I read an interesting article in Fine Home Building this month. It was actually more of a four page add, like most trade magazine articles are. The item for sale was a software program that aids in the design of "passive houses."
See: www.passivehouse.us
While the idea of building a house that uses very little energy is great. You have to ask yourself at what cost. Hay Bail houses are one thing. But when you are designing a 2500 square foot house with 16" thick walls, what is the cost. There is enough framing material in there for at least three and a half 1200 square foot houses. Granted, the houses perform well, but they use excessive amounts of insulation, special windows and doors, and literally tons of wood to reach this performance level. They also cost an arm and a leg. The featured house was on Martha's Vinyard.
Is any technology that helps us feel better about opulent living really all that helpful? Just because it is possible to build a mansion that doesn't need a furnace, is that a good reason to do so? When will we accept that our lifestyle, not our tools are the problem. If I understand even the most conservative climate scientists right now, we are living a Cadillac existence on a planet with a Yugo carrying capacity.
In other news, health insurance reform is about to pass. You would think that we were socializing medicine, by the way the opposition characterizes things. But, the fact that some liberals are dissatisfied confirms my suspicions that this legislation will probably be more of a political victory, that a revolution in health care. It is not changing the way medical malpractice is handled. It's not changing the way medical care and medicines are payed for. It's going to make insuring everyone more manageable. That is certainly good, but will it solve the long-term problems.
I was listening to The Story, on WUNC.
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_994_Ted_Marmor.mp3/view
In this segment Ted Marmor, who is basically a health care policy wonk (a really good one), framed the issue perfectly in his opening statements. Basically, paraphrased he said something like, "We have still failed to answer the fundamental question of weather we wanted to treat health care like a commodity on the free market, or a service everyone deserves. Should health care be like public education, or like corn and hot-dogs."
That blew me away. Now, I know what you are all thinking. That opens a whole other can of worms. It does. One worth opening I think. Sure public education has its issues, but overall, it does ok. And there are still private schools for the well off. I'm a pretty healthy guy. Give me public medicine. If Dick Cheney needs a high dollar cardiologist, I'll give him a tax credit. I don't want to belabor the point discussing health care. I want to see what this could mean for all of us personally.
The arrival of our daughter has Deanna and me thinking hard about how to live the right life. Of course we don't want Quinn to want for anything, but we want her to be hungry too. We both love working hard, but hate being consumed by work. We want Quinn to be healthy, and we feel like it's more important for us to be healthy now too. So we are more conscious of our food selection. Organic, natural etc etc. Now I'll stop speaking for my family, and go out on my own.
I keep telling myself, we will live outside the box. My brain is constantly fighting to define the path. Reduce debt, save money, stay well, learn invaluable skills. And in the back of my mind, I think if I pay off the house through radical saving, or squirrel away enough cash, or make the right investments, I might just be able to reduce my workload to spend more time with my family. Live some true adventures. Make a positive difference. Live a life that might inspire my daughter to reject the framework of the wasteful entitled American lifestyle. Live a truly happy and meaningful life.
But, I'm off track at my first step. I'm thinking of ways to poke my head above the ocean of consumerism, when what I need to do is leave it completely. But how? And what about the responsibilities to those I love who are still swimming in it. My mother and father's willingness to go to work everyday to provide a comfortable childhood for my brother and I can't be disregarded. And rejecting my current life in favor of a book-filled grass shack or a salvaged sailboat, seems a little irresponsible.
How can we make fundamental changes, instead of course adjustments on a doomed path? I'm not sure, but I'm not doing any cartwheels because the richest people in our country can build houses that do not require furnaces. And, I've heard the detractors saying that socialized medicine will stifle innovation. So be it, if the availability of cutting edge health care depends on the absence of decent basic medical care for this country's poor, I'll make the trade, and I'll sleep at night.
As for what to do with my own life, that's more complicated. Maybe all of this change needs to be incrimental. Maybe passive house technology will trickle down. Maybe once a couple of seniors have a positive experience with their death panel, everyone will relax. I just really feel like I'm running out of time to make huge changes. Maybe I know what I have to do, and can't stomach it. I'm reminded of a scene in Platoon, if I remember correctly, when one of the charactes decides the war is bull shit and he's going to stab himself in the leg, and go home. Maybe I've got the knife in my hand, and I'm just really worried it's gonna hurt like hell.
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