Welcome to Little Greenhouse in the Big Mango, a new blog chronicling my pursuit of a more sustainable urban lifestyle. I've lived in major cities almost all my life and can't imagine living anywhere else. But it's clear that as more of the human population moves to cities, we are going to have to figure out better ways to share an increasingly overcrowded, overheated and over-exploited planet.
Over the past year or so, through my work, I have become more aware of the impacts that climate change will have on our environment and ultimately, on ourselves. I believe that our own individual lives and the way we lead them are as connected to the issue as are the actions (or inaction) of governments and corporations. As much as we should keep urging the big players to make big changes, we also must make our own changes which may not only be better for our collective future, but equally as good for ourselves today.
Naturally,
Wendell Berry offers a far more eloquent explanation of what I'm attempting to say:
"If we think the future damage of climate change to the environment is a big problem only solvable by a big solution, then thinking or doing something in particular becomes more difficult, perhaps impossible.
It is true that changes in governmental policy, if the changes were made according to the right principles, would have to be rated as big solutions. Such big solutions surely would help, and a number of times I have tramped the streets to promote them... But to wait for good sense from the government only displaces good sense into the future, where it is of no use to anybody and is soon overcome by prophesies of doom.
On the contrary, so few as just one of us can save energy right now by self-control, careful thought and remembering the lost virtue of frugality. Spending less, burning less, traveling less may be a relief. A cooler, slower life may make us happier, more present to ourselves, and to others who need us to be present. "
Wise words. But Wendell Berry lives on a farm in Kentucky while I live in the heart of the Asian megacity of Bangkok. Mr. Berry is in his late seventies and has lived most of his life in a world without personal computers, let alone smartphones. I experienced my first computer by the age of ten, a personal cellphone at 14 and a smartphone at 22.
Today, 50% of 11-yr-olds in the U.S. have their own cellphone. By the year 2020, perhaps newborns will be assigned their own infant-sized Apple Watch to track their vitals in hospital nurseries.
At the same time, if
the popularity of post-apocalyptic YA literature says anything, I think it would be that younger generations, consciously or subconsciously, are deeply concerned about the future of our planet and of human society. As one YA novelist puts it, “I think teens are particularly aware of this, perhaps because they’re
not so invested in the status quo. Or perhaps because this is
the world they’re inheriting, and they’re [upset] that we’re trashing
it. So there’s a thread of anxiety running through our culture.”
So the question is, how do we younger generations continue our wired, urban lives in a way that has less negative impact on our planet?
This is the main question driving this blog. My intention here is to chronicle my journey trying to answer this question, as well as share slices of my life in the one and only Big Mango.
I hope you enjoy!
Pictured above is a sacred tree in my Sukhumvit neighborhood, wrapped in multi-colored swaths of cloth denoting it as particularly powerful spirit.
