Walk #287: In Defense of Green Piety and Blog Action Day

Explosions on the Ridge this morning. I get out my walking stick and venture out to seek that which has blown up. I walk. Three neighbors, in their jeeps and pick up trucks, are also on patrol for the offending boom.

Explosions like this have a history on the Ridge. And mortality. They tend to be propane tanks exploding due to faulty "do it yourselfism". I had a plumber set up our propane tank, knowing the history of death on the Ridge (yes, one poor Soul got killed when his tank blew up).

It isn't what you know that will kill you; it is what you don't know.

We never found what was exploding. Our suspicion is that they are blowing up trees that are plugging the Feather River in the canyon. Four explosions thus far.
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9,000 bloggers are writing about "Climate Change" today. You can follow some of the posts here.
I have nothing really new to write about this. But what does interest me is popular culture and Green Piety.

I come from good ole Norwegian, Haugian, Pious stock. Most of the piety revolves around a few no no's. Don't drink. Don't gamble. Don't swear. I remember going to see a movie with my Lutheran Pastor brother, and while I enjoyed the flick, he was upset about the nudity. He felt it sent the wrong message to teenagers. Since I was much closer to being a teenager at the time, I enjoyed the skin! A pox on my brother's piety!

But what about the new Green Piety? Those who religiously recycle, don't buy plastic, drink local beer, take the bus to work, eat organic, buy local products, attend Farmer's Markets, ride their bicycles for errands (Yeah Ian!), drive a Prius, take a walk everyday, have a Luddian world view, put solar panels on their roofs, go to the library, join the Sierra Club, buy books from New Society Press, live "off the grid", build natural houses, subscribe to Yes! Magazine, get degrees in Environmental Studies, buy 7th Generation detergents, read Ed Abbey and H.D. Thoreau, write an environmental blog and are nearly Pharisaic in their approach to the new Green Commandments.

We all know a few of these folks. Are they crazy? Is this Piety healthy?

My argument would be a resounding "YES!" (to both the crazy and healthy part). Despite our hypocrisies (after I finish writing this, I will be heading out in my car to drive the twice monthly 165 miles to work).

All new religions start with Piety. This Green Movement, no matter how corrupted by Corporations that seek to appeal to our inner do-gooder, needs to grow. It needs to become our New Religion. Enough of the "treasure in heaven"; we need to see the "treasure" that is the Earth. Blog Action Days help the matter by getting us all to think about the same thing: In this case, "Climate Change".

Piety is the precursor of Cultural Change. Cultural Change is the precursor to all the good things which might interrupt Climate Change. When a few people lead, the rest just might follow...may this Blog Action Day help pave the way.