Captain Carbon's Mission to the World's Carbon Capital

When the gates are shut at Castle Green, the Green Goddess can retreat into her haven. Within the castle walls are apple trees, cumquats, a lemon and an apricot tree, two limes, as well as the Green Goddess' herb and vegetable plot. Retreat she might, but the Goddess knows that she has to be in the world to change it.

The Mission: to see the World's Carbon Capital in the Land of the Orient, the former land of the Ruthless Emperor Mao at the former Emperor's Court.

Man of Action, Noble Knight that he is, Captain Carbon rose to the challenge to visit this smoky city. His apprentice and Carbon Champion (!) himself, the Page of Coins (Gold), son and heir at Castle Green chose to accompany the Captain on this mission.

Meanwhile, the Green Goddess had found a noble scholar to escort her menfolk: Scholar Nicholas from the Verdant Isle Across the Sea (Nicholas having sacrificed remaining at the Verdant Isle to seek out the smoke stacks of the East to further his studies). Following much touring, Captain Carbon noted with disappointment that after Emperor Mao's war against the Intelligentsia of the Land of the Orient, their scholars seemed to need to be mostly imported!

The Green Goddess mounted a flock of greenies in the Murray Darling Basin Catchment to plant trees to offset the travel of Castle Green's Carbon Champions--the Beloved and the Son. Plant as they might, Captain Carbon sorely felt the insignificance of the action when faced with the claustrophobia of the smoke of the Carbon Capital. Although feeling both unease, and at times despair, he was comforted by the words of the Green Goddess that he had protected her from undertaking such a traumatic trip. (The Page of Coins was comforted that he had been on a trip at all)!

Scholar Nicholas galantly took the Castle Green envoys to the two great cities. Captain Carbon looked for culture and the great gods of the noble classes--beauty and truth. These latter pillars, he reported to the Green Goddess were bitterly lacking--seemingly having been lost in the Great Cultural Crusade of the Emperor Mao. The Yuan now seems to be king--all the glories of the early noble dynasties lost to the new god.

The Green Goddess contemplates the "Great Satanic Mills" that once sullied the north of the Verdant Isle. These are now gone, apparently moved to the Land of the Orient where so much is produced that ships sail from its ports to provide goods to countries around the world. The solution: not to buy the goods and to buy only quality, and to try and buy from home. A hard task the Green Goddess knows--but how virtuous she feels in her merino underwear (!) (not scratchy) and her possum fur vest--avoiding petrochemicals in her clothing footprint.

As the Green Goddess contemplates the issue of embedded carbon in every product, she sips tea--the most noble of all beverages in her eyes. A beverage which provides solace even when considering this the most difficult of problems. A beverage discovered by a long ago Noble Dynasty from the Land of the Orient. The Green Goddess studies the tea leaves for further insight....