Exit strategy: when I grow up

Agricultural towers, like this one shown at verticalfarm.com, are likely to be the wave of the future and my wave goodbye to economic shackles.

It’s so easy to get caught up in your life and to think that you can’t have more or don’t deserve more. It’s as if after college our dreams get thrown on the chopping block, and all that is pure falls with the axe. But then there’s those crisp moments, that grab your entire essence and shake you back into who you’ve always dreamt to be.

Yesterday, I swung. I danced with an angel. Imbedded in the Charleston’s thrash and the twirl of Big Band was the thought, pure and simple, life is fun.

Somehow, I lost track of this resplendent maxim. I spent so much time trying to grapple for my place in the world, invaded by thoughts like, “I need to make myself into someone. I need to be something that matters.” I forgot the thing that matters most is living life lucidly.

I don’t know what happened this weekend, but the stars aligned. I went for a 16-mile run on Saturday and then it’s like the Mary Poppins effect exploded. I saw an owl swoop overhead at twilight, my girlfriend made me dal that could stop interstellar traffic, swing opened up my world and shining through was an exit strategy.

The exit strategy:

Job –> Land –> Agriculture tower –> Solar Panels –> Internet –> Quit Job

Taking a quick backtrack, pretty much since the outset of college, I’ve harbored pipe dreams of some rando-CIA agent coming my way and saying, “We’ve been tracing your movements for a while Mr. Bert and you exhibit all the qualities that this agency has been looking for. Pack your things. You leave for Beijing Monday.”

Well, no fucking rando agent is on his way for a chit chat, and even if he was, having clandestine fire-fights isn’t going to change the fact that this country kind of blows ass right now. Multinational Corporations own everything under the sun including our politicians, our food supply, and a fucking mega-chunk of our sovereignty. So, the point is, because our nation is in such a pitiful state, even if a CIA agent showed up on my doorstep and wanted me to eliminate national security risks in crazy-dangerous corners of the world, I couldn’t engage in super exciting gun fights without feeling like I was backing a country lacking dignity, conviction, or a worthwhile identity. Ergo the importance of an exit strategy.

I need to sock away funds to build my very own Agricultural tower to start growing local food, and maybe if I was a true Stevie-Green-Thumb, I could even turn a profit on the side. And then, I could buy solar panels to go completely off the grid. I could cut down my work to cover just enough to pay for taxes, internet and world travel. Ohh it’s so good to dream.

Power Up: Check out this Dick. He’s a professor at Columbia University in New York and he’s got the right idea. Yes, Dickson Despommier’s envisioning vertical farms in urban landscapes. His vision bears all the bells and whistles, but even in its austere form the idea of building up is glorious.