A Random Rant

I'll update on Sean at the end of this.

I'm really, truly annoyed at this.  We all know the way consumerism works, right?  Supply and demand.  In general, if people want something, they buy it.  The store buys more of it, which continues to be bought by the public, because people want it.  If people don't buy a product, the store doesn't order more of it, and it eventually disappears of the shelf.  Right?

I'm so sick and tired of all the bitching (excuse my french) lately about oil companies.  Be it the oil sands, or rigs anywhere in the world, it doesn't matter how sustainable or not they are trying to be.  It just doesn't matter.  People are constantly wanting the oil companies to be shut down, be regulated, only produce so much per year, and so on.  It doesn't work that way.

Why?  Well, because oil is a product.  People can spout all they want about what they want or don't want the oil industry to do or be like, but in the end?  We all drive our cars to the grocery store, where we buy food that has been trucked into the area from out of province/state or out of country.  Most people have more than one vehicle.  We all use products which are made with by-products of oil production.

The easiest way to make a product disappear from the shelves?

Stop buying it.

I'm not saying it's easy.  I'm not saying I'm perfect - we live out of town, and I personally don't really want to carry 200$ worth of groceries home on a bike.  We can each make choices that limit the power of the oil companies, and force societies big companies and engineers to look at other resources.  We can decide that instead of buying a hummer, maybe we will buy a hybrid.  Instead of buying another mid-size car, Sean and I want to buy an electric car when our current car dies.  It's the choices we all make that dictate the world we live in; we the people have an incredible power at our fingertips - our money.  We only have to chose where to spend it.

I guess one of the main things that annoys me about all of this is that because I'm from Alberta, certain online people feel like holding me personally responsible for the oil sands.  o.O  Do I wish our world ran on something other than oil?  Yes, but in the mean time we are all responsible for our personal choices.  Oil has made my province rich, and I will make no apologies for that - most of our oil is shipped to the U.S., among other countries, and while yes, I use oil (who doesn't?) it doesn't make it all my provinces fault for producing it - they are only following the consumerism structures of supply and demand.

Bleh.  Okay, rant over.  Agree or disagree as you like, haha.

Anyhow.  Update on Sean?  We think that his heart attack symptoms *may* have been caused by something called the Norovirus.  We aren't sure yet, of course, and he still has his stress test at the end of the month, but from what we can tell it seems a likely cause.  There has been quite the outbreak up here, and some of the symptoms - difficulty breathing and extremity numbness - can mimic heart attack symptoms.  We shall see.  He is still sick and still tired, but slowly getting better.

Thanks for listening to my rant, everyone!  It seems like one of those...months...where everything is going to bug me, heh heh.

Goddess Bless,
Stacy