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TODAY Tuesday 9 December 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: Running Away From It All

With Bill McKibben covering the Kyoto conference so authoritatively and insightfully, anyone else around here with pretensions to comment on current events is in big trouble. This morning I called up the usually wide-ranging Planet Ark news service, and all but two of the stories were dateline Kyoto. The exceptions were brief reports saying that Nissan is going to produce 150 natural-gas powered small trucks and that the European Union is going to spend $24 million over the next two years to promote renewable energy systems. Chump change, newswise.

Absent the "structural decarbonization" of advanced economies, Bill reports, the world's climate will ineluctably change in major ways over the next 100 years. Anyone my age (dob 9-13-46) can be assured of significant climate changes for the rest of his or her lifetime even if there is genuine structural decarb underway before we die. So I tend to waste considerable time in figuring out strategies for a hunkering down somewhere and grooving on late 20th Century nature before it and I pass away. Here's the latest plan.

1. Kids. I have two, 19 and 16, they're fabulous, and they can be leased at very reasonable rates. You will find them particularly winning during their college years. When was the last time you talked gender issues in The Odyssey? If unable to arrange long-term rentals, I will accept ecological responsibility for the two of them by stiffing them at Christmas and denying paternity after graduation.

2. Recycling/materials policy. I won't throw throw anything away and I will buy new clothes only after completion of a diet whose caloric reduction represents the number of British Thermal Units equal to the energy required to produce the fabric.

3. Dwelling(s). If I can hide its existence from the enviro police, it would be great to keep a little pad in the City. East Village, Little Italy, maybe. But for public purposes I will focus attention on designing and building Eco-Home in northeastern United States. Location of Eco-Home dictated by predictable enviro deteriorations that will characterize the rest of my lifetime: warmer temperatures (go where it's too cold now); increased population (go where there's not even a trend of popularity); more frequent big storms (avoid beachfronts); transportation congestion (go near a train line). Design of Eco-Home will be finalized by legal-pad drawings executed during all-day conferences, but current plans call for 36 X 20 post-and-beam structure, two-and-a-half stories high, superinsulated, bank of large southern windows with Trombe wall on first floor to absorb and radiate solar heat, roof shingles which double as photovoltaic electricity generators. Sauna disguised as toolshed.

4. Vehicle. To drive to and from train station, a little Toyota RAV-4 with hybrid gasoline/electric motor, autographed by Amory Lovins.

5. Foodstuffs. Ample gardens will produce seasonal fruits and vegetables; carbohydrates derived from homegrown potatoes; protein from on-premises chickens, then Perdue oven roasters as novelty wears off. Surreptitious gorging and shopping during trips to clandestine urban pied-a-terre.

6. Culture. Satellite dish hidden at edge of field; 500 channels.

7. Income. Maintain current lucrative arrangements.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE

Some people actually do try to make their lives congruent with their values. No one more so than the estimable Donella Meadows, whose tales of starting up a cooperative settlement in northern New England can be fund only in the pages of "The Grove", Liberty Tree's free bi-weekly newsletter for those whom we love most. Subscribe now, and bathe in our affection.

 

Recent "Today" columns:

12/8: "What I Wouldn't Give for This War to End."
12/5: Feisty Euros at Kyoto
12/4: Beauty in the Bronx
12/3: God from Machine
12/2: Gentlemen's Bet
12/1: Public Opinion
11/26: Sperm
11/25: Sound Sound-Bite Science
11/24: Home Sweet Storage Locker
11/21: Tim Wirth's Inscrutable Adventure
11/20: Better to Receive than to Give
11/19: Wes Jackson's Problem with Agriculture
11/18: "Stay Home and Be Decent"

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.