Thoughts on being.... A Eco-Pseudo-Hippie-Jainist

Jainism: is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings.

I think I might have become a Jainist.  Ok, I am NOT being serious.  But I remember learning about Jainism in University and thinking, "Ok, that is a bit insane.  Who lives without killing anything?" But it stuck with me.  I was already a vegetarian at the time, but killed any insect in sight with raid.  It was purely a health choice, not an animal rights issue that I took on.

But recently I read an interesting book on environmentalism called "Raising Elijah: Protecting Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis" which talks about the use of pesticides etc and how the elimination of a particular pest can lead to exponential growth of the natural prey, thus creating a new pest problem, and thus layers of a multitude of pesticides to eliminate subsequent pests.  As a matter of fact, did you know that apples are sprayed three times--leaves, blossom and small apple?  Or that pesticides are essentially neurotoxins (aka brain poisons) that can lead to improper brain development of vulnerable fetus and breastfeeding babies?  The book also talks about how pollution and higher temperatures of our oceans has led to a serious decrease of phytoplankton on the surface of the ocean, phytoplankton that produce 50% of our oxygen.

And I think, ok, maybe there is something too this.  Suddenly I start gravitating toward the organic section, gulp at the prices and place the items gingerly in my shopping cart.  I ask each vendor at the markets if they are organic or not, then try not to make it too obvious when I walk away empty handed.  Sorry....  Because once you know about neurotoxins, you can't NOT know.  I heard about this gardening group that uses your garden to grow veggies to sell at the market and you can eat as much of the produce as you'd like. No charge.  I contact them.

This might be a bit over the top, but I have a hard time killing spiders because I know that they control the mosquito/fly pollution, and probably more likely, I cannot stand to hear the crunch of their little bodies.  The bigger they are, the harder for me to kill.  The other day I found a ginormous spider the size of my palm and trapped it in a container and released it outside.  Then caught a fretful dragonfly of equal size that was lost flying around the living room ceiling in a tupperware container.  No small feat, I might add. The other night the chirpy little cricket in my room was in danger of being "raided."  But I just couldn't.  Rather, we spent the better part of two hours, around 11 pm, locating and attempting to trap and release this evasive cricket.  In the end, I think we scared it enough that it eventually made it's way outside.  Either that or he is hiding, undisturbed in Gabriel's room.   

Admittedly, I may have gone too far.  However, I eat meat and love it.  Obviously I'm not a Jainist.  But maybe I'm some form of a hippie--a cloth-diaper-using, anti-pesticide-organic-local-food-loving, natural-birth-embracing, Birkenstock-wearing, Volvo-driving, spider-saving, tree-hugging, granola-eating, natural-remedy-using hippie.  Minus the pervasive drug use (and likely a whole lot of other things).  Now all we need is a camper van and some petuli oil or at least a bike attachment for Gabriel (and Abe). Jordan is also guilty.  He now dons his own pair of Birkenstocks, personifies the little fishies in our river, as well as other various wildlife and doesn't eat fish because of the cruelty of their capture.  The hooks, the yanking out of the natural habitat, the reverse suffocation.  It's barbaric really.  I jest.  He just doesn't like the taste. I'm ok with our hippie-ness.  So long as I can wash my hair (with a natural soap) and wear make-up. What has the West Coast done to us?

I wonder how we'll fit into DC?