It's a small world, after all.

At what point does material necessity become luxury, and drift into excess? Where do you draw the line between want, and need? Can desire surpass satisfaction, as a result of compulsion?

If a long life is the ultimate goal, we all have the same basic material needs: Healthy food, clean water, warm shelter, sanitary environment, and medical care. In order to meet those needs in the modern industrial world; we also need education (learn how to get what you need), transportation (access the things you need), and the internet (find the things you need).

Since physical health is affected by emotional health, we also need a general state of comfort. This includes a certain amount of personal space and privacy balanced with social interaction - but that amount is a matter of individual preference, which typically varies by geographic location and culture. The same applies to our surroundings: Visual, audio, and tactile stimulation are entirely a matter of personal taste and integral to our emotional state; but also follow cultural trends. If our surroundings look unpleasing it's difficult to feel at ease. Likewise, music can be calming, and stroking a soft furry animal can lower blood pressure.

We all like to have nice things. We're tool users by nature, and tools are nice things. Collecting stuff that might come in handy later is a survival instinct, and if useful goods are hard to find then it makes sense to hoard as much as possible and take the cream of the crop. In the consumer world, this comes down to collecting money and shopping. We buy all our basic material needs, and some nice things to make us feel comfortable. Those of use who are collecting enough money, that is.

Even here in the United States of recently self proclaimed "Awesome Possibilities" 15.1% of the population is officially living in poverty (source), so not everyone is collecting a sustainable share of nice things - or even necessities. While the urge to hoard may benefit the individual, continually acting on that urge is also detrimental to humanity. As social creatures, surely our individual state of emotional well being is affected by the quality of life our companions enjoy.

What I find really disturbing, is the cultural trend around me that dictates a great many luxuries to be necessities. Expectations for personal space are leaning toward isolation, while the population and the need to coexist are ever growing. Although the idea of recycling is quite trendy, we are presented with an array of factory new products made from post consumer materials instead of refurbished goods. Seasonal styles are handed down like scripture, and matching sets of everything laid out in a shoppers buffet. But before you load up your plate, stop and think about what satisfaction you get for the cost. Stop and think about your own true desires, your personal taste.

Wall-E World

My grandma and I don't send each other letters anymore, we use email. It's really the best mode of communication for us, because she lives halfway around the globe, and we don't share a primary language. I also like email because I have horrible handwriting. I don't text. I don't even have a cell phone. Sometimes I'd like to have one, but I don't need it to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. I do need my computer and my internet. I love the reach of information, the fact that I can learn just about anything at any time, but (and it's a big but), I also have to sort through the miss information and gossip. I like to see my friends' pictures on Facebook, hear about who liked what movie and who's birthday is coming up. It's the banter that bogs me down. The online gossip that replaces actual conversation, like everyone is standing in the same room, facing away from each other, and all talking at the same time. And now pets have Facebook pages too. Well, if my cat wants to learn how to type so he can network with other Nip-Heads that's fine; but that's just the thing, pet's don't really use the internet, it's pet owners who could be doing something else with life. When we talk to each other face to face, that is a whole communication. When we talk on the phone, at least we still have an actual voice, and that means a lot when it comes to knowing someone. But take away the physical presence and the voice, and all that's left are words. Words are a tool of communication, but just a tool, and communication is not contact. Posting a message and receiving a response is not interaction, and without interaction we don't have a context for ourselves as social beings. Gossip grabs your attention, and there's nothing wrong with a casual chat about who looked the worst on the red carpet, but banter can't fill the void where learning and thinking aught to be. If we are too distracted by the cyber world to pay attention to the real world, making Facebook profiles for pets instead of having face to face conversations with real people, learning how to be a good consumer instead of a good human; if this is what we're doing then we are headed for a Wall-E future. We will spend our lives sitting in hover pods, on a spaceship, consuming and gossiping. I'm not an alien, but I can see the future, and this is one possible outcome.

...Art?

What makes art good? Or bad? What is art? I've got a degree in art, and these questions were never really answered. Words like Kitschy and Dynamic come up a lot in art school, but in the end you like something or don't, feel ambivalent, or worst of all, are totally disinterested. In any case, it's your personal reaction that determines what art is and if it's good for you.

I looked at a lot of burnt wood hanging on strings. My interest was tepid, at best. Then I found out that the pieces of wood came from a church that was set on fire with racist motivation. I thought, that should change my reaction. Now that I had a context, something scandalous, why did I still feel generally bored by this art? Because it wasn't a real context, just a statement about the context, and that didn't actually change the bits of hanging wood. Had this been erected at the site of the church, maybe I'd respond differently. The thing is, no matter what I knew about the hanging wood, the artwork itself didn't elicit much of a response. For me, that's bad art.

On the other side of the room was a miniature cathedral make entirely of guns and ammunition. Inside the cathedral was a spinal column, laid out on luxurious fabric. Immediate response. Visual interest and strong emotional reaction, didn't want to focus my attention elsewhere. Good art. Would I want that in my house? Hell no, but I loved it. I like art in my house that's pretty (that word is essentially blacklisted in art school), and interesting enough to be inspiring, but not a distraction. That cathedral was beyond pretty, it was awesome. As to the emotional response, well, it was made out of guns and housed a spine. I dare say anyone who knows what guns and religion are would have a pretty strong reaction, and I think that's what makes good art; not that everyone likes it, just that it makes everyone think.

Cats, Dogs, and not enough rain.

I recently read about the environmental impact of keeping pets compared to that of driving a car (google "carbon paw print" if you haven't heard this debate). While I do not argue the negative affects of livestock farming and improper disposal of waste, I do think this is a red herring.

A "red herring," simply put, is a distraction. There is a lot of distraction when it comes to environmental issues, and it's fueled (pun intended) by a vast and orchestrated network of other distractions, most of which are based on money, sex, food, and status (which is based on money, sex, and food). The ability to distract is a form of power. Distraction interferes with critical thought, discussion, and question, and it is especially effective when it incites an impassioned emotional response - such as questioning the ethics of an animal lover who keeps a pet.

What I see is this: We little people, individuals and families in our homes, have the power to make a difference in the world, and that is fantastic. A water saving toilet in every home, what we chose for ourselves and our pets to eat, the cars we do or don't drive, every aspect of our individual consumption makes a difference when it's all added up. What every single person does is important. But for a long time I've noticed a real pressure to focus on the individual, and that's pretty easy, because narcissism is pretty easy. This pressure is in the news, it's in the utility bill, and it's become engrained in our society. Even if you deny the validity of our environmental impact and your personal responsibility, you're still thinking about it. While we are distracted, focused on the individual, we are not noticing or questioning the bigger picture.

Noticing and questioning are important.

How many U.S. aircraft carriers does it take to offset the environmental impact of every pet in the nation?