The times, they are a-changin'

When I started this blog last summer, I really just wanted to use it as a project journal for my crafts and knitting. I never really intended for anyone to read it, it was just a little something for me. Then, our computer crashed and I was without internet access (gasp) for a few months. During that internet-less period, something happened that has changed my life.

I was listening to NPR one day, specifically to a local program called Studio Tulsa. Rich Fisher was interviewing author Sharon Astyk about her book _Depletion and Abundance_. The interview focused primarily on the ways that Sharon and her family have dramatically reduced their energy usage. It was a light-hearted and only mildly quirky discussion and I enjoyed it so much that I wrote down her name and the name of her book. A couple of days later, when my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her about this book. I have always had a desire to be "greener" and I thought this book would give me some ideas on practical changes we can make in our home to make a difference for the environment.

When Christmas came, I was delighted to receive _Depletion and Abundance_ from my in-laws. (Alas, my darling husband may never forgive them.) I am not exaggerating when I say that this book has truly changed my life because it has changed the way I look at pretty much everything. I had never heard the term "peak oil" before reading this book, although I must have been aware of the concept somewhere in the back of my mind. Some people think Peak Oil is just a made up boogey man used for fear-mongering, and Peak Oil is a pretty radical idea. My interpretation of Peak Oil - and this is just my own interpretation not really based on science, just based on what I consider to be reason and logic - is the wild and crazy idea that oil supplies are finite. If oil supplies ARE finite, then it stands to reason that at some point we will use half of the supplies, and at that point we will be working off of the second half of the oil supplies. So our oil use will peak and then begin to decline. Like I said, this is not meant to be a comprehensive explanation of Peak Oil, just my simplistic understanding of the most basic aspects of the concept of Peak Oil. Pretty radical, right? I guess I had to know this before I read Sharon's book and had a name for it, but to be perfectly honest, I just never thought about it. In our modern consumption-driven society, we are constantly encouraged NOT to think about it. We are told that we must do something about our dependence on fossil fuels because we have to reduce our carbon footprints and our dependence on foreign oil. And so, instead of being encouraged to drive less (and instead of designing our communities so that we can drive less), we are encouraged to buy hybrid cars and energy star appliances. And instead of being encouraged to buy less and to use less, we are encouraged to buy "greener" versions of our favorite items at the same ol' big box stores. We have become trapped in this self-perpetuating cycle of consumption. The more we have, the more we want. And this monster is fed with cheap oil, often at the expense of poorer people around the world. Yeah, there are ethical considerations to all of this as well. You may be beginning to understand why my husband will never forgive his mom for getting me this book.

So, for me, the times, they are a-changin'. Over the last several weeks, I have been posting here more regularly and about topics that are still fun, but are relevant to our changing times. I am hoping that someone will read my blog sometime and from here will go on to read what other, more educated and enlightened authors and bloggers have to say about the world in which we live. I am trying to muster up the courage to let my friends and family know what I'm up to here in the blogosphere instead of just using this as my private journal space. In the meantime, I'll just keep trying to do a little more all the time. If you want to do that, too, check out Sharon Astyk's blog and her Independence Days challenge. Sounds like fun! I know, I know. I really should get out more.
Brooke