The Blue Notebook

As I transition from writing for The Man to writing as an independent contractor, I’m casting about for an interesting topic to shop around to the environmental magazines. Meanwhile, several people, in quite random fashion, have started talking to me about something called “eco-psychology.”

So I found a mental health professional who practices in this area (locally even), and have made an appointment with him–not to find out where my own neuroses lie, since I know those all too well, but to find out what is troubling people, and what is keeping otherwise caring and conscientious folks from moving from a studied apathy to awareness, and from awareness to action on the topic of — let’s just call it Biodiversity Crash.

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I was intrigued by an article in this weekend’s Seattle Times Pacific Magazine about a proposal to develop some of the unusual geological features of Eastern Washington into an interpretive tourist route focusing on climate change.  In some ways it’s kind of goofy: I’m just not picturing a carload of tourists from Wisconsin schlepping from kiosk to kiosk across the state and dutifully snapping pictures of impending doom.  On the other hand maybe it’s just the kind of thing needed to take global warming out of the category of abstract debate. The ultimate audio-visual aid.

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