Saturday, December 26, 2009

Mostly no impact month

I've been a huge fan of Sustainable Dave (here in SoCal) and recently started hearing about No Impact Man, and have read Fake Plastic Fish's blog. I think what them, and others like them do is so awesome and cool! I, unfortunately am not strong willed enough to do something hard core like what they have done but I figured I might try doing something along those lines for a shorter period of time. The month of January is my slow month before I start school again in February so I figured January would be a good time to try going no impact since I'll have more time to bake and prepair lunch, dinner, etc. I can't go completely no impact for a couple different reasons. I work 20 miles away so I can't walk or bike to work. I also know that I won't be able to completely eliminate waist and packaging (once again, not strong willed enough to go completely hard core) but I'm going to do my best to produce as little waist as possible. I'm also going to monitor/keep track of how much waist I do create. I don't expect doing things perfectly (like I think I did the first time I tried to "go green" and was let down when I failed at everything and sorta gave up). It's going to be more of a learning process. Finding ways to live better. Like, instead of using commercial shampoos I'm going to look into making all natural shampoos. I'm going to shop at bulk bin stores and see if it works out well. I'm going to attempt to try and make my own bread again and hopefully this time it will work, lol. My #1 goal is going to try and reduce as much plastic waist as possible since I despise plastic! We humans lived without plastic in the past so I know we can survive without it and I'm going to try my darnedest to do that!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

I think this poem, reading it at an early age, is what sparked the environmentalist inside me when I was young. In middle school I let that spark fade but now I'm letting it shine bright again

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

Shel Silverstein, 1974

Thursday, December 17, 2009

since I have nothing substanstial to write...

...I'll copy FakePlasticFish who posted this link about some realities about recycling...

http://www.blogher.com/recycling-answer-holiday-waste

This why, in the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", Recycle is at the end. Recycling may be a good alternative to going to the landfill but its not a perfect system. Its best to reduce our waist in the first place and try to reuse things. Try to buy stuff without packaging. Shop smart and consciously.

end of the year

Well, this semester is finally over so now it is all quite and peaceful for a while. A little more than a year ago I started my journey of sustainable living but only made to about 6 months in. There are still some things I do that are "sustainable" like always bringing my own coffee mug to star bucks but after the 1st 6 months I felt like a failure....Every loaf of home made bread I made was a disaster, I killed all my worms in my worm bin and I killed all the fruits and veggies I tried to grow. And after having many wonderful, successful trips to the farmers market I feared going back after eating califlower that was covered in bugs :/. But I think perhaps maybe I tried taking on too much new stuff all at once? Perhaps I should focus on one thing and not try to tackle a new thing until I conquer the 1st thing.

I have had a few things work out...I've started establishing contact with Tree People (an LA based organization that helps the community plant trees) I joined my schools environmental club and I held 2 showings of No Impact Man, which went pretty well. I also attended a convergence up at UC Santa Cruz held by California Student Sustainability Coalition and will be attending a leadership retreat of theirs in Jan.

I have all this stuff I want to do and accomplish but I feel like once school starts in Feb. my life will get hectic again and I'll go back to being too busy to do anything :/