Don't get me wrong.  Birds made me rich, as I note at the end of this blog.

Americans have been used to getting what they want all their lives.  My generation, those that matured and went to college in the late 60s and early 70s, had to put up with all the garbage throw at us by the WWII generation.  That generation, having been to war, felt that we owned it to them to support them for the rest of their lives, to respect them, and to do anything the government said was right to do.  We Vietnam Police Action (I refuse to call it a war because war was never declared and it was not fought like a war is fought) protests made them more than a little angry.  We thought that war was a bad thing, especially the games the US played in Korea and Vietnam.  But that's not my point.  The title of this blog is birdfeed.  Those thoughts reflect on the attitude of my generation, a group of people who were raised to believe that if you got a good job, worked your 40 years, you could have a good life and retirement.

All that has evaporated.  The corporations now control everything, employees are paid peanuts, and while we are still rich by global standards, we were raised to be spoiled brats (the opinion of the WWII crowd).  We expect, and often get, whatever we want.  And that's were we come to birds.  As an extreme example of our selfishness, one customer at Wal-mart once told me, "If my [4 year old] grandson wants a motorcycle, he's going to get a motorcycle."  The child already owned an SUV and a Cadillac.  The motorcycle and the other toys were battery powered vehicles that were made for off-road use.  My point?  She was willing to pay $400 (RMB2400) for a toy motorcycle that could be driven only by a four year old child for a short period of time under very controlled off-road conditions.

When it comes to birds, I just bought a bag a millet, a bag of cracked corn, and a bag of thistle seed to feed wild birds at my house.  If I could transport them to rural Africa, China, or elsewhere, they might feed a starving human family for a few days.  Instead, I'm feeding wild birds.  The fuels used to produce these products added to global warming as did the full size pickup truck I drove to the store, its gasoline, and the two tires I put on it that cost me $250 each (RMB 1600).  I'm destroying the planet by feeding birds that made me rich.

How did birds make me rich?  I enjoyed identifying birds when I was in high school.  This led me to a career as an ecologist and now a writer and editor specializing in ecology.  I worked for the US government as a writer and as an ecologist for nearly 17 years.  That's what made me rich, in my opinion.  Most Americans would not consider me rich, but I do.  Why?  I have debts and a mortgage on a house.  But I'm very comfortable in my life, we have two cars (including my truck) and have little to complain about.

What I would not do again, if given the chance, is to have children.  The planet has enough people and that's my point.  Having stuff is not a problem if the human population were very low.  The planet could handle the situation.  But that is not where we find ourselves.  Like many populations of humans in the past we find ourselves with more people than food.  So, why do I feed birds?  I can't make fewer people.  The population problem will continue whether I feed birds or people.  It will be left to future generations, at this point, to control the human population.  I did what I thought was responsible by having only two children.  I was wrong.  For the planet, none would have been much better.  We need to think through our lives carefully.