I took a walk today.
I’ve been evaluating whether I can live without a car, and so this weekend I’ve been walking around Longmont as a proof of concept.
First I noticed there’s a lot of dog poop on the sidewalk, it’s more noticeable when you walk several miles in the same direction. Hundreds of decisions to not pick up after ourselves accumulate into a canine outbreak waiting to happen.
Fortunately AI powered street sweepers will be handling those sorts of things soon. One less uncomfortable decision.
The next thing I noticed was how many stores are completely closed on Sundays. Which might be pious, who knows, but it’s impossible not to become acutely aware of how much space is being eaten up by empty strip malls and parking lots.
Apologies to small business owners, this isn’t aimed at you — I began an exercise while walking through the corpocon ghost town. Every closed shop I walked by I asked myself, “does this place even need to exist anymore?”
Look at all that space, spending its whole Sunday just making the planet warmer¹ for no good reason.
After spending time in India and Central America, I’m disappointed in my inability to find a farm stall in my neighborhood. There is a farm behind my house, but I either have to drive to the grocery store or to a dedicated space² where the farm is allowed to sell its produce. The closest grocery with a decent selection of organic produce is nearly 4 miles away (thanks Natural Grocers!).
But the endless thirst to “capitalize” paved miles upon miles of land and covered it all with car lots and strip malls, and now the old world is dying and the planet is gasping and we have too many cars and too many parking lots and the only humans in sight on this glorious Sunday afternoon are homeless people looking for some place to feel safe.
I want to ride a wrecking ball like Miley into all the strip malls no human ever wanted. I’d rewild the land, and allow space for us all to foster a more organic community.
Places to sleep, a kitchen to prepare food. Stalls to sell creative wares, and a square to connect, share food and music.
Look the AI can imagine it, can you? Also is that a tuba person?If everything I’m saying sounds ridiculous, then perhaps you aren’t aware yet of how quickly the familiar world is beginning to unravel.
Don’t stay attached to systems of oppression. We don’t own anything, we never did. The world the strip malls sold us was a hallucination. If we can extract our egos from the embarrassment of our own sunken cost, it’s possible to look forward with curiosity.
My curiosity wonders about the new world beginning to creep up through the cracks in the asphalt. Does it breathe, just like me?
¹The floor is lava, Jon McClure, Lisa Shumaker — https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CLIMATE-CHANGE/URBAN-HEAT/zgpormdkevd/
²Cottage Foods Act-Frequently Asked Questions, Colorado Farm to Market — https://cofarmtomarket.com/value-added-products/cottage-foods/cottage-foods-faq/
