CARS: Not just gas mileage, think about life expectancy as well. The longer the car runs well, the better it is for everyone. Remember that the biggest part of recycling is re-using.

CRACKERS: I was being facetious, but it is in fact true that breaking the link between wanting something and getting it can/will create a more full and flavorful life in every respect. Gratitude is key. If you get something to eat every time you're hungry, pretty soon you start to think that food is created by your hunger. If instead you make a point of fasting regularly, you will find that food tastes better and you're happier to get it because you don't equate hunger and eating. Fasting can take many forms. You can stop eating for one to ten days (don't do this on the spur of the moment without taking time to understand fasting but I've fasted for ten days and, while it was hard -- longer fasts are harder for women -- it was definitely worthwhile). Another way to "fast" is to put the food on the table and wait a minute before eating it. Say grace, or stop and think for a minute about how wonderful it is that you have food to eat, and think about people who don't have food. Let me tell you, that sure makes food taste better. Another way to "fast" is to simplify your diet. Eat plain food with little seasoning. Sounds bluh, huh? You would be surprised. The simpler your diet is the better it can taste, plus when you do have fancy food, it tastes even better.

FARMS: To the extent that being an industrialized society is helpful to us, many or most of us have to forego living on farms. And I'm not exactly well suited to country livin' - I'm a city girl myself. But every little step that we take toward mindfulness is a step in the right direction, whether or not we ever even want to live off the land.

HUNTER/GATHERERS: You do of course know that in the hunter/gatherer society, men hunted and women gathered, and that gathering that those women did made up 85 - 90% of the food that was eaten by those societies? That those guys went out hunting infrequently? So to make an argument in favor of eating meat by using the h/g rationale would first of all argue in favor of eating meat like once a month, which isn't your point, and secondly, would require women to be the sole or major breadwinners which I'm not crazy about. I'd prefer to share that job equally, nahmean?

I'm sorry about Berny.

Peace.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

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Every hundred years, all new people