I haven't blogged in a while because I started devoting all of my blogging energy to delicious grub (www.opusdelectable.blogspot.com) - which hopefully I can still continue in the motherland, but you never know. So I'm back on Junk Food Ramblings to write about my experiences living in Chennai, India for the following year. Living in India is going to be quite the challenge - physically and mentally. My goal is to leave here with openness and minimal expectations so I can adapt as quickly as possible, and with any luck, I'll return a changed woman. If any of you have experience with Chennai (I don't have any family there) or have any suggestions, by all means let me know!
I will miss you all terribly - see you in 9 months!
A documentary that examines the history of the distinctly American way of life and post war concept, and asks how the environment has been affected by this lifestyle. Is it sustainable?
Suburbia: A post World War II invention, created in an effort to please veterans. The boys who were drafted and left to fight the war, came back as men. All of a sudden there was not enough space in cities to house all of the returned veterans so the government stepped in and created millions of cheap, affordable houses outside of cities that promised the possibilities of upward mobility with a quieter, country-like feel.
"One of the things that happens, is that Suburbia ends up being a false promise - the post war suburbia is not what it promises to be; it's not country living; it's a cartoon of country living and a cartoon of a house. You know, it has no amenities of country life - it has no connection to other systems of organic, living things, such as rivers, forests, fields, agriculture, none of that. You just get a lawn which is an industrially produced artifact. So it has none of the amenities of country life and it has none of the amenities of the city. In fact it has all the disadvantages of both. All you really have is a six-lane highway."
Peak Oil "The suburbs wouldn't exist if it wasn't for cheap oil. The U.S. is a car culture; the automobile industry started in the U.S., and really, the automobile industry started here because we were looking for ways to use our cheap oil. The U.S. was awash in oil in the early 20th century. In the 1930's, they were discovering oil so fast that oil in Texas was cheaper than drinking water by the carload. The car companies quickly became the engine driving U.S. industry and economic growth. The result of this is that we have created this new system of habitation where people live miles and miles from where they work and where they get their food and other necessities based on the logic that they can hop in their cars and go where they need to go. The only way this theory works, is on the basis of cheap energy."
There is no other way of life that uses, and exploits fossil fuel energy more than Suburbia. Matthew Simmons is the president and CEO of Simmons and Company; the world's largest energy investment bank. His clients include the World Bank, Haliburton, and Bechtel; a.k.a, the biggest of the big. Matthew Simmons was incredibly clear and articulate after the blackout in 2003 that denied power to 57 million people and said "look folks, we've backed ourselves into a corner. We've committed ourselves to natural gas fire plants and there really is no other alternative. Coal fire plants are really polluting, nuclear is much to expensive, and hydro-electric is all used so we're stuck with gas. But he said there's not gonna be any more generating capacity built, why? because there's nothing to power the plants with."
"Natural gas is no longer able to be extracted from the ground at the same colossal rate that it once was to satisfy the enormous hunger and growing demand of north america for natural gas. Once you come to the conclusion that natural gas is in decline, then you immediately have to jump to the next conclusion which is, we have to grow our electricity, or we cannot grow our economy. Economic growth is predicated upon more electricity. Matthew Simmons made it very clear, future growth is NOT possible."
So is suburbia sustainable? What will be the impact to the ordinary citizen? How are people going to get to work? What kind of work will there be? We've had an incredible period of about 50 years of relative, global peace and stability and it's put the american public into a kind of trance - that the world has always been stable, that there's really no danger to us and that our economy will continue chugging along no matter what - that our level of consumption is normal and should continue. We're used to getting all our household goods from 12,000 miles away. The only answer to the decline in energy is... downscaling. We'll have to reorganize local and regional networks of economic interdependency. In which local people grow things, sell things, move things around on a more local scale. There will be a lot of denial. When natural gas prices go up 10 fold, there will be a lot of displaced blame. But we have no choice.
A recent peculiar incident has kind of thrown me for a loop and for some reason I can't get it out of my head.
I had spent a wonderfully exciting New Year's weekend with my good friend Michael in Manhattan, and was returning by bus to my current residence in Boston. The bus reached the station at 12:30 am. Exhausted and still quite hungover, I made my way to the taxi stand in hopes of catching a quick and painless 10 minute ride home. I was looking forward to a hot shower, bad television, and burying myself under guilt-free pleasures of fake down and snuggle blankets.
As I drew closer to the cab, I noticed the driver had the BBC radio channel turned to an unbearably loud volume, and considered asking him to turn it down but thought, "ah, whatever, it's only 10 minutes." 3/4 of the ride was normal. At the 3/4 mark I started listening to the radio a little more closely - the British radio journalist was giving statistics on the American 2008 Presidential Candidates; focusing mostly on Hillary Clinton's approval rating. All of a sudden an angry voice started shouting on the radio and while my eyes were blurring and refocusing over the cab meter, I realized that the angry man was indeed my taxi cab driver. He was staring at me through the rearview mirror and yelling something I couldn't understand. He was African; I couldn't identify his accent however, and as I was trying to think of ANY reason why this man would be yelling at me, I managed to pick up a few words: Hillary, woman, place, violence.
"THERE WILL BE MORE VIOLENCE IN THIS WORLD IF HILLARY CLINTON IS ELECTED. MARK MY WORDS - THERE WILL BE MORE VIOLENCE IN THIS WORLD."
"Uh, mmhmm. ok."
"MAN HAS HIS PLACE. WOMAN HAS HER PLACE."
"WHAT ARE YOU? YOU INDIAN RIGHT? YOU INDIAN LADY. YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR PLACE - I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU. MARK MY WORDS THERE WILL BE MORE VIOLENCE IN THIS WORLD IF WOMAN DON'T STAY IN HER PLACE."
"Uh.. HERE. I get off here. Pull over. Yeah. Here." (Thinking, oh dear god, i'm going to die. I need to get out now.)
"LOOK AT BHUTTO, SHE DID NOT STAY IN HER PLACE. MARK MY WORDS."
(He pulled over) "Thank you. Bye."
As everyone knows, I'm quite outspoken about my beliefs and don't hesitate to express myself no matter how shady the situation is. This was the first time in my life that I felt actual FEAR; and knew that if I did express myself, I could be physically assaulted and/or killed for my beliefs. And in this situation, he was in the driver's seat. He could have taken me anywhere and had his way with me for just opening my mouth. Obviously, I kept quiet and got out as quickly as possible.
What struck me is that when he kept saying that "there will be violence", his tone was saying "if they don't to it, I will."
I can't get this out of my head. How are people so backward???
