The Limits Of My Sustainability

The deck looks good but the board split on the bottom filling it with water

I like getting second use out of stuff as it eases my conscience by making me feel less of a rapacious defiler of the earth's resources.

But everyone has limits.

Recently I broke a windsurfing board. I went around to the gear shops asking what one did with such a thing. The best answer was cut it into chunks and cram it in the garbage can. Others just shuddered and turned away, lest they be tempted to store yet another large piece of junk in the garage.

I had the idea that I would let the kids paint on the white bottom of the board a mural of sustainability, perhaps whales and lemurs frolicking together as they celebrated the feast of Saint Crispin's Day. Or maybe a chimp waxing his surfboard with a video game controller. All these were fine ideas.

Or not.

The thought of a junked graffiti board in front of the house for time immemorial made me wince and so I drove to the dump. We have a problem getting rid of kid-generated art and this project had "landmine" written all over it.

I realize I generated a substantial amount of landfill, but I feel right about things because I've now earnestly blogged about it.

Maybe if the kids continue to develop their artistic talents I'll let them do a mural on our Hummer H1.