To summarize a bit of house mate drama, I think we should heat our house with the giant furnace in the basement, while the house mate says electric space heaters are the way to go.
When I brought up the point of wasted energy he said, "You leave your computer on all the time, and I have to turn the light out in your room when you're not home."
I sighed. I didn't bother explaining that the computer, after about 30 minutes, goes into a suspend-to-disk mode, where the only power it is drawing is a faint "phantom load". I didn't bother mentioning that the first thing I did when I moved in was replace all the lightbulbs in the rooms I spend time in with compact flourescents, and I didn't mention that during the day when I want light, I open the shades.
He continued on his self-justification rant, by attacking my energy habits. He's a bit older than I am, so sometimes I think he feels like he knows more about the world (I won't deny the possibility, but in this particular area, on this particular topic, I win). He asked me, "What's your plan for the future? What do you plan to do about global warming?"
Ignoring the fact that all I was trying to do in this little bit of drama was turn the furnace on because it was snowing outside, I decided to just let it drop, and said, "You're right, but I'm not paying the power bill while you're running the heaters," and wandered off, leaving him standing in the kitchen.
It did get me thinking, though. Like I've said before, my view on the world I've found is a little different than those that came before me. I take it as a given that humanity is fucking the planet up. To me, humans being bad for the environment is in the same ballpark as humans forming social groups or humans having sex -- it is natural for us to do it.
Best illustrated by a bit from The Matrix. Quoth Agent Smith:
"I’d like to share with you a revelation I’ve had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you aren’t actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we...are the cure."
For me? This is not a revelation. This is just the statement of an assumption. I would react upon hearing someone proudly declare they have discovered that grass is in fact, green -- it's simply known. A non-disputed fact. Humans and the planet do not get along. We're like abusive husbands. We keep hitting her, and when she hits back, we blame her, and then hit her some more. Eventually, she's going to pull out the fucking shotgun and get out of this relationship one way or another.
So I was asked, "What's your plan?"
I'll be honest.
I don't have one.
I don't know what to do.
I know what doesn't work. I know what I must not do. I know what changes I must make if I want to survive.
But I don't have a plan.
All I can say is, "I'm doing my part, and I hope, I pray, everyone else is doing theirs."