are we willing to go all the way?

Seeing how "popular" it is nowadays to be "green" and environmentally friendly, I wonder how far are we really willing to go? I mean, coal and oil companies will certainly fight to maintain their market share, but how about normal consumers? Are we willing to purchase "green" products? Hybrid vehicles are more expensive than their non-hybrid equivalents, and they have proven popular. Using energy efficient light bulbs and other, simple home improvements has also proven doable. But here is something pretty extreme:

Are we willing to drink our own waste water? This article in NY Times "A Tall Cool Drink of... Sewage?" about a new treatment plant in Fountain Valley shows how you can actually make very, very clean water out of sewage. But here is an interesting and sobering conclusion:

You could argue that in coming to terms with wastewater as a resource, we’ll take better care of our water. At long last, the “everything is connected” message, the bedrock of the environmental movement, will hit home. In this view, once a community is forced to process and drink its toilet water, those who must drink it will rise up and change their ways. Floor moppers will switch to biodegradable cleaning products. Industry will use nontoxic material. Factory farms will cut their use of antibiotics. Maybe we’ll even stop building homes in the desert.

But these situations are not very likely. No one wants to think too hard about where our water comes from. It’s more likely that the virtuosity of water technology will let polluters off the hook: why bother to reduce noxious discharges if the treatment plant can remove just about anything? The technology, far from making us aware of the consequences of our behavior, may give us license to continue doing what we’ve always done.

It seems we're not yet ready for change. Apathy and "ignorance is bliss" wins again.

*nerd note* They do it in the space station - months at a time drinking 100% reclaimed waste water! *end nerd note*

remaining encouraged and inspired

Unfortunately, the LRA is still fighting, in Uganda and the DR Congo - abducting children, massacring villages, and forcing people to be displaced.

The rebels have attacked Congolese villages, massacring more than 900 people since the offensive began just before Christmas.

Mr Kony's long and brutal rebellion against the Ugandan government has left tens of thousands of people dead, driven some two million people from their homes and destabilised a swathe of central Africa.

Last year, the LRA leader refused to sign a final peace deal thrashed out at two years of talks in neighbouring South Sudan - prompting the Ugandan military to lead the latest offensive.

The LRA has insisted the war crimes indictments must be lifted before signing a deal to end the conflict. The rebels are accused of having raped and mutilated civilians, forcibly enlisting child soldiers and of massacring thousands during two decades of conflict.
- March 4th, 2009 BBC News | Africa

And this is just one of many global humanitarian injustices that I could be focusing on.

I acknowledge that I'm slightly biased towards Uganda, because I was there.  But I'm really encouraged by the efforts and effects of the Invisible Children campaign.  Check out the videos below: 

Invisible Children: The Rescue Plan




Invisible Children: TRI

Click here to see more videos about Invisible Children's mission.