Stick it to The Man

I’ve been struck with my monthly need for fast food this week and made a tasty discovery – Chipotle. They pretty much rock as far as quick food goes. In addition, it turns out that they support small farms and humane farming methods. Check it. They cost way more than McDonalds, but at least they serve food that had a happy-ish life first.

This week, I signed up for the Buy Local Challenge and am buying more of my food from local farmers. I’m counting this as sticking it to the man because it helps out the little guy – local farmers – who are the antithesis of the Man.

Heeee! Avoid reading this item (forwarded to me from a friend) if you’re sensitive to political humor.

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway. Nothing is moving.

Suddenly a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, “What happened?”

“Terrorists kidnapped President Bush and are asking for a $10 million ransom. Otherwise they are going to douse him with gasoline and set him on fire. We are going from car to car to take up a collection.”

The driver asks, “How much is everyone giving on average?”

“About a gallon.”

I’m not sure whether any of you have got the e-mail that’s been going around telling everyone in the US and Canada not to buy gas tomorrow. According to the e-mail/spam, a one-day boycott will make the oil companies “choke on their surpluses.” It’s all refuted here ; really, a short term boycott won’t make any difference at all.

Therefore, I plan to stick it to the man by using at least 25% less gasoline. I can do this by walking more often, not using my car’s air conditioner, and using internet or local retailers instead of traveling for goods or entertainment. For example, I’ll be walking the half mile to a street with decent restaurants over the weekend, instead of driving to restaurants farther away. This will get tougher in winter, though.

I’ve already started to drive less aggressively. I noticed on my way home from work this evening that I’m not the only one. Traffic was much more orderly than it usually is – I think it’s because people are changing their driving styles to save gas.

I’m strongly considering riding the bus to work at least once or twice a week. Public transportation around here is not great, in part because it’s believed that there’s not a great demand for it. Somehow, I think that demand will be increasing in the immediate future as more people look for ways to avoid spending half their paychecks on gasoline.

Any hints out there. It strikes me that several of my goals are in line with the dominant paradigm. Perhaps that needs to change.