CARBON TAX & HIGHWAY DAYDREAMS

It looks like, for better or worse, my home province of British Columbia will become the first jurisdiction in North America to implement a carbon tax. The idea is that through the application of negative incentives a change in behaviour will occur, resulting in consumers choosing more fuel efficient, less polluting vehicles (link here to learn more about this "revenue neutral" carbon tax).

Reaction has been mixed; some have seen this as a bold and necessary step to wean us off of our big gas guzzling and pollution spewing people movers, whereas others see this as another strike by the "nanny state" to legislate a change in behaviour at the expense of more natural market driven innovations. Of course the rather inane morning news shows have all had the obligatory "person on the street" interviews where some average Joe expresses his impotent rage while gassing up his monster truck.

I do however, feel for folks who live in rural areas who don't exactly have other alternatives like rapid transit whipping by their front door, and some of whom need big ass trucks for their jobs, however, for the Hummer driving urbanites I have zero sympathy. Also, putting all the pressure solely on consumers is kind of like only going after drug addicts, and not the drug dealers who profit off their addictions. Industry needs to pay up as well and have way higher standards mandated if this is going to work out and curb behaviour on a long term basis.

I think the transition to the post carbon age is going to be painful and unsettling for many people, on par with the social reorganization and displacement that occurred during the industrial revolution. Of course change isn't always a bad thing, though in the midst of it is is very unsettling as old taken for granted paradigms begin to collapse, while the new ones aren't obvious or clear in the interim.

The argument that something has to be done about global warming is a no brainer (unless you happen to own a ranch in Crawford, Texas and embrace ideological zealotry over logic or reason ) and in the context of peak oil and the gradual realization that our consumption driven lifestyles are no longer sustainable, it appears that some radical changes will occur within a generation. At the rate of change evident now I cannot even fathom what the world will look like in 10 - 15 years.

& NOW THE FANTASY PORTION OF THIS POSTING...

I am subjected on a daily basis to the endless slew of single occupant vehicles clogging the highway during my morning commute. Occasionally the absurdity of this reality becomes vividly apparent and I begin to daydream while stuck in traffic (I know daydreaming & driving don't mix).

I float high above the highway and see the line of traffic like some strange, multicoloured serpent spewing smoke out of thousands of tiny little orifices located up and down it's spine. Each chamber of it's body is inhabitant by some invasive parasite that you can see squirming about through tiny translucent portions of it's skin. I often think that this would be a frightening and awe inspiring vision to anyone traveling ahead in time from 100 years a go and witnessing this particular version of "progress".

I also have fantasies about everyone just spontaneously leaving their cars on mass, driven by some collective impulse to get off the hamster wheel of modern life, take a look around and begin to explore a different type of world. It would send ripples around the world and would cause many to question their own state of perpetual sleeplessness as they drift aimlessly through their day in their people movers. These daydreams keep my sane.

In closing, here is the inspiration for part of my fantasy sequence, the fabulous video for "Everybody Hurts" by REM;

THE WALL AT THE END OF THE WORLD

My brilliant four year old and I recently had the following exchange;

He: "Where is the wall?"

Me: "Which wall?"

He: "You know, the wall at the end of the world"

The question so matter of fact and logical to his ever searching and growing imagination. I tried to explain about the world being round, and having no end, but I decided that it was also helpful to mention that there are indeed "many walls" all over the world. This was a satisfactory response for the time being.

Above and beyond my profound admiration for the magical thinking inherent to my son's stage of development, his lovely question struck a chord for me; an essential element of our finite journey in this life is that we find it a great challenge to imagine the infinite, to comprehend something that may indeed have no beginning or end.

We create beautiful art, poetry, music and stunning architecture to extend beyond our own short shadows and offer the possibility of immortality. The paradox of course is that we can only create such transcendent beauty because we are so intimately and painfully aware of our finality. We are driven by a sense of urgency, hoping that even the slightest of footprint will leave even a faint trace of our journey.

I think if we could see no end, if we had a chance to live forever we would totally squander it. I would like to believe that we would spend the time learning a hundred languages, growing our brain capacity, or creating works of sublime and unparalleled beauty. In reality, I think minus the urgency we would become rather dull and listless, weeks spent playing video games or complaining endlessly how service has really deteriorated during the last few centuries.

