Anthropocentric

What role do people play in the environment?  What role do humans play in correcting the mistakes that we have made? How do you get humans to be concerned about the environment?  how do you get humans to be concerns about the environment beyond what directly impacts them?  Beyond what directly impacts them and other humans?

I don't know

The more I think about these issues, the more lost and confused I become.

Sure I took Eco-Philosophy, but that was over ten years ago -- I have forgotten most of what I was taught in the class (I still remember a comment about prophets vs. profits).

Anthropocentric was a word I learned in college, but I think I recognized the issues well before I learned the word.  Anthropomorphic is another one of those great words, and is probably well related -- it is easier to relate to something more like us (people like Mickey a whole lot more than they like regular mice)

But my main question (at the moment) is: To convince people to do something good for the environment, how much do you need to appeal to their sense of anthropocentricity?  Do they need to feel a sense of human connection to what it is they are protecting?  If there was a wilderness area that not only banned motorized vehicles (and any other motorized machinery), but also humans, could people support that?  If a species needed complete removal from human interaction to survive extinction, would people support that?

Lots of questions...No real answers.

Hey Service Sector -- Provide Service

Last Saturday (not this past Saturday, but the one before then) I went out to see a play with someone.  It was a good play, but that is not the topic of this post.

Coming back from the play, we went out to eat (plays are often timed so that it is too early to eat before hand, leaving you really hungry after)

Anyway we came to a row of restaurants and chose one.  I should have realized right away that there might be cause for concern, the hostess was not being a good host.  We hunted for seating on our own, and ended up on the porch.  And then we waited for a waiter to come. And waited.  And waited.  Oh, we did get water, but I was hoping for something more substantial.

Time was wasting away.  Time when they could have been selling us drinks, and making money off of us.

The waiter seemed to have no problem helping the other table, but had no interest in us. 

So we left.

The next place we went, was crowded and loud.  But we were seated promptly.  The waiter was very busy but still made time for us.  The food was a little more expensive, but not much more, and it was a good meal.

So, the second place got our money and the waiter at the second place got a decent tip.

My experiences lately make me wonder if the service industry is losing its touch.  Maybe as America as a whole becomes increasingly lazy, it is reflected in many ways, including in the service provided.  Maybe staff everywhere are trying to emulate the CEOs of the world -- loose your company money so that you can be shown the door, while being handed unbelievable sums of money. 

I know it worked for the CEOs, but I am not quite sure it will work as well for others.

Thank You Starbucks

Recently I had a poor experience at Starbucks (I don't go there too often, but I had a gift card...)

Anyway, I filled out a comment card and explained my problem (I would (maybe) have spoken to the manager when the problem occurred, but I was in a rush.

They wrote back with an apology and a card for a free drink.

Now, should I use that at the same location where I had the problem, or should I use it at a different location?  Part of me wants to avoid the one location, and part of me wants to see if they actually got it fixed, or just decided to placate me.

Thoughts?

-- Andy

Predictions Delayed

I know you all are actively waiting for my predictions for the new year.  You probably felt that their was something wrong in your RSS reader, or a critical flaw in blogger (maybe I had predicted the doom of Google, and so Google blocked me).

Alas, I merely had other things come up.

Hopefully tomorrow night.

-- Andy

A New Year

A new year.  Time to start fresh, to not relive all the mistakes of the past year (but still to relive some of them -- and a chance to make lots of new mistakes)

I am already off to a painfully slow start of the new year (no, I did not drink in excess last night, but I did manage to sleep in this morning, and am just not moving at my normal pace yet.

I am not big into resolutions, but I do ant to spend more time reading this year.  The newspaper arrives at my door every morning, and all too often too much of it goes unread.

I can also work on improving myself at work.  Spending time more productively at looking how to help coworkers, rather than confronting them when they approach something in a way that is not conducive to the whole.

I hope to also post in my blog a little more often (good news I have updated Live Writer, and am now able to connect into my blog once again).  I will still post erratically, so I strongly suggest any interested to use an RSS reader.

I hope to post a list of my guesses (predictions) for the coming year, but since I just mentioned RSS, let me briefly jump ahead.  Now that all the major web browsers have RSS built in, RSS will begin to reach the masses.  Many folks were not going to install a separate program, especially if they did not get the idea behind RSS right away.  Now that they have it in their browser, away they will go.

More to come, but I have to get back to a few other things that need my attention.

I wish you a happy, healthy, and exciting new year.

-- Andy