Save the Environment. Go Locasexual.

I love Slate! :)

http://www.slate.com/id/2202431/pagenum/all/#p2

Cycle

In my commitment to live eco-friendly, I've borrowed a friend's old cycle and now use it for short distances in the early mornings. The cycle's a bit rusty and old, but it runs well and is basically a very good bike. A Raleigh.

It feels good to do these little things that I've always wanted to do. I'm passionate about the environment and conserving it and I do small things in my everyday life to stay eco-friendly.

The little things that I do do (I love it when that happens inadvertently, the do-do):
1. Cycle short distances or long ones on a holiday
2. Refuse to take plastic bags when checking out of stores
3. Stuffing my pockets with litter instead of trashing public/private spaces
4. Try and use public transport more often than I did earlier

I know it's not much, but I think if everyone makes a commitment to make small changes in their lifestyles, the deterioration of the environment might just slow down. That change will only come when we truly accept that the universe wasn't just made for humans and when we learn to live within our means.

Often, I wish we could all go back to being an agrarian society. We seemed so much more in touch with Nature and with ourselves. Now, it feels like we're a bunch of shadows in our urban jungles. Has our "evolution" really helped us? All our technological prowess, breakthrough research... what has it brought us to? A place that's definitely better than a century or two ago? I don't know anymore.

I'm rambling. Should get back to work now.

Exercise Ideas

Now that I've quit my job, I'm going to have more time in the early mornings.

One of the things I'm definitely going to do is start swimming again. I went for a swim this morning and it felt great! There was only one other person in the pool, I got a nice big wide lane and I gave it a good go considering I was swimming swimming (that's intentional, like properly swimming) after a long time.

60 lengths of a 25-metre pool was fun. And not too tiring either. (I took three brief 1-minute stops after a set of 20 lengths. 40 freestyle and 20 breast-stroke.) I've really missed swimming and it felt so good to back in a pool again. Besides, it's great to cross-train with running.

Another thing I'm going to do is get me a cycle. One of the little things that annoyed me about my job was the amount of fuel I'd have to burn to get to work everyday. (I drive about 56 kms a day right now.) Contributing to pollution, global warming and all that. It may seem stupid to you but it was this little thing always sat at the back of my head.

So anyway, once I get my cycle, I'm going to try and cycle short distances. I stay eco-friendly and I get exercise.

On a completely different note, I think I've got the soul of a hippy. Sometimes, I think I belong a world that wasn't so fast. Like my parents' generation or something. Blues and jazz, people had time for each other, idealism, romance. It all sounds like a dream now. Everything is so fast. The food, relationships, dating, cars, reading, work, deadlines. Where are we going in such a hurry?

Caribbean Monk Seal - R.I.P.

The Caribbean Monk Seal

Yeah, that's right. Our race has wiped off another beautiful animal off the planet. They were killed for their blubber.

I can't tell you how sad I felt when I read this in the papers yesterday. A horrible helpless sadness.

How long will we humans live like the world was meant for only our "consumption"? How long will continue to systematically destroy our planet while we spend our lives lusting after more of everything?

Some day, all our indulgences are going to come back and bite us so hard in the ass that we will regret every little one of them. And it'll be too late.

I guess it's a cycle. We're (I include myself here) too stupid to understand how our lives and our lifestyles will destroy us.

Private jets, highly fuel-inefficient Hummers, food wastage, smoking, our hour-long drives to work in private transport, all our greed... it's all going to come back.

I'm not even sure we can reverse the damage we've done. I don't know. The least we can do, nay, must do, is to live as eco-friendly as possible. Because one day, the Caribbean Monk Seal's fate will be our own. The saddest part—we'd have "hunted" ourselves down.

To read more, click here.

P.S. The Hawaiian and Mediterranean Monk Seals are also at a high risk of extinction. If nothing else, pray for them.