Yesterday I had an interview-discussion with Howard Jacobsen, which was wonderful in so many ways. I found him to be a smart, thoughtful, vulnerable and concerned human being. It helped me drop into the same space.
I was on the road for the interview and had to use the wifi at my dad’s place, outside on his patio. About 90 seconds in the neighbor’s gardeners arrived and I was instantly inundated in a din and 2-stroke motor fumes. I tried to hold my composure, as there was nowhere to go due to the hot wifi spot I had found. Ten minutes later, the leaf blower began and I nearly lost my shit. Half an hour with a leaf blower roaring and squealing spewing those concentrated nasty fumes.
I tried to block it all out and focus on the beautiful, deep, and engaging conversation we were having. The last 15 minutes of the discussion were relatively quiet. I’ll be curious to hear how it turned out.
I told Howie what I was dealing with after we stopped recording and he said, “Isn’t the leaf blower the epitome of the climate crisis.” I then realized I should have brought the leaf blower into the conversation. Among the many musings about machines and their noise and gas pollution, I am poignantly aware of how our cities aren’t made for being outdoors—unless you wanted to be bombarded by the clanky-jangly assault of a dinosaur-age technology that is so destructive and dead that it’s literally killing us.
Not being able to think straight and having our physiology constantly jacked-up by loud machines (nothing compared to bombs and gunfire in many places, but still), not to mention the pollution they cause, doesn’t bode well for Climate Cure. So, maybe start the healing by using loud, polluting machines as little as possible and reframe the natural world as a wild invitation instead of something that needs to be constantly maintained while destroying sanity and the planet.
So many who live in the city (I’ve talked with them, including moi) shut down the nuanced and open awareness of their surrounds just to protect their psyche. It’s equivalent to putting one’s head in the sand, and if one wants to escape all the noise and pollution, well, lock yourself indoors where you insulate against the vital nature-connection needed for mental and physical health, as well as a living-embodied connection to the environmental crisis itself.
Cities often cause us to shut down emotionally, psychically, and physically. The natural world, on most days, invites us to open and connect, even looking out the window. All this eventually causes me to reflect on how I live, and while I’m a relatively low footprint, I dream of being in community with others on land somewhere where we work as a team to share, and fight, for a different way.
At the end of my discussion with Howie, he asked what is one thing we can do; I paused and gave a choice from 5. I forgot to mention minimalizing your life and reporting gas-powered leaf blowers (electric ones suck too) to your local authority if they are banned in your district.
I’m back home now and will be in another interview TONIGHT at 6PM PST with Environmental Coffeehouse. It’s listener-interactive, and Jennifer Hynes and Sandy Schoelles keep it real (maybe I’ll even get to read a leaf blower poem, haha). You can tune in live here:
