So yesterday evening me, two housemates and two other friends drove out to the Bagby hotsprings which are on Mnt Hood. The Bagby hotsprings are really unique in that the springs flow into a series of little "houses" some of which have communal tubs, and some of which are divided into stalls and have individual tubs. The tubs themselves are also unique in that they are craved out of old-growth cedar trees...so you are sitting in hot mineral water inside tree stumps out in the middle of an old-growth forest...and the steam is rising from your tub into the trees which are heavily laiden with moss due to the constant bath they get with warm steam. The whole scene is very surreal and fairy-worldish, or a hippie paradise might be a better way to put it. This time of year, the ground on that part of Mnt. Hood is still covered in ice and snow as well, so the contrast is striking. Whenever you leave the tubs, you are freezing, but inside the tubs themselves, it is almost too warm.
So you'd think, with all of that natural beauty and serene scenery, people would at least pick up their trash after they where done there, right? Of course not, that would be too much to ask. Just as I saw the most random and disgusting trash out in the redwoods (everything from high chairs to beer bottles to old camping gear,) the Bagby hotsprings is similarly trashed. Beer bottles and cans make up the majority of the trash, but I also saw such random items as bras and underwear, a Stoffer's Stovetop Chicken Dinner box, a working lighter, lots of random food scraps, candles, Jim Bean bottles, plastic bags, etc. This sort of trash reminds me always of how juvinile and trashy humans as a whole really are. I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea that we may all be a little mentally ill, due to the unfortunate circumstance we live in, which is called modern life. More and more, I believe this to be true. It seems we can't be trusted with even the smallest of responsiblities; nevermind large ones like trying to turn around global warning and replacing our car culture with something more sustainable. More and more, I see that we as humans enjoy our flilth; we revel in it. This is why we love T.V. shows like Cops and Judge Judy; it isn't enough to live in a trashy manner ourselves, we also have to watch others being trashy on T.V., and we love laughing at their "failures" and "mistakes."
So I have a new theory about people; especially related to nature, which is "We must be contained." It isn't a good idea for people to try to move back into the woods; this past year, as I've begun learning rewilding skills, my dream has been to start or join some type of communal "tribe" which ideally would live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle out in the woods somewhere. But lately that dream has been turned on its' head, simply because I think most of us are too irresponsible to be let loose in the wilderness; hell, we can't even keep our communal houses in the city clean, so how are we going to not throw trash all over the woods and probably burn the place down to boot?
I think the greenest thing we could do right now isn't move back into the woods; but rather it would be to encourage people to stay the hell out of the woods, to leave the woods alone, and to concentrate on improving life in major cities; to plant more community gardens, to improve public transportation, to get off crystal meth, to learn basic adult skills such as how to pick up after ourselves and good dental hygiene. If we can be trusted with that much, then, maybe, we can start thinking on larger, more global terms.
Love ya,
Carrot
ps. If you live in a communal setting, including a dorm room, please try to do a little extra to make the community space orderly and clean this week; I'm so sick of cluttered/filthy community space, and cluttered/filthy forest space! I wonder how we can all learn to be a bit more responsible, both for the health of the planet, as well as the health of our fellow humans?
