I don't really have a home. When my parents moved from the childhood home in the Central Valley, it was a bit of a relief, but I couldn't call the places they have lived subsequently to be "home." That idea of a place as a home has always been a bit elusive anyway. It tends to be the feeling I get when I'm with people who I have known for a long while and love dearly.
The BART subway and all the diversity and humanity in it feels like home. Walking along the streets and visiting the locals I know so well feels like home. The coastline and scenery in the North Bay feels like home. Driving with my Dad in silence feels like home. A special apartment in San Francisco, a prior life of mine, still inhabited by friends feels like home. A dinner with the friends I've come to love and trust the most feels like home. Sharing a bed with my sister because there is no other bed when I'm at my parents house feels like home. Reading my little niece a story feels like home.
So I guess home is California. Northern to be specific.
I have come to embrace what seems to be a fundamental part of myself: I get restless when anything starts to feel either too comfortable or the lifestyle I'm aiming for is unsustainable. I'm constantly looking for the next thing and how that fits into the bigger picture.
California makes me feel too comfortable, and simultaneously makes me anxious. I love it there. It has anything you'd ever want. Yet, I am constantly restless there because it costs so much to take up space on the terms I'm comfortable with. Another part of me gets a little restless because it feels too much like an insular bubble with a lot of do-gooders that would be better utilized elsewhere.
The local writer and activist David Eggers quote has always been a bit of a drumbeat in my life upon finding it:
I certainly have pride in California. Its this hotbed of innovation, creativity, and diversity. I'm proud of what California represents to the United States and the world at large.
It is the home of hippes, Google, Elon Musk, many cultures, sunshine and some of the best nature you can find.
Leaders in California worked hard to make renewable energy a part of the economy. It became the place for solar businesses to be born and start to spread their wings on a national level. In the push for grid parity, California has been integral.
In fact, not too long ago they hit a historic milestone in which solar produced more power in a day then the utility.
A few days ago the Bureau of Land Management changed the banner image on their website to a pile of coal.
This very literal choice of an image, made me want to scream.
45 is the incarnate of the last desperate strangled breath of rich, powerful, older, white men who refuse to accept what we are barreling towards without them at the top: a globalized, technologically advanced, inclusive, just, and sustainable world.
I think there is no better literal display of this, than his blatant attempt to rollback federal safeguards that keep us healthy, and steer our economy in the renewable direction. His perpetuating falsehoods to the people who could most benefit from the clean energy economy is pathetic and evil. Those that profit for a short while longer are the gas, oil, and coal moguls. Everyone else loses in that paradigm.
A few months ago I wouldn't have called myself an activist or even much of an environmentalist. The past couple months have made me realize that I am fervently both.
Vigilance is absolutely critical. Working to dispel the bullshit 45 and his administration is spewing is vital. Finding the positive common ground, the right narrative framework to educate and inform on this better paradigm...that's the really tough work.
While important, the Inconvenient Truth sequel and Climate marches are probably not that vehicle. We have got to figure out how to make it about tangible jobs. We need to figure out how to reach those who are simply worried about getting food on the table and who are being left out of an economy that is quickly changing around them.
That's what the Republican Governator did in a brilliant Facebook post documented for posterity here.
The BART subway and all the diversity and humanity in it feels like home. Walking along the streets and visiting the locals I know so well feels like home. The coastline and scenery in the North Bay feels like home. Driving with my Dad in silence feels like home. A special apartment in San Francisco, a prior life of mine, still inhabited by friends feels like home. A dinner with the friends I've come to love and trust the most feels like home. Sharing a bed with my sister because there is no other bed when I'm at my parents house feels like home. Reading my little niece a story feels like home.
So I guess home is California. Northern to be specific.
I have come to embrace what seems to be a fundamental part of myself: I get restless when anything starts to feel either too comfortable or the lifestyle I'm aiming for is unsustainable. I'm constantly looking for the next thing and how that fits into the bigger picture.
California makes me feel too comfortable, and simultaneously makes me anxious. I love it there. It has anything you'd ever want. Yet, I am constantly restless there because it costs so much to take up space on the terms I'm comfortable with. Another part of me gets a little restless because it feels too much like an insular bubble with a lot of do-gooders that would be better utilized elsewhere.
The local writer and activist David Eggers quote has always been a bit of a drumbeat in my life upon finding it:
“We have advantages. We have a cushion to fall back on. This is abundance. A luxury of place and time. Something rare and wonderful. It's almost historically unprecedented. We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to.”How very optimistic and sunny California. I'm grateful I grew up there, and that I found my confidence in that bubble. I have left it to live elsewhere three times, thinking I would not look back.
I certainly have pride in California. Its this hotbed of innovation, creativity, and diversity. I'm proud of what California represents to the United States and the world at large.
It is the home of hippes, Google, Elon Musk, many cultures, sunshine and some of the best nature you can find.
Leaders in California worked hard to make renewable energy a part of the economy. It became the place for solar businesses to be born and start to spread their wings on a national level. In the push for grid parity, California has been integral.
In fact, not too long ago they hit a historic milestone in which solar produced more power in a day then the utility.
A few days ago the Bureau of Land Management changed the banner image on their website to a pile of coal.
This very literal choice of an image, made me want to scream.
45 is the incarnate of the last desperate strangled breath of rich, powerful, older, white men who refuse to accept what we are barreling towards without them at the top: a globalized, technologically advanced, inclusive, just, and sustainable world.
I think there is no better literal display of this, than his blatant attempt to rollback federal safeguards that keep us healthy, and steer our economy in the renewable direction. His perpetuating falsehoods to the people who could most benefit from the clean energy economy is pathetic and evil. Those that profit for a short while longer are the gas, oil, and coal moguls. Everyone else loses in that paradigm.
A few months ago I wouldn't have called myself an activist or even much of an environmentalist. The past couple months have made me realize that I am fervently both.
Vigilance is absolutely critical. Working to dispel the bullshit 45 and his administration is spewing is vital. Finding the positive common ground, the right narrative framework to educate and inform on this better paradigm...that's the really tough work.
While important, the Inconvenient Truth sequel and Climate marches are probably not that vehicle. We have got to figure out how to make it about tangible jobs. We need to figure out how to reach those who are simply worried about getting food on the table and who are being left out of an economy that is quickly changing around them.
That's what the Republican Governator did in a brilliant Facebook post documented for posterity here.
Would you rather be locked in a sealed room for an hour with an electric car or a regular, gasoline-fueled car? Do you want to be the investor still holding out for Blockbuster to work out as Netflix comes cruising in?
I don't.
It's good that even with current federal rollback of standards, California is headstrong on their aggressive targets.
It's good that even with current federal rollback of standards, California is headstrong on their aggressive targets.
I'm proud of California for pioneering climate solutions and innovations. Hell, I'm proud of the LA Times for this badass six part editorial that ends with one titled: California Fights Back. I'm grateful for the positive narrative and sign of hope California brings for the future of America.
ReplyDeleteWow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone the content! capital one credit card login