For the Songbirds

On this site I may give the impression to some people
that I follow certain ideological or behavioral fashions,
which make me easy to categorize. But people who
actually know me know that I'm often a skeptic, a
contrarian, and that's putting it mildly sometimes. So
I don't necessarily follow trends, not even good ones, unless
I've got good reason. I know buying and eating
"organic" is a good thing, but I'm used to shopping for good
prices, too, and maybe sometimes that's a better reason. Now
however I've got something else to think about besides my own
health and virtue: songbirds. Pesticides are killing them, and
other migratory birds, especially in Mexico and South America.
Like this barn swallow. Some species have been depleted
by half. I love bird song. That's one of the things I miss most
about my apartment in Pittsburgh--which oddly enough, had many
more songbirds around it than this house in CA. So I already buy
organic shade-grown coffee, and now I'll stop trying to save a few
pennies on bananas--that's another big one--and always go organic.
Peppers, too. And strawberries. For the songbirds. I'll remember.