The Last Row of the Plane

Aboard a plane recently, the inevitable happened: The person in front of me put their seat back, encroaching in my space. That's when I took out my laptop and wrote my new nationally syndicated newspaper column about how that kind of behavior explains why we face a climate change crisis.

Now, I realize that sounds like a stretch, but when you think about it metaphorically, it's all the same.

Our "me" culture has us treating everything as infinite, even when most things are not. That's especially true with our air. It is colorless, tasteless and (usually) odorless -- its invisibility makes us think it is infinite. But as scientists keep telling us, that's just not true -- and the more we pollute the air with carbon dioxide emissions, the worse off we will be.

It's like on the plane: We push our seats back for that momentary pleasure of being able to stretch out a little more, but when we do that, it creates a chain reaction of everyone pushing their seats back and making the entire planeload of people uncomfortable. The space on the plane -- like our atmosphere -- is finite. And when we treat it as infinite, we damage everything.

You can read the whole column here. Obviously, I thought this was an appropriate column to write just before Vice President Al Gore received his Nobel Prize today. If you'd like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site.

Comments

[SamEllison]

Can you say "upgrade me"? Use them miles:)

[eplatypusunum]

Agreed. Self-preoccupation may have been a bearable burden for the planet when there were "only" a couple billion living humans (and most of those were not driving two cars, owning a big flat screen TV, etc.). But NOW...

I don't blame the Chinese or the Bolivians or whoever for wanting a better life. But if they do it like we did it, we are all doomed no matter what. That's why the US should be leading the way to alternative energy and Scrooge-stingy efficiency, to give China an alternative to coal, oil, cars and pollution.

Won't happen because we evolved to be selfish and that tends to override the need to work together. Sad.

epu

[TXfemmom]

It is sign of selfishness. I had a man, who was rather robust, put his back, and then proceed to play and bounce with his toddler, meaning that everytime he bounced it almost hit me in the face, no kidding.

I appealed to the flight attendant, who said that she couldn't ask him to put it up, so I then I asked for a very hot cup of coffee, upon which she decided to point out to the man that with his seat back, and the bouncing, he was almost hitting me in the face, to which he said tough. That kind of attitude is just plain selfish and mean and that is what is endangering our world.

However, when the flight attendant walked down the aisle with the coffee, and made a big point of handing it to me, saying be careful, it's hot...the guy got the message and put his seat up after calling us both bitches.

[gopindrag]

I am thinking back to the 'you CAN have it all commercial, pin stripes and rock and roll.' I remember my reaction, 'what a load of crap.' I never imagined so many working so hard for so long to prove me wrong.

[desmirl]

As long as people are willing to forego serious research and the facts from that research, sacrifice the environment for short term profits, we will face an accelerating problem with atmospheric pollutants. Remember, half of the world's population is below average in intelligence, and those with average intelligence aren't all that swift when it comes to their pocketbook vs. the world's future.

[hopeless277]

Precisely why nothing will be done. Mother Earth has a fever caused by the human virus. She will either burn us off, drown us, starve us, sicken us or we will learn to live within her bounderies. I'm not optomistic. Maybe I need one of them thar yeller rugs.

[RickO]

As someone who travels quite a bit on business, it just feels rude to recline your seat. However, it does seem like a compromise, and even a demonstration of respect for your fellow traveller to recline about half way (if you must at all). It says you considered that person behind you before you reclined. A real pet peeve of mine is someone who slams their seat back. I have a colleague whose laptop monitor was broken when someone did that. The person who did it was actually quite flip about it and said "Hey, if they didn't want you to recline, they would have made the seats different." I'll bet that idiot drives a Hummer.

[chagedorn]

Please don't take this as a criticism, more as a...long sigh...but as part of this "me" culture you're talking about, and maybe I'm missing the irony in your article, does EVERYBODY ALWAYS have something to sell? Of course, even commenting like this make me guilty too...long sigh :)

[wadenelson1]

Watch someone ding the doors on your new car in a parking lot without a second thought and you realize how completely careless Americans are about anything that THEY DON'T PERSONALLY OWN.