How granola?

SweetPea, the Monkeys and I were sitting at Mr. Pickle's on Friday afternoon having lunch. One of the novelties about eating out at places like Mr. Pickle's is that they have tv. Since we don't, the kids enjoy the diversion of being able to watch shows & commercials while we eat (and by "kids", I'm referring to all four of us).

Let me digress for a moment to explain the no tv thing. It's not some moral, holier-than-thou thing. We do have tv's, and we have subscriptions to both Netflix and Blockbuster. We just don't have any kind of reception in our house whatsoever, and I refuse to pay for cable. Mostly because my wife has adult ADD, and I've seen how she is about the tv. Since I'm not exactly much better, I really think that I enjoy our having an actual life more than getting to watch Survivor every week.

So we're eating our lunch and a commercial about global warming comes on. If you're in California, you probably know the ones I'm talking about, because they're PSA's put out by the state. MonkeyDo had some questions about global warming. We assured her that she could blame that one squarely on her grandparents. And then we told her more about what global warming is, as we've been told it.

Her father, my exhusband, doesn't "believe in" global warming and you could totally get him started but I would not recommend it. I know there is a lot of controversy over whether or not global warming "exists", and how much of it is being caused by we humans.

Personally, I could give a shit less whether or not it "exists".

As far as I'm concerned, anything we, as individuals, do that harms the environment, when we could otherwise be doing something that causes less harm, is our fault. So I broached the idea of taking next year and making a goal to start reducing our family's impact on the environment. Everyone seemed pretty on board with that, which is a good thing. Because, you know, I do all the damn shopping, so it's not like they exactly have a choice.

In light of this, I'm going to begin a series of posts that explores the things we do now, the things I know we can start doing, and other options for reducing our impact. Hopefully, along the way I can learn something, and share information. I'm not sure yet on the frequency of the posts, but they will be at least once a week and will be tagged "how granola?"

I had, in fact, planned on creating my first informational post today, but I'm running a bit behind on my morning, and I need to get ready for my real job. Oops!