The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: environment

  • Love at the Crossroads

    My dear friend Lynn is one of the most active people I know in terms of social justice. (And that’s saying something in Seattle, where I’m thrilled to say that a lot of people take these issues quite seriously.) She started a local nonprofit organization called One Sustainable Planet, and they are doing many things…

  • Travel as a Form of Love

    In a recent post, I said that love is all that matters. My friend Art replied that travel is the most important thing that there is. That got me thinking. Travel is actually love in action. It shows that you care about other cultures and other people. It demonstrates a desire to learn about history…

  • Compassion

    Compassion, defined as the “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others,” is something you either have or you don’t. At this moment in history, perhaps more than any other, it is obvious that no fence-sitting on this issue is acceptable. Pick a side. Own it. One shouldn’t have to have experienced…

  • The New Dark Ages?

    Back in 2013 I wrote a post entitled, “When Did ‘Intellectual’ Become a Dirty Word?” Little did I know at the time that that was just the tip of a very ignorant iceberg. I am beginning to look at 2013 as the halcyon days. Imagine that. Ironically, I started that post by saying, “I really…

  • What are We Missing?

    One of the things I find most annoying about all the drama being generated by our Grand Poobah and his malignant administration is the fact that it has helped to take our attention away from other atrocities in the world. Just the other day, I was wondering what had happened to the Kony 2012 Movement.…

  • A Message to the World

    Hello. I’m an American. Never in my life did I imagine that I would say this, but I am ashamed of the state of my country. I am embarrassed at the face we are currently showing to the world. This is not who we are. Never again will I look at another country and assume…

  • Lemons as Jet Fuel, or Why I Haven’t Given Up on the Environment

    It’s really easy to despair at the state of the environment. Global climate change becomes increasingly impossible to deny with each passing day. But our government seems to be doing everything in its power to maintain our outmoded culture of fossil fuelishness. And yet, even in this sea of pervasive ignorance and selfishness and greed,…

  • Not My Problem

    I spent the first hour of my shift today with a battery operated leaf blower, cleaning off the sidewalks and the bike lanes of my bridge. A clean bridge is a happy bridge. At least that’s my motto. I take pride in showing this drawbridge in its very best light, and in my quarterly reviews…

  • An Open Letter to President Obama

    Dear Mr. President: I remember crying tears of joy when you were elected back in 2008. It felt like this nation had turned a very important corner and that we, as a society, were becoming enlightened. I was very proud. I also cried tears of relief when Obamacare was passed. It meant I’d have health…

  • Don’t Be Idle

    I’d love to think I was preaching to the choir here. Truly I would. But even in Seattle, where we have probably the most concentrated population of environmentally concerned people in America, as well as what is arguably some of the nation’s worst gridlock, I see it all the time. Idling cars. A lot of…