Sustainability Isn't an Option

The middle class in America is now an endangered species. Only one out of the five adults in my family is now employed, and that person (a tree trimmer) isn't working either in the depth of winter. We will join the 99-ers this coming Fall. None of us can afford private health insurance, and since we aren't working we face homelessness should any of us become injured or ill. We go without dental and vision care, yearly medical checkups, and other luxuries only available to the entitled class (politicians, attorneys, CEOs and the like). On the other hand, I'm frankly horrified at the toxic state of the so-called health care industry, its cavalier practices and its toxic pharmaceuticals, so even if there were a public option, I'd only feel comfortable seeing alternative health practitioners.

Since I left my parents' house I've been poor and unemployable because health issues wiped out the "experience" section of my resume. I'm now on the brink of being another disposable human being in America. I co-owned a house from 1999 to 2006. Before and after that I've lived in worn-out rentals. I've lived in campers and closets. I've slept in gas station rest rooms.

These days I try to buy healthy food for my family, which leads me to high-end stores where local organic produce is featured and the entitled have the best of everything because they can afford it. It's true, only the wealthy can pamper themselves with "sustainable" options.

The Mr. and I save and re-use water. We are vegetarians and every year I expand our small garden. We are slowly incorporating public transport. Sustainability isn't an option for us. It's becoming a necessity in our lives.

Jill Richardson, writing for Alternet, takes a look at Chiapas, Mexico and so-called "Latin America" in her article Do we have to live like peasants to be truly sustainable?

...there's a happy medium somewhere between living as a poor peasant in an adobe hut and living in a McMansion while driving a Hummer. But where is that happy medium? Is my "sustainable" life in the U.S. just an illusion? Am I merely a Whole Foods-shopping, yoga mat-toting, latte-drinking, Prius-driving yuppie? I want to be sustainable, but I also don't want to give up my car, laptop or the pharmaceuticals I take daily to prevent debilitating migraines. Is that possible?

She does seem to represent the "yuppie" contingent as she looks worriedly over a gaping economic chasm that my family has struggled in for decades.  All I can say, Jill, is welcome to my world.