by terry ernest halfway there
Back in the 1950s when Chicago suburbanites were still heating their homes 15-minute morning shower. I need it to wake up, refresh myself and start my day.
with coal it wasn’t unheard of to be frugal with them coal nuggets. After all, some And when I am asked to cut that down to a mere five minutes so we can build new
poor kid had to go down to the basement and shovel them into the furnace or condos and retail opportunities downtown, acrimony ensues. Ever try to limit a
at least pick up the ones that fell from the automatic chute. How fabulous was shower with a buddy to five minutes? Forget about it, it’s physiologically impos-
it when gas replaced coal and the heat stayed on all night and grandma could sible no matter how short your fuse.
complete her midnight bathroom sojourn without icicles forming on the nose Quoting dear old grandpa, “With time and money all things are possible.” So
of her bunny slippers. Between that and my father’s homage to frugality with his where could we get more research and development money to develop fresh wa-
infamous, “if you don’t eat the last one you’ll never run out,” we of the prepubes- ter alternatives? Let’s see… how about pay for performance for politicians. Such
cent brigade had few concepts of conservation. Oh sure, dad would holler when reasonable innovation could redirect a boatload of money from state and federal
every light in the house was on or a late night kitchen raid left the refrigerator legislators. Hey, they are doing it for doctors today, why not our elected officials?
door wide open, but for the most part we used what we wanted, especially water. If you can remember slow roasted turkey before Butterball, you might be half-
Mom had six kids and she wanted them clean…water was the answer. It was HOT way there.
in the summer and whiny kids are a pain in the ass…water for play was essential.
Homegrown tomatoes were selling for 10 cents a
pound…not without water. But we didn’t take water
for granted. We gave it back as often as we could and
used all natural fertilizers… you know, boys peeing
on the apple trees. Okay so our primary motivation
was avoiding a trip to the house which meant taking
off your shoes and washing your hands, but whether
we knew it or not, we were early pioneers of greens-
manship.
Perhaps comparing water use between Chicago
and California isn’t realistic today but 30 years ago
when I first moved here nobody would bat an eye at
a 20-minute shower, unless of course you used up all
the hot water. Today you can’t pee in the back yard
for fear your neighbor will turn you in for illegal use of
gray water. But then at my age if my water turns gray,
neighbors will be the least of my worries.
I am all for saving the planet from selfish destruc-
tion but I am confounded when I look out my kitchen
window at the largest body of water on earth and try
to comprehend a water crisis here and in so many
places around the globe, however real or contrived.
Am I expected to believe that we have the technol-
ogy to clone cells to grow human skin for burn
victims and to remotely pilot space craft in orbit of
distant planets, but that we can’t figure out how to
efficiently and economically take the salt out of salt
water? That assertion makes me feel foolish and gull-
Conserve This
ible, especially when on the evening news one story
reminds us about the sanctions that will be imposed
for failing to comply with water saving regulations
If you remember life before “political correctness,” when
and the next story gives us our first glimpse at the
the word Uranus always
latest 50-story condo complex breaking ground
downtown.
garnered a giggle, you might be halfway there.
Things were quite different when I was a kid. Back
then you didn’t plant two acres of tomatoes if you
only had water enough for one. Scrawny tomatoes don’t fare well at the market
you know. No doubt a day will come when the scrawny tomatoes stand up and
demand to know why we continue to scream drought, cut back and conserve at
the same time we are adding new homes and businesses all over town.
For my money there is one simple pleasure we should demand the right to
take advantage of and that is an unending supply of clean fresh water. I love my
feedback?
halfwaythere@ragemonthly.com or
blog@ragemonthly.com
november 2009 | RAGE monthly 25
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