Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Story of Stuff!

Once again I'm having problems posting direct links to videos :( I just watched a rad video "Story of Stuff" I'm sure many have already seen it yay! but for those who haven't they should watch it! its a great video! If only every person in America could be shown this video. That would be great!

storyofstuff.com

There is one thing that scared me while watching this video...I thought that maybe because of this economic hardship we're going threw here in the us that it would encourage people to not consume so much (which I think is somewhat happening) but in this video she mentions that in the 50's when the economy was down they created a system of consumerism to boost the economy. Now I'm really scared that this economic downfall will boost consumerism even more then it was before hand. Hope thats not the case! I hope the times are changing!

These past couple of days I have been contemplating only buying from second hand store. It may take me a little longer to find what I need but I think its a good idea :)

Friday, April 10, 2009

my book dilemma

Trying to be more eco-friendly it seems obvious that when wanting to read a book to either buy it used, borrow it or what not. But then at the same time if its a good book that deserves credit it would be nice for the author to get some of that credit, yes, by making some cash, but to also know they sold X amount of books. Especially for the eco books out there that probably don't reach as wide of an audience. I probably will end up just going to libraries or buying used but I feel bad that the author won't be benefiting from it, especially since book sales are declining and book stores are slowly shutting down :/

Since January I haven't really bought anything I didn't need (aside from a few plants, seeds and stuff like that). I use to be a huge shop-a-holic. It was really bad. I'd see something I like and felt like I HAD to have it. I had no control. I am thousands of dollars in debt because of it and have enough stuff to last 3 people a life time :/ Its hard managing all this stuff I have. I'm slowly trying to get rid of it. In the past I think I used shopping to fill some sort of void. I used it as a way to make myself happy. I thought I'd have a hard time not spending money but its been suprisingly easy! Granted, trying to be more earth friendly definitely helps curb my spending habits. But looking back these past 3 months I'm surprised at how well I've done with not buying anything!!!

I'm hopeful about the economic state this country is in. I know its tough (I especially feel the weight of all this because of how much debt I'm in and not having any money to pay off that debt and constantly worrying how I"m going to get money to eat or what not) but I'm hoping this tough time will make people find more creative, eco-friendly ways to live. They did it during the great depression, we can do it now. I'm hoping that by people struggling to make ends meat that we'll all consume less and that in turn will help the earth.

two halves

I guess for the next few weeks while I'm still unpacking my posts will be few and far between and will be short. I need to vent and figured this would be the best place to do it. A couple of weeks ago I was at a wedding and they had potted flowers as center pieces (Kudos to them for having live, planted plants as center pieces!) At the end of the wedding they were telling everyone to take a center piece so I took two :) My boyfriend didn't seem to want me to take any but I took two. I was busy and forgot to water them and they started to wilt a little. Knowing at least a little about plants and flowers I knew they would come back if I stayed diligent about watering them...but I never had a chance to...my boyfriend threw them away! Not only was I upset because I think the flowers were pretty and I knew they weren't dead but it also upset because they were planted in nice clay pots. Even if I had no use for them (which I totally needed some clay pots!) but even if I didn't need them I could have given them to some one else that did. I don't know people's mentality to just throw everything away without thinking about it for a second. "its more convienent" Donating something, or finding something a good home is too much of a hassle for most people. And it makes me sad that my boyfriend is one of those people :(

Does anyone else have the problem of their significant others not being in sync with them about environmental issues and whatnot?

Friday, April 3, 2009

discouraged

I had been thinking optimistically about the earth's situation and how people treat the earth. I thought "people can change, all we have to do is educate them!" But looking at my boyfriend I don't know anyone will change to help mother earth. On my boyfriend's face book he has a survey and one of the questions is "causes you care about?" and he has environmentalism listed on there. When I saw this I questioned him about it because I'd never once heard him breath one word about environmentalism at that point. His argument was week and I criticized him for having that listed on there. I've always been an environmentalist at heart but in highschool I got distracted with other things and lost touch with that side of myself. But then last November I got cable and started reading more and going on line and began educating myself about the peril this is earth is in and what we can do to protect it. I've always done this but I probably do it more now but when ever I see my boyfriend wasting stuff like water, or tin foil I give him a hard time and ask him to be more conscious about it. He is a smart, educated man and should know that these things all make a difference but he seems unwilling to change. Turning the faucet off in between doing dishes is too much of a hassle for him. He knows being more environmentally conscious is really important to me yet he's unwilling to change. If he's unwilling to change, why would other people change? :( I makes me more pestemistic about the whole situation.

long time!

I'm finally back on line! Between packing, moving, unpacking and pretty much not having internet for almost 2 months I'm finally back! I have so much a I wanna write about that its overwhelming and I don't know where to start.

I'm sad to say that I may be giving up on my hand made worm bin. It doesn't seem to be doing very well and it doesn't seem like the wormies are eating (but it might be because I don't have enough worms? ) I planted a potato and that thing is growing like crazy!!! lol I'm excited. I hope I can actually grow potatos!

I was sad when I moved to my new apartment complex because there was no recycling bins but less then a week after moving in and recycling bins magically appeared! Yay! I hope that encourages all the tenants To recycle!

Up until now this blog has only been strickly about green stuff but I think I shall also add blogs about crafting (which is still sorta green) cos most of my crafting is upcycling stuff anyways. Hopefully I'll have more time to post reciepes and pictures and what not. But for right now I suppose I should go unpack some more :/ :)


A FEW LINKS TO CHECK OUT!
Handmade.org -A website to pledge to buy hand made things! Be sustainable and buy hand made!

http://reinspired.blogspot.com/ - A group of guys who buy red shirts from Good Will and screen print their logo and sell the shirts to raise awareness about Aids and100% of the proceeds to support grassroots AIDS initiatives in Afric

http://nikkishell.typepad.com/ -you can pledge to not buy any new clothes for a year and only make/buy used clothes for a year!