The Conservationist

I like to think of myself as an environmentally conscious person. Most likely I am as big a contributor to global warming as any human. But no worse, surely. I do not own a motor vehicle. I use reusable shopping bags. I recycle. We have a low flush toilet, a low flow shower head. We have a front load washer. We get water delivered by a truck so we know we have saved water as the truck doesn’t come as often. We now use less than half the water we used to just a year ago. We turn down the heat at night and when we are out of the house. We do it religiously. My carbon footprint is much smaller than my real footprint which is size 13. But as a species we are not keeping pace with other primates, not even close.
“Hey honey…” I said the other day as I leaned into the fridge, the fridge lighting my face as I stood in the kitchen. “We used to say that orangutans were lazy…” “I don’t recall…” She said closing the fridge door. “Saying anything of the sort!” “Not us personally, I mean us humans.” I said popping a couple of grapes in my mouth which I had snatched as the door was closing. “Why would we humans say such a thing?” she said taking a grape for herself from my hand. “Anthropomorphism.” I replied. “Anthropo-who?” Lina asked popping the grape in her mouth. “Anthropomorphism. It’s when we apply human characteristics to animals, other animals, I mean. Like Orangutans. We think they are lazy because they spend a lot of time doing nothing.” Lina cast me a glance that I could read a lot into. I ignored her unspoken jibe. “It seems…” I continued “that the orangutan has evolved over millions of years; to adapt perfectly to the environment it evolved in. It seems that the rainforest goes through seasonal changes when food is in scarce supply. It seems that the orang has evolved a state of torpor where they can go into a condition which is beyond relaxed. Where they can operate on less than twenty percent of their normal energy levels. You know when their normal diet is not available. It is the ultimate in energy conservation.” Lina was smiling now. “Imagine…” she said distractedly. She was moving away now.
I returned to the fridge as she left the kitchen. “We could take a lesson from the orangutan.” I said the light once again shining on my face. “No doubt you could learn lots from a monkey!” Lina added sarcastically. “They’re not a monkey, they’re an ape!” I added ignoring yet another barb. “I meant that we could reduce our energy footprint by reducing our need for energy. We got any pie?” I called a bit louder now as Lina was busy tidying the living room. “You know we don’t.” she replied. “Hmmm, maybe I’ll take a nap!” I replied. Darn smart critters those Orangutans, way ahead of their time.