Earth Day, The Human Footprint...and Me.
the day that we hope and expect more people to care...just this one day, more than any other.
We mark it on the
calendar, Youtube has a custom logo, Madonna has
another magazine cover, my kids have a project at
school...
What about tomorrow? What about Yesterday? What about
each single day of our life?
I apologize for the very personal space I am taking
today on this blog, but...
in this exact moment, instead of a burst of energy,
wishful thoughts and good attitude, well, I sit down
and feel such a small creature of Nature.
I do remember when I was a kid, and the weather was
different, I remember the fluctuation of seasons,the
changing colors, the muffled sounds of life when
everything was covered with snow, right before spring
"used to come"...
We all feel the same way, to a degree...maybe people
with kids care just a bit more; if we do not act for
our sake, well, at least let's try to think about our
children!
I
grew up in the country, and to a
degree, I saw it dying...day by day, succumbing to
industrial farming, not being able to perform
under such pressure.
It made me sad, and made me feel
helpless...I was
young.
Now it's different. I am a husband and a father, I am
older and just a bit wiser...well, at least wise
enough to realize that now, finally and for real, I
am running short of time.
And even if I have been conscious about these issues
for many years now, something happened last Sunday
that shook me very hard: I came across this
Article on the New York
Times Sunday Magazine.
Nothing really new, to any of us that are informed
about the health condition of our planet...but for
the very first time, I asked myself: "What am I
waiting for?"
It is not anymore a
matter of switching light bulbs around the house or
start timing my showers. Things are getting more
serious and more complicated by the day.
As of now, we consume 10 calories of fossil fuel to
produce 1 calorie of organic vegetables, our (the
world) need of meat is responsible for a massive
carbon footprint that will lead one day to a dead
end, we are still highly dependable on oil...I do
expect vegetables from life, I will never stop eating
meat, and like everybody else I will keep on driving
my car and heating my house.
If two and a half years of diapers for each one of my
kids equals to 5 cut trees, I am responsible for 10
trees in the past four years (plus about 1.400 Lbs of
plastic and about 2.000 pints of crude oil) ...only
in diapers...what about all the rest? What about the
toilet paper they will need for the rest of their
lives?
The catch here is that We Can Not Stop. We do need
energy, we do need to live and survive, and keep on
moving forward, we need to keep on cutting trees,
pollute and produce an incredible amount of garbage.
These days, unfortunately, there is basically only
one choice left. Try to be responsible for yourself,
Do Not Depend. And this is very sad, because not all
of us have to opportunity to choose this way of life.
Let me explain,
I decided that my Earth Day resolution is to go back
to my land and live by the most natural principles I
know.
Today, early this morning everything got finally very
clear...not easy, just clear.
Today I decided that I will ask my wife to leave Los
Angeles and all the associated glitter, and trade it
all in for a life in Tuscany, with a vegetable
garden, a few animals, the olive threes....and some
good work to do, finally fix our house. We will trade
our two cars for one small car, a goat and a cow!
You might have read before in these pages about our
little pink house in Tuscany, and "our dream" of
moving there...well, for me the dreaming is over as
of now, it is time to roll up my sleeves, pack my
family and ship our lives on the hills of
Florence.
My children need to know.
They need to grow in respect of our earth, our first
and final resource. I have been privileged and lucky
enough to have a visionary grandfather, that invested
everything he had in land and olive trees...
Now all that is available for me and my family. It
will require years of sweat and hard work, a lot of
sacrifice on everybody's part.
But really, when the mud will finally hit the fan,
where do I want my family to be?
Me, I want to make sure they have a solid roof over
their head, fresh food daily and "energy" available
throughout the year...no matter what war or what
president....
I want solar panels in the field below my house, I
want to recycle the rain water every season, I want
to grow plants and fruit trees, get a few cows and a
pony for my kids.
I will offer public education in Florence, a Roman
Amphitheater around the corner from our house, and
the opportunity to grow learning a few survival
tricks that, trust me on this one, we'll all need to
put to good use one day!
And now I am going to tell my wife,
wish me good luck.
Gabriele
