Exercising "for" Food…

…rather than ”because of” food.

I enjoy reading the website, Afrigadget. This morning I received an update on the pressure irrigation pump above, made by KickStart.

The pump “uses the stepping motion you see in a work-out gym to move water hundreds of feet to irrigate land.” How amazing is that?!  I read articles like this with a mixture of fascination and shame.

My 10-year-old got right to the heart of the shame when I showed her the above picture and explained what it did. Her one comment was, “We’re lazy–we don’t have to do that.” Ouch. I’m glad to be regularly and uncomfortably reminded that my comfortable lifestyle is not an option for lots of people. My daily concerns are pretty small compared to subsistence farmers who literally work to eat, and then hope that too many or too few rains don’t destroy that year’s total food supply. No Plan B. No backup supply of food.

I have a closet fascination with simple-life technology. But I can’t seem to break away from my addiction to doing things the easy way, except in my dreams. It’s bizarre to think how complicated adapting to simplicity seems.

I mean, it is fun to think about designing a passive solar home that works with the environment to keep itself cool or warm, to study pit latrines in detail (the science behind creating one that doesn’t stink AND can work for you is so interesting), and to have a push reel mower sitting in my Amazon wish list. But when I actually think about switching to any of these technologies, the bottom line is, I just don’t need to badly enough to justify the money or inconvenience.  That is embarrassing for me to admit. 

What an irony that I go to the gym as a luxury (to work off all that “medical chocolate” I take), when the same stepping technology is being used so that growing this year’s food can be a little easier and a little more certain for people in Africa.