses to own one? I don’t know, but I’ve observed some truly crappy driving behind the wheel of these little wonders.

Like a lot of changing lanes rapidly and slowing down. I’ll attribute that to the coasting, I guess. A lot of not looking or signaling before changing lanes. Is it hard to see in those things? And a lot of driving real slow in the fast lane.

I haven’t observed this as much with other environmental cars, just the Prius.

What’s up with that? I mean, when I read the news report that Al Gore’s kid was popped by CHP doing 100 in his Prius, I thought “well, there’s hope yet!” But perhaps all the drugs had changed his view (…and I can’t support that).

I’m all for assisting the environment by using less fossil fuels (this after reading, with horror, about the “milky rain” in Silver City and the Gila) but damnitall! Let’s keep it safe out there, ok?

Meanwhile, I’m doing my own part by taking the train as often as possible. Good for the environment, good for my sanity.

Thus ends my rant.

Time for my calmness affirmations……”breathe in…..breathe out….”

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