Perhaps the "wall at the end of the world" is a necessary image, a quickly approaching end of the line that we are always running closer towards, forcing out deep breaths and inhaling sublime moments of beauty, taking it all in before we finally arrive.

GOING UNPLUGGED

In the January 21st edition of Maclean's magazine there is an article by Kate Lunau on the increasing lack of time or space given for quiet time and creative contemplation in our information saturated workplaces, where we are expected to sort through and answer a gazillion e-mails every hour.

According to Dr. Edward Hallowell, many modern workers display symptoms of "culturally induced attention deficit disorder" and are restless and irritable from the increasing demands and interruptions of their time. The article goes on to explore how some companies, such as Intel, have introduced "quiet time" for some of their employees, where e-mail and phones are purposely shut off during a designated time once a week and uninterrupted quiet contemplation and creative problem solving are encouraged.

The fact that is sounds so obvious it to me a sign that it is probably a great idea. It brings me back to kindergarten when the teachers would pull out the little mats for quiet time, complete with the dimming of the lights in the vain hope that a pack of feral children would remain quiet for at least a few minutes. Sure, my five-year old cohorts and I would make farting noises with our hands cupped under our armpits, getting "shushed" every two minutes by our teachers, though at least we had an opportunity to pursue our blissful daydreams, which is tragically missing for many of us grown-ups.

I was also thinking about the Utopian articles that appeared in the early 90's telling us that in the 21st century we would have more leisure time as the result of being "liberated" by technology, complete with those mythical 4 day work weeks. It seems that rather than having some servile robot bring us our tea while we contemplate life in our hermetically sealed relaxation chambers we are slaves to little PCs and hand held devices, where every time an e-mail or an "urgent" text message appears, you can almost hear a malevolent mechanical voice muttering "resistance is futile".

Personally, I try to go low-fi from time to time and choose to walk down the hall and talk to people in person rather than just sending and e-mail. Radical yes, though I do occasionally enjoy human interaction even if the communication is for largely instrumental reasons

Anyways, I am all for bringing back quiet time. Lets roll out the little mats, unplug for a little while and contemplate the mysteries of the universe. Even if no major epiphany or flash of insight occurs at least you can rest assured in the knowledge that doing nothing can often be the most productive thing you could choose to do.

MY OUTRAGEOUS CHRISTMAS FANTASY

I wake up Christmas morning and stumble towards my coffee maker. I look outside into the darkness in the vain hope that there will be a little snow outside, but no, as expected everything is green and damp. Considering that I live in the midst of temperate rain forest this isn't so strange.

Out of the corner of my eye though I do catch a glimpse of something that is not a usual part of the familiar landscape outside my window; dangling across the busy intersection near my house I see a large banner that reads "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko".

Later on I look online and pretty well every major news outlet and blog reports the same story. In almost every major city around the globe there are reports of tens of thousands of such posters, in 100's of languages posted on buildings, bill boards and on any large structure of prominence.

There is a lot of speculation around how this campaign could have been coordinated so quickly, and the massive volume of posters appearing is staggering to the imagination. No one claims responsibility, and it seems that they appeared over night. Yoko Ono is equally perplexed about how this happened and had no advanced awareness of this. There is also no record on the internet of any conversation about this in the days leading up to Christmas.

A collective pause occurs around the globe, and we all seem to take a deep breath. Countless numbers of us are in awe and suddenly dare to feel hopeful. Questions long suppressed are brought back to life and real dialogue begins to take shape in the days that follow. We dare to ask if it is perhaps OK to rethink the way we have shaped our world thus far.

Conflicts around the globe continue for a little while , though their numbers dissipate dramatically. Our leaders quickly begin to realize that their free passes have expired and new rules of conduct are formed. Differences begin to gradually fade into obscurity.

Most cities around the globe agree to preserve at least one of the posters in a prominent civic or symbolic location, as a permanent reminder of the wild and outrageous dreams that appeared overnight and changed our reality forever.

Christmas is forever changed as well. Millions pledge to stop buying presents, and instead every Christmas morning post messages of hope in the form of wild and fantastic art and poetry plastered as gifts for everyone over all of our communities.

This is my crazy, naive and completely unreal fantasy. A worthwhile endeavour despite the odds....