Tracking the Future

Without really knowing, during my last trip to Chicago, I found tracks of the future. Friday morning. I started the drive with half a tank of gas and the mission of arriving on time to the Howard Brown Center in Chicago (122 miles away). Beautiful sunrise: the Midwest.

My first stop was at a Seven Eleven somewhere between Indiana and Illinois. Nature made her second call with a cool morning shower that only helped us to get dirty. I found there the first electric charging station I’ve ever seen in real life. Eleven gasoline pumps; 5 diesel pumps, and one electric charger. The future is slow but determine.

After my appointment with Joe, a blue eye, long beard, heavily inked in black nurse, I went to break the fast. It is difficult to decide where to eat in a big city like Chicago; there are so many options and so many opinions. So I simply did a google search from my phone “best diners Chicago” and I chose the one that was within a 3 mile distance: The Chicago Diner. To my surprise the first word I saw written in their menu was “Sustainability”. Is the universe trying to play games with me? Is the universe remanding me that I need to do my homework?—I thought.  “Featuring local, seasonal ingredients and produce. Eco-friendly cleaning products. Bio-degradable to-go containers. Bio-diesel conversion of waste oil. FSC and Rainforest Alliance certified office paper”. Meat free. The future seemed to be planing my breakfast. I went on reading, “Logan Square location also features: US Green Building Council LEED Gold certification. High efficiency equipment and appliances. Recycled building materials, low landfill impact. Reclaimed wood for doors, bartop and other fixtures”. Impressive. I gotta say those were the best organic, free range, non-GMO, gluten free, local, green, chilaquiles I have ever tried (and I am Mexican so that is something!).

Before hitting home, me and my partner stopped at IKEA to get some small things. Surprise! what do you see as soon as the electric doors allow you to enter? A huge picture of what it looks like an infinite solar panel farm. What is it? The roof. IKEA has made the commitment to respect nature, work together with nature, make profit without destroying nature and supporting sustainable development that secures the future of the next generations. Being solar energized is just one piece of their commitment. While walking through the store-maze you can find other informative posters about their efforts to move towards the future. The most surprising to me was a display of videos teaching shoppers why LED lighting is better than anything we have invented today. The videos are good, but the fact that you can buy LED light bulbs for 4 dollars is even better!

I guess most people go about days like this one without paying attention to such details. Their immediate thoughts and worries might be more relevant. But I also imagine that some people chase these tracks, engage with them and follow them. Personally, I want to be a follower of this kind of future; I want to build it and celebrate it.

yoko and me

I arrived home late and tired of driving under the rain and between the heavy traffic of the big city. I noticed it did not rain here, and our vegetable garden was complaining. After opening the drip irrigation system, Yoko, my best friend, looked at me with those eyes nature has (similar to Joe’s blue eyes). He wanted to get his exercise, his discipline, his affection. Nature has no mystery. We just complicate things.


For a sustainable future, I wish you many days like this one.

Tamed animal

Because life is about knowing...

I sit here, listening, while smelling flowers I have never seen before;
learning how ants become helpers,
   how butterflies become lovers;
   how herbs become healers.

Because life is about your eyes and instincts;
   about laughing of the silence, of the unfirtunate truth;
      of the fact that tomorrow will never happen.

My sweet companion, my sweet friend...
You may not know that you are my teacher while I am your guide, your gurdian, your lead.

Because life is about sharing;
    I share with you this life, this moment of realization...

Lets continue walking, learning life.



to +Laura Baños (and our four legged companion)

Heal our places

"As people work together to heal their places, they also heal themselves." -Sim Van der Ryn Ecological Design

We are already too many. We are enough when we look at us as a unity. Yes, as the 99%.
We are the daughters and sons of something bigger, of more than just a pair of human beings.
We don't seem to notice that we carry with a responsibility towards our unique place in history, in the world.

To think about life can be too much, that's probably why many people prefer only to believe; it is much easier to be a passive actor and just let things happened. Like The Poor, who see death every day walking around their communities, choosing them. She is busy, the dark lady, and it does not looks like she will get holidays any day soon.

We are dying; the we is dying.
And we fight, we work, we think, we change, we heal... ourselves, our places, our own.
Why we don't heal the we, the togetherness from which we evolved?

We need the we to get her some holidays.
We can only win by joining forces with Life to heal ourselves and heal our places.