Footprints on an ocean beach make me feel happy. They also prove that I exist (take that, Rene Descartes! Point Varty). As the tides rise my footprints are washed away and all signs of my existence disappear from the beach forever (point Descartes). My carbon footprint...now that's one that can't be washed away easily.
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Piha Beach, pictured above, is located on the North Island of New Zealand. To make footprints on that glorious beach, I had to first spend twenty hours walking through clouds on an assortment of gas guzzling jets. I also had to drive a rental car along precipitous cliffs and through hairpin corners for hours. I don't feel guilty for the pleasure that I felt on Piha Beach, but it does come with a price tag measured in carbon emissions, not dollars or time.
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Yesterday I addressed the inevitable decline of oil reserves. Today, I ponder how I use resources. I'm looking for balance. Let's examine two extremes because I fall somewhere in between the two. Subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa produce crops sufficient enough to feed themselves, not much more. Their use of resources is quite minimal. They look good in a strictly survivalist/sustainability light, but what about fun?
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On the other end of the spectrum is Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Paul Allen jets between his two yachts, one of which is 414 feet long. Paul Allen's big yacht, christened Octopus, is a floating city. It's home to two helicopters, a submarine, seven tenders (little boats) and a bunch of jet-skis. It's a lovely boat. It's also a sitcom of conspicuous consumption without a laugh track.
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Paul Allen is a study in contrasts. As a philanthropist, he's donated a billion dollars to worthy charities and causes. For that, I applaud him. He's got me beat by well over $999.9 million. As a citizen of our only planet, he's the poster child for gross...sickeningly gross consumption. Does he really need a 414 foot yacht? Wouldn't a 300 footer do? Silly me, you can't have two helicopters on a yacht that small!
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Is the yacht a necessity when you're a business tycoon? Or is it a symbol of a fragile ego? Maybe it's indicative of some shortcoming south of the belt line. Now I'm just being catty. For all of Paul's great work, he's two love boats short of being a hit with me. I'm not sure how he fares in the Nielsen ratings. He may justify his actions as being balanced, between giving and taking, but no one should take that much in my opinion.
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To the subsistence farmer, I probably look like Paul Allen. It's all relative.
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So how does one balance pleasure with responsible resource usage? It's a dilemma. I become a barefoot philosopher as I wander the beaches of life, but I still haven't found all the answers. All I know for sure is that I think about these things a lot, therefore I am (point Descartes).
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