Moving Like Water

Wow, that was a long vacation from blogging. Looking forward to life slowing down next year. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few more posts now that the election is almost past…

Hard to believe, but a year has gone by since the birth of Moving Like Water. Since that very first post, I have learned quite a bit and realized how much more I have to learn.

I’ve been amazed at the advancements in solar and wind and have grown frustrated with our political “leadership.”

I’ve shared some observations from travels and I’ve become ever more convinced of my personal need and our societal need to live in a sustainable fashion.

I’ve found it hard to find the time to write more often than not. But I’m sticking with it. I’m enjoying digging into sustainability issues and am getting smarter about this stuff every day.

There’s no telling what the next year will hold. Hopefully an Obama administration, a major push on new energy sources and some intelligence in our governmental policies. No way to know, but I’m looking forward to finding out!

My apologies for the long absense from these parts lately. I had expected to have a little more time in between a career change and the holidays to post but things have been more crazy than ever.

The really frustrating part was having a ton of things to write about and no time to sit down and post over the past month. My desk is covered with interesting tidbits and there was a ton of news to touch on lately that I haven’t even fully read up on.

The good news is I’m back and ready to rock. I’ll try to post several quick items over the next few days to catch up and we’ll see where we go from there!

Sorry for the site disruptions recently. Thank you to those of you who took the time to give me a heads-up. This was the result of a domain hosting change (Dreamhost to GoDaddy). Ironically it was Dreamhost’s complete disregard for basic stability that made me decide to change. Although I was down for several days, hopefully it will pay off in the long run with more reliable service.

I should begin by explaining why I’m here. The reason is simple: I know nothing. Or at least next to nothing. And it’s time to learn.

Since I was quite young I’ve been intrigued by collapsed societies. What happened to them? Why did they fail?

As a child the ancient Egyptians and ancient Romans were particularly fascinating to me. It’s almost heartbreaking to imagine where we would be as a species if some of these great societies had continued their advancements. Just in ancient Rome alone, the steam engine and electricity were close to being discovered outright. Or, to look ahead, where could we be in another 100 or 1,000 years if our society somehow manages to avoid collapse?

On the most basic level, it seems to me, the thing that leads to most directly to societal collapse is the success of that society. As it thrives it grows. And grows. To the point where the land/water/food can no longer support it. You see this in the animal kingdom in ecosystems that get messed with by man. For example, the classic island where bears, wolves or other predators of deer are removed. Soon the deer overrun the land until there is no longer enough food to support the population. Then starvation takes over.

If we don’t change our ways, we’ll end up just like those ancient societies. Our lifestyle isn’t sustainable and it’ll kill us eventually.

This is why I’ve called this site Moving Like Water. I believe we as people and we as a society can move more like water. Moving in concert with nature, not disrupting it for our purposes. And I believe moving like water is easier, cheaper and healthier than the typical approach to things in modern America.

Part of moving in concert with nature, means moving in concert with human nature. We cannot continue to rely on the altruistic nature of a tiny minority of the population who does the right thing. To get to a truly sustainable society, we must put economics in play. And, yes, greed. When the driver of that pollution-spewing SUV switches to an electric car to save a few bucks, we’ll know we’re on the right track. When the most anti-Al Gore Republican is installing solar panels on his roof to save some cash, we’re going to be OK.

It’s going to be quite a journey to get to that point, but it’s where we need to be. Like I said, I know nothing. I do not live a sustainable life now, nor do I know how to at this point. And so begins my education, which I will share here. I hope within some reasonable amount of time I can call myself semi-knowledgable about these issues and maybe someday even be an expert. For now, though, I take it one day at a time.

PS: Oh yeah, and Moving Like Water is a cool song.