Forgive me father, for I have sinned

Today, while driving from one site to another I was lost in thought.

I was thinking that in many ways there are two types of environmentalist. On one hand, you have people who think of it in economic terms. That can there cost xxx to produce - but will save yyy if you recycle.

That, to me, makes sense. Enough that I sometimes recycle....use power saving computer options....

Then there's the other type - those who approach the Environment as if it was God. The eco-priests. You will know them by their hessian bags, the militant vegetarianism and the obsession with cycling.

Being a roleplayer - and amused with odd scenes - and bored out of my skull on the A1M I thought about what an eco-priest would be like....

As I drove an encounter slowly formed in my mind. Picture, if you will, a small temple to nature formed from living trees bent this way and that. The floor covered with pine needles, and at one end, beneath the alter where progress and sanity have already been sacrificed is a confessional.

And at that confessional, I kneel...

Me: Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been a week since my last confession. Father, today while in garden of this world, I sinned. I enjoyed driving.
*Shocked silence*
Eco-Priest: My son...how did this terrible, abominable thing occur?
Me: I was driving from site to site for work-
Eco-Priest: So it was not an actual drive for pleasure. It had purpose, meaning?
Me: Yes father.
Eco-Priest: Your soul may yet be saved...but there is more to confess.
Me: Yes father. As I drove in the fens I did drive at speed, more so then required for efficiency. I accelerated without just cause and braked with joy, cornering around the narrow fen roads as if a rally driver.
Eco-Priest: *Sigh* Did you at least ensure that you minimsed your load - carrying no more weight then needed, taking the shortest route and obeying the traffic laws?
Me: Mostly father. Mostly.
Eco-Priest: An act of contrition and a donation to the rainforest box. In the name of the....
--

Yes, I really did enjoy today's driving. Yes, I did average less then the speed limit.

I had to....you can't take those corners at 60mph. Some are 90 degrees!