You'd think that the environment and the debate over universal health care weren't connected, right?

But what I've been thinking is that for all of us to begin to choose lifestyles that might be both better for us and better for environment, we have to be able to unplug from the Matrix. We have to be able to get off the work to spend treadmill that causes our lives to emphasize the acquisition of stuff, plunder the earth's resources in the manufacture of that stuff, and possibly waste our lives in pursuit of things that don't make us the happiest.

But suppose we try something different? Suppose we decide we want to unplug from the Matrix treadmill? Maybe see what it would be like to have more free time instead of more stuff. Some of us could do that by trying to work less, right? It's a money and stuff versus free time trade off.

Could more time to purse our own interests be more satisfying than working and spending? The only way to find out is to try it, right?

But here's the rub. Most of us, if we tried working less, would also end up without health care. If you unplug from the corporate Matrix, you also unplug from the system most of us rely upon for our health services. Makes the possibility of living a potentially more environmental and more fulfilling life pretty daunting.

That's why health care and the environment are connected. If we find a way to offer universal health care, then maybe we could all take one step further away from the corporate treadmill and find a way of life that is happier for us and healthier for the planet.