A Book About Nothing

Cheryl Hines, Cheryl David, Laurie David, noted eco-activist, Gulfstream liberal, enviro-scofflaw, and wife of someone famous, has written a book entitled The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming, which aims to convince young boys and girls "to grow up to be activists."

David and her co-author Cambria Gordon penned a letter to their three daughters about the book, which David has posted at HuffPo.

We hope that by the time you read this, the solutions to global warming will be well under way. You already know from living with us, how concerned we are about this problem. Sometimes, we go over board with our reactions to everyday annoyances like over -packaged products, leaving lights on in the room, taking too long a shower or leaving your chargers in the wall. We embarrass you when we glare at hummer drivers and or get emotional when we talk about drowning polar bears. But we do this because all of the things that we love and care about are at stake. We do this because we do not want the day to come when you ask us why we did not do more.

First off, "by the time [they] read this?"  It's a blog, right?  Not a time capsule.  Not a posthumous crystalgram from Jor-El.  These things tend to disseminate quickly.  At 10 and 12, David's daughters are presumably already old enough to know how to read and how to work the intertubes... maybe they just don't ready trashy liberal blogs.

Anyway, onto the over-packaging of products.  With my spirits weighed down by the thought of Mrs. David's daily miseries and lamentations, a post at Gizmodo has me puzzled.  Or, rather, it has me wondering about her puzzlement over this little eco-paradox.

If over-packaged goods rub her the wrong way, surely there can't be anything on this fragile Earth more egregious than this handsomely-packaged lump of nonexistence (available for $6.28 from iwantoneofthose.com).

Sure, ethereality probably doesn't *need* to be so finely bagged and one could see this as a deliberate and only mildly humorous waste of paper, ink, plastic, and the inadequately compensated labors of various downtrodden workers.  But even so, I wonder if the first lady of the Nothing Fortune, whose very Gulfstream jaunts are financed by nothing, could begrudge nothingness a little indulgent pampering.

The manufacturer has a few words of wisdom which seem apropos for the jet-setting, eco-crusading, Seinfeld royalty-reaping crowd.

What better present for the person who has everything than a poignant reminder that they want for nothing? This lovingly crafted vial of emptiness is filled to the brim with unfettered nothingness. Free from the burden of possessions, the weight of responsibility, Nothing is as idiotic as it is brilliant. ... And let us not forget, that 'Nothing' is so important that most of our universe - and the contents of a lot of people's heads - appears to be made up of it.