So pretty much i fucking hate inappropriate use of hashtags.

that’s the #winetalking, #sorry #parents, didn’t mean to #offend your dislike of your #daughter using #swearwords, especially #fuck.  But it’s really important to #sendthemessage that if we are to all #getalong, that the use of #hashtags simply can no longer be #abused (oh man, can’t wait to see where that last one leads us…).

it is a SEARCH ENGINE, people.

Anywho…(and this all makes sense at the end, i freaking hope),

So i’m on my run this weekend, and wanted to finish it off with a few sets of stair runs, at the most gorgeous location in PDX… the #summitstairs. They are a hidden set of 157 steps that will skyrocket your heart rate on the way up, and ensure you can’t walk from quad pain the next day from the way down.  Seriously.  If you doubt me, i challenge you, if you are not a stair officionado, to own up to 8 sets up and down.  then call me.

But the best part of these stairs is their stunning setting.  They are divided into 3 sets of hellish beauty, a tiny respite of a platform before the next set. It’s not a stadium, it’s not a park.  It’s a hidden gateway from the bottom of one street to the top of another that is so beautiful, i’ve actually photographed one of my favorite ever families there...

So Sunday, I ran about 5 miles and arrived at the stairs.

And the bottom of them, I looked up, and simply said to myself, “let’s just do 4 sets, fast as you can, then finish the run.”

What i didn’t expect was what was waiting for me.  On the top third, laying right on the concrete, next to the mossy walls, were these magnificent pink rose petals.  SO stark against the gray, it caused me to STOP.  right there. in that moment.

and the first thing that came to my mind, without even thinking, was, “AC… appreciate these while there are still rose petals.”

We’ve reached record high temperatures this summer.  Death Valley, 127 degrees. Las Vegas, 115 degrees. Phoenix, 119 degrees.

All around us.  More hurricanes, more tornadoes, more flooding.  Record setting heat, record setting glacial melt. We are hitting the extremes, and we go through our day complaining about it, watching reports on the news and thinking, “oh, those poor people.”

People, WE are the people.

Who can change this shit.

So i took a photo of those rose petals, because they simply took my breath away.

And then my dumb-ass social media mind went directly to “hmmm, wouldn’t that be a clever hashtag, #whiletherearestillrosepetals?”  I bet not a single soul has hash tagged that!

BECAUSE HASHTAGS ARE A SEARCH ENGINE, YOU DUMBASS.

However all i could think about was how to engage in a global conversation around our grandchildren actually seeing rose petals in real-life vs. in a museum.  And social media seems to be our avenue.  Perhaps our only one?

So, I began listing it out, halfway between set 2 and 3:

Here are my individual contributions to saving the rose petals:

1) No more fucking plastic bags.  I’ve been on this one for over 3 years, and i can confidently say that we don’t EVER use them intentionally.  EVER.  If we forget our reusable bags, we hand carry our shit out.  When i see someone at the grocery store buying bottled water, then putting that bottled water in a plastic bag to carry to their car, I want to cause them suffering, my feelings are THAT strong.

2) Per above, no more fucking bottled water. I’ve been on this diligently for the same number of years, since i got a clue and saw a sailboat. We have these things, called “sinks,” and these other things, called “water bottles.”  And if we don’t have a sink, they’ve invented this new cool thing, called the “drinking fountain.”  Fill your goddamn water bottle.

3) I’ve gone vegetarian.  Cow farts are the #1 contributor to global warming.  It is proven. There are so many sources, it’s conclusive.  here is just a taste:

“With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority. Methane is produced by a number of sources, including coal mining and landfills—but the number one source worldwide is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of abating. About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. An additional 15% of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste, and already a target of environmentalists’ for their role as the number one source of water pollution in the U.S.

The conclusion is simple: arguably the best way to reduce global warming in our lifetimes is to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products. Simply by going vegetarian (or, strictly speaking, vegan), , , we can eliminate one of the major sources of emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today.”

4) I buy local, in season stuff.  Yeah, i’d love to make my morning juice with a pineapple, but not if it was imported from Hawaii 4 months ago on a ship that used 11 billion tons of fuel to get it to my kitchen so I could say, “wow… love the taste of pineapple with kale!”

5) no grass in our yard.  only native plants.

6) giving the stink-eye to every leaf blowing neighbor i see.  This is not as effective as I would like, but i get the sheer pleasure of looking at them as if they are the stupidest people on the planet, moving a leaf from HERE to THERE.

It’s not much, just a few simple things I do.  And holy hell I am far from perfect.  I still own a gas guzzling car.  I still run my AC in the record Portland heat.

But wow…

if we combined all the few simple things we could each do, every day, in choices we make…

perhaps our grandchildren will still see rose petals on their steps.

Which, really, is all that matters.

Thank you, as always, for allowing me the platform to vent, and your patience to get to this final word,

#gatheryerosebuds.

Peace,

AC