Green Tip #39: Agrarian Society

First off, let me say that the word 'agrarian' is a fun word. 'Agrarian.' Say it with me. 'Agrarian.'

Okay, now that's out of the way, let's move on with the rest of the Green Tip. Agrarian is a term that roughly means 'farm-based.' To use it in a sentence, "Gary is an idiot because he doesn't know what agrarian means." Most, if not all, societies started off as agrarian several hundred or thousand years ago. Gradually some countries grew towards more merchant-based societies that sold their agrarian neighbors' goods. Then the Industrial Revolution came around and that's basically when society decided that they were tired of nature and would do what it could to pave over everything in order to make room for the Targets and such that would come around in a few hundred years.

So, while it may seem that's the direction I'm heading, Green Tip #39 is not by any means an endorsement of all developed countries returning to an agrarian society. If I did that, nobody would be able to use computers and therefore couldn't read The Impractical Green Resource. Then we'd be back where we were with Green Tip #26. For those of you that don't remember, we don't want that.

No, while some parts of an agrarian society would be great (no more... (hm, I can't say 'Hummers' here anymore) let's just say Escalades), there are a lot of other things that we'd all miss too much. Like tires. No, not tires for cars, but tires for playing with. (Green Tip #37). Because yes, while tires are primitive by our standards, they are a product of the Industrial Revolution.

Here's a partial list of other things I'd miss if we lived in an agrarian society:

Wind turbines.
Videos of babies laughing on YouTube.
Ziploc bags.
Football.
The Dr. Phil show.
Witty bumper stickers.
Bubble wrap.
Crème brûlée.
Halloween decorative lights.
Volumes 1-18 (54 episodes) of the Good Eats TV show.
and a whole lot more that I don't have space to list here.

So, an agrarian society would not be an ideal place to live. But they did have some pretty important things right. Like, for example, if you get up when the sun rises and go to bed when the sun sets, think of how much electricity you could save. (Lots). And don't you think we could save a lot of gas if we rode horses and buggies places instead of driving cars? Basically, I'm saying the the Amish have it right on. Live like you are in an agrarian society, only without all those inconveniences that come along with it.