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Herb Benham: Mother Earth's kitchen dirtied by carbon feet
| Friday, Jul 11 2008 2:08 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jul 14 2008 11:10 AM
Maybe it’s the heat or the price of gas, but casual conversation has moved from how wretched the housing market is — that happened months ago — to saving energy.
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I’ve never heard the word carbon footprint used so many times. It wasn’t long ago that no one even knew what that meant and now people are trying to reduce the size of the one they never realized they had.
Steve Murray, of Murray Family Farms — I see him at the pool in the morning — one day talks about permits for solar projects on the desert that could involve a million acres and supply enough power for a town with 500,000 people and then, the next, his standing on the power grid.
“It was so hot last night that my daughter turned down the air conditioner to 71 degrees,” he said. “We left a large carbon footprint.”
People never talked like that before. Footprints were something you left in the sand, on the kitchen linoleum on a rainy day or maybe some sort of legacy if you invented light bulbs or wax paper.
On the way home from Mammoth on a recent weekend, I noticed that people were driving slower on 395. That’s usually 80 to 90 mph territory. Now, most were keeping it between 70 and 80. There were even a couple of 65s.
A friend in the neighborhood talked about how she is now bundling her errands on one day and actually planning her route.
“I’m doing much less spontaneous running around,” she said.
I see more people riding their bikes to work. This isn’t easy when its 111 outside. In the fall, I suspect there may be more.
Is it possible that one of the benefits of extreme heat and rising gas prices is that people have an opportunity to slow down. Perhaps, be more reflective. Think about what they are doing.
There may be some good in this pain.
•••
Recently, I wrote a column about how the new state law requiring drivers to use hands-free cell phones like the Bluetooth has spurred another wave of questionable fashion. Having that headset in your ear like a crab when you’re in the car is one thing, but the way people are walking around on the streets with them makes you wonder if their mothers gave them a once-over before they went out the door.
A reader writes:
“I used to work with the Motorola handset division when we were developing and marketing the accessories as the next fashion trend. Seeing that the engineers developing this sleek new gadget were comic book and Star Wars/Star Trek people, I figured that this trend would never catch on.
“In fact, I think I said, 'nobody outside of this office is going to face the ridicule of looking like a Trekkie.' I guess I was wrong. The day I saw my dad wearing one around in public, I felt like flinging myself from a tall building.”
•••
JoAnn Jones called in response to the column about Art Garcia, the diminutive physical therapist who had polio when he was growing up as a child in Mexico City. Doctors told him he’d never walk. Not only did he walk, but he has spent the last 20-plus years as a physical therapist’s assistant helping other people get off the floor, get off their backs and climb out of hospital beds.
“Art worked with my mom, Ora Anderson, when she was 100 years old,” Jones writes. “She had fallen and broken her hip and he got her through that. He treated her like he would any other patient. My mom loved Art.
“She lived to 104. She was playing canasta until eight months before she died.”
Talk about good genes. Ora had nine children, six boys and three girls. Only one daughter is deceased. Ages of the living range from 66 to 89.
Opinions expressed are those of Herb Benham, not The Californian. Call him at 395-7279 or e-mail him at hbenham@bakersfield.com.