A Note About Diversity, and 2 More Noteworthy Blogs

I'd like to mention two more noteworthy blogs. It just so happens their authors were the very first folks to encourage my chronicling here.

The first is Mylene's Citizen Earth Watch http://citizenearthwatch.blogspot.com/, who also has several other blogs going strong,

and the second is PALocalvore's Plants and Animals blog at http://palocalvore.blogspot.com/


I was looking over my growing list of favorites today, and marveling over the wonderful diversity among the authors. Everyone has a unique lifestyle, specific ways they've found to do the things they enjoy and believe in, and a different point of orientation, or perhaps motivation, for the Why and How they do them.

I want to say that I don't do blanket endorsements for everyone else's Why and How, and that's why you'll see my Greats List includes plenty of folks who'd likely have lively discussions on certain points of difference if all seated in the same room. There are the Gore objectors and the Gore idealizers and those who remain reticent of any particular political mention of anyone. There are different takes on the existence of or the scepticism about Global warming. There is a very wide spectrum of orientations of conscience and religion. There are different motivations and degrees of emphasis on the particulars of organics, vegetarianism vs. meat-eating, locally-grown fare, self-sufficiency, environmental responsibility, utilization of certain practices such as tilling/non-disturbance of soil/biodiversity/permaculture/sustainability and recycling/suburban space utilization vs. large acreage production...and so on and so on.

But this is not your standard disclaimer of "the opinions you see expressed in these links are not necessarily the opinions of this author's blog."

And it's also not a high-five for relativism, since some of the folks I enjoy the most are the most opinionated (OK, I mean passionate!) about their particular convictions.

But it's a congratulations that there are so many out there...and I didn't know this before...who are, indeed, forging ahead in their way and their spaces to create a better place on some level, and to BE CAPABLE THINKERS and DO-ERS rather than sitting on their philosophical haunches and complaining about the world, yet doing nothing.

In the end, we do what we love to do. The other reasons of doing things, though plentiful and worthy, are important, too. Thus continue the debates that make this life rich in learning to think and compare notes and improve. And the debates can get hot, that's for sure! But I'd rather be in the midst of Folks Who Aren't Lemmings and the melee that ensues from the stirring up of such collective wisdom and creativity than subscribe to a passive subsistance on modern bureaucratic rhetoric that most of the population never can see beyond. Being informed is not only a privilege, but a right we need to exercise. And exercising the freedom to explore our INDIVIDUALITY freely preserves our right to the ongoing dialogue, a return to health, and the ability to be the steward of our own little square of earth...be it an apartment window or several hundred acres.

THESE are the best sort of neighbors we can have. I love the web "neighborhood" that brings us all together. You're bringing out my best, and challenging me on many levels. My conclusions won't line up down the line completely with anyone else's, and I'm glad!

It takes a village. A very diverse, opinionated, talented, hard-working, intelligent, and VITAL village.

And we're the better for the conversation and connection!