This and that.

Today has been quite pleasant. Both housemates are out of town, so I have the house to myself [I thought I would have it to myself when I left work yesterday, but T hadn't left yet and I had to egress to a coffeeshop for a while to get the quiet I had been expecting. Then even that quiet evaporated.].

I got up a few minutes past six, which, these days, is sleeping in for me. When I stepped outside to water the plants, the air was cool and invigorating, so I turned off the household refrigeration unit (air conditioning) and opened all of the doors and windows. I got to do laundry my favorite way, washing it in the typical fashion and then hanging it out on the clothesline to dry. While it dried, I rode my bicycle north to a nursery in Scottsdale that has an affiliated coffeeshop. Unfortunately, the coffeeshop was closed until June 6, so I wandered around a bit and found something I've been keeping an eye out for: a plant stand with a birdcage on top so that I can have a house plant without my cat biting it to death. Unfortunately, it was a bit on the expensive side, so it will have to wait for now. House plants are a project that is pretty low on the priority list at the moment anyway.

I then made my way to an alternative coffeeshop that I have been wanting to check out called Northwest Espresso, and fortunately, it was open. It was an odd place, plopped down in a Scottsdale strip mall. They served espresso, had a drive-thru window, and had a picture of the Pike Place Market hanging on the wall, all of which I would consider to be gestures of Northwesterly-ness. But the overall atmosphere of the place was a touch too sterile and they had no bike racks. So I did not linger long. Oh, and as with many coffeeshops around here, the pastries left much to be desired. Pretty much the only place with delicious pastries around here is Lux Coffee Bar in downtown Phoenix. Everywhere else has been mediocre at best, which gives me so much more respect for the good stuff.

( ramblings about material possessions )

Crash Course in Global/Agricultural Economics

It has been difficult to go from reading The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) to reading Planet of Slums (Mike Davis). In the first book, I read about how the United States' agricultural policies have led to the production of a tremendous surplus of corn, amounting to an increase in available calories. And then, in Planet of Slums, I am reading about tremendous global inequalities in wealth that, according to the author, have been the result of/exacerbated by aspects of the economic policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. As Davis describes it, many cities around the world contain two extremely different populations: one population seeks to emulate Southern California lifestyles, while the other barely clings to life at the edges of cities.

I have a hard time even facing this information sometimes. On the one hand, Americans are at a point where they force-feed themselves more than they should eat, and overconsumption is is a rampant problem. On the other hand, Americans and affluent people in other parts of the world try so very hard to isolate themselves from the face of poverty and inequality (a certain border fence comes to mind). Reading a book like this one makes me look harder at my lifestyle, comfortable and complete with fancy computer and other technological gadets, and try to consider what I can do in the context of my circumstances. At the moment, I don't really know.

I just wish for a better economic education, and for better community support for a less consumption-driven lifestyle; for a more conscientious way of life.