I Don't Like Manifestos

A while ago I made a rule for myself:

I have to be involved in some kind of volunteer work because I can't justify living strictly for myself; it's boring and not good for the psyche.

This is not like the misplaced zeal I felt in college -- when I let a group of kids with titles like "green punk," get me indignant about bike lanes.

My altruism is simple and personal: I see people that need help and I find ways to help them.

When I Googled "volunteer, New Orleans," I got the expected Habitat sites but also loads of "green New Orleans" sites, like one whose mission it is to replace all light bulbs in New Orleans with energy efficient bulbs.

What?! I indignantly envisioned pot-smoking college kids trying to promote green living to people barely surviving in FEMA trailers.

Why are so many green programs surviving down there? I thought green activism was the domain of bored middle-class towns and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Then I take the time to read about the energy efficient bulbs and discover that they actually help the poorest reduce their energy costs. Another organization, the Green Project, salvages building materials and resells them at low cost to help people cheaply rebuild houses.

But then I come across a gardening workshop in the French Quarter and I smell patchouli again.

I'm guessing that there are so many green organizations in New Orleans because they do some very practical things for those most in need. Otherwise, I couldn't justify handing out pamphlets about environmentally healthy bulbs.

Just in case, I think I'll build houses.