Ref in the mitten?!?! Oh man. I miss all of you!

wow....

it's not like you and I are being preachy - we just want to make wise decisions that benefit our mental/spiritual wellbeing, and our neighborhood, community, AND the planet...

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it's like there's an asshole vacuum that needs to be filled.

In elementary school in the 80s, we were given presentations about how photovoltaic cells were going to change the world. Utopia was just around the corner as soon as they could work out getting just a little more efficiency out of the panels and as soon as costs came down just a little. In the 90s, GM made an electric car that actual mortals could lease (not buy - see Who Killed The Electric Car). If we all recycle, then we could save X amount of aluminum and plastic. If we compost and garden we could reduce landfill waste. If we all do X then we can save Y.

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I guess I'm just tired. and maybe a little bitter.

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I got excited about solar and wind.

I turn off lights when not in use - have for years.

didn't buy a car until I was 21.

I don't eat a lot of meat - partly because I don't love it, but partly because of the amount of water and energy it takes.

I pay extra for recycling - have for years.

I changed out my bulbs for CFLs

I changed out CFLs for LEDs.

I got an electric car in 2013

I bought a house with solar.

I carpool even though it is almost painfully inconvenient.

When I'm not carpooling, I ride my bike 13 miles each way to work.

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I spend, and have spent more mental anguish, and had more environmental guilt on these subjects... and I'm tired... because it feels very much like my actions are dwarfed, swallowed up, and more than negated by ONE steak eating, monster house dwelling, F-350 diving real estate agent who logs 100 miles/day.

I think I'm just tired, disillusioned, and burned out on the subject. just so tired. I'm not going to quit doing these things. I've just got a lot of sub surface anger and frustration boiling about it. I've been doing so many of the things... and talking about it. And evangelizing for it. And it feels like a life wasted on deaf ears, blind hearts, and hard hearts.

troll Instagram for some old BMW scrambler mods,

oh please do share...

it's amazing how much weight is off my back already

I can't even imagine - and am so thrilled for you.

I love your mom.

wow... thoroughly enjoyed this. I need to get Luna (and some of this Duo's) work back in to regular rotation. Thanks ecib!

the backing vocals and harmonies from 2:15-2:30 are particularly pleasant.

edit: and holy crap man... the layers....... how many tracks are in this thing?

but nobody wants to bother connecting the last mile of the fiberoptic network built by the goddamn Clinton administration so you know it isn't actually about data or service.

This is why I would hope 5G might mean something. I would hope that some wireless providers would put some downward price pressure on the current ISP situation where I live. I get to choose between manipulative price games with Comcast to get a reasonable speed, or pay predictable and low(ish) prices for slow/terrible service from US West/Qwest/CenturyLink. I just want to hand someone $35-50/mo for fast, reliable internet. And even that seems like too much to ask.

I have no power to improve things. I can't fix this. It seems unfixable

This is how I have been feeling for... basically my whole life. Sometimes more top of mind than others (front and center since commenting in this thread yesterday). I wish I had some answers.

I have more thoughts on this than my thumbs can keep up with. I’ll finish this from the computer in a bit.

I might have carried some angst against comments made by relatives over the holiday season

I hear that my friend... and my half-thought out comment this morning from my phone was a "too early to formulate a proper comment" comment.

Well stated, and well received. I think we're up against a multiple faceted problem that will require a multi-faceted solution. One of those solutions (IMHO) isn't subsidizing flood insurance to allow people to rebuild exactly where they were before. We should use those subsidies to move them to a place out of those zones, and far above sea level (subtle jab at the re-building of New Orleans). It's not that I'm suggesting people move at their own expense... I'm suggesting we don't allow people to use subsidies to rebuild where we know they're screwed. EDIT: These two floods were not the first time this town has been flooded. 2011 they flooded and homes were damaged/destroyed. A little digging is showing me flooding issues the've known about since at least the 70s. It sucks that this happens. It's frustrating that these storms happened so closely together - caused by climate change. It all sucks...but this place doesn't look like a great place to have a city.

We should also be attacking climate change at every opportunity.

well... not exactly the point I was making... or the tone in which I was making it... I understand there is a climate change part of this story... but there is also the fact that this town was built in the smack middle of a geological funnel...

This is one of those topics that makes me irrationally angry. People should not live in known flood zones, and if they do, they do so at their own money flushing peril. No more flood insurance for anyone in those zones. I don’t give a crap about the history of your town (looking square at you N’awlins).

that is simply beautiful. Very well done!

If you’re in the mitten state, I think you’re still in the bottom few states for solar potential (hanging out with Oregon and Washington). I mean - it is what it is. The bummer is, you’ve got to hang more panels to get the same juice as some of your sunnier sister states. Don’t let that deter you, but buckle up for the additional cost.

I don’t know man... I have it (bought a house that had it already) and I’m not sure I’m sold. It’s not the best... and not the worst. I live in a state with cheap electricity, so I’m not convinced I’m saving anything but some greenhouse emissions - and that’s ok by me.

https://www.nrel.gov/gis/assets/pdfs/solar_dni_2018_01.pdf

That’s just 9 minutes of pure joy right there