I was restocking the silverware at work. We go through hundreds of plastic forks and spoons a day. At work, we also go through thousands of plastic straws that come in little plastic wrappers. Grab a yogurt in a plastic cup. Grab a plastic spoon. Grab a Vitamin Water in a plastic bottle, or maybe an iced coffee in a plastic up. When you are done, maybe you recycle. In my county, they accept plastics numbered 1, 2, 4 & 5. There are seven in total. Most places take less. In Alabama they only took 1 and 2. They also didn't do curbside pickup, so most people didn't even try to recycle. Don't just assume by putting it in recycling that it wont end up in a landfill somewhere. Make sure you check what your county is able to recycle and stop buying plastics as much as possible. Plastic is made with such a strong chemical composition that it doesn't break down, and therefore, is non biodegradable. It doesn't go away. It might break down into smaller and smaller fragments, but it's still there. There is a good documentary about plastic that is on Netflix, called Plastic Paradise. I encourage you to look up information on your own. But if you are the kind of person who likes to eat out a lot then there are lots of ways to stop using needless plastic. Bring your own beverage and food containers. There are bamboo utensil sets out there that you can buy. There are also glass straws. I'm getting wooden case for mine, because I don't necessarily trust that it's "unbreakable". So there are ways to avoid it. It just takes a bit of conscientiousness. Seeing that I am broke, my first step towards a plastic free existence was purchasing one of those glass straws. We will see how that goes. If it actually lasts over time. Until then I'm just trying to use as little plastic as possible. I didn't buy shampoo the other day because I'm going to order a bar shampoo instead of buying the plastic bottles full.
trying something new,
Mav
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Catch Up, Butter Cup
I made some cockamamie personal goal to try and blog at least once a week, and I figured since I already missed some months that I might as well get started, but actually after this post, I'm going to be focusing on PLASTIC. More specifically, I am trying to cut out plastics. I, of course, will continue to try and get the most use out of all the plastic items I already own, but I am not going to be buying any more. So enjoy this little chat (it's probably a bit all over the place and maybe even a touch confusing) and hopefully you'll stick around for my new self challenge!
I found a job, but the hours are pretty crappy and it's on the other side of town, so I'm still looking. In the meantime...
I sent in some poems to a couple of magazines here, but they both turned me down. One encouraged me to send in more poetry in the future. So that's not so terrible, I suppose.
I've been watching a lot of Doomsday Preppers. I have always had a personal goal of being as self sustaining as possible. And this show is basically about how to live without. I enjoy gathering ideas of how to cut costs and energy usage and it can be really quite ingenious actually.
I've been thinking a lot about being free and what it actually means to be free. Free of mind. Free of need. Free to do what I want with my time. ALL of my time. Not my free time. Not my off time. The whole of my time. There's this whole notion that buzzes around that we are free, but we are born into a expected way to be and live. I was born in America, but I don't claim to be an American. Personally, I don't claim any of the citizenships. Why can't I be sans citizenship? A child of Earth.
(Turns out you can renounce your citizenship, but it can cost upwards of $2500 to do it.)
But I kept that job and it's not so terrible. Our car broke down so I've been riding the bus a lot more. Which is cool because it's good for environments. I want to get a bicycle to ride soon and we are looking for a more reliable vehicle. I have access to free soda and coffee and good soup and salad, homegrown and local at work so I'm pretty cool with it, even if I work with some characters.
I was having my pre-work bowl of soup when one of the students comes over and just sits down with me. I was confused but let it go. He begins to speak with me and he finds out, eventually, that I have an English degree. He then proceeds to tell me that I should teach English in another country. I tell him I have no desire to teach English.
"But you're young," he says.
"I know."
"You should travel while you are young and see the world. Wouldn't you want to travel?"
"Actually, I've traveled a number of places and have no intention of ever stopping. I even moved myself out here because I wanted to. No one made me."
"Oh wow, I did not expect that."
(Why?)
"Well you want a job."
"I have a job."
"Here?" Motions to the coffee bar.
"Yes."
"Is this really what you went to school for?"
"I went to school to learn about myself and the world, to grow and expand as an individual. Maybe I didn't know it at the time, but it's clear to me now. I did not go to school for a job, just like i didn't go to school to get married."
There is a moment of silence and he says, "Well, you want money, and a job where you can make lots of money."
"No. Money is bullshit. It's just a made up concept that keeps the greedy in power."
Silence.
"Well, I have to go to work," I say, "see you."
It's ridiculous how we talk about tigers hunting and killing people in the wild. The going theory is that they developed a taste for human flesh when eating tsunami victims. How about humans just became the most abundant food source for them and they are adapting for survival. We are not an apex predator and we underestimate the rest of the world. We are pushing the rest of our planet into survival situations. Are we surprised to see a change in behavior? The same goes for humans themselves. All the alien intervention theories about how it couldn't have possibly be us. Why not? Do we not think ourselves capable of such feats. Also, just because there isn't a lot of record of what happened doesn't mean that what you find is all there is. Keep an open mind in all aspects and notions of what and who these people were. And now we are doing really amazing things, and we say, "It sounds like it's science fiction." Are we still so surprised that amazing things are possible? People are afraid of amazing things because they can be unpredictable.
If you listen to a lot of music, you can tell we come from a complicated and fucked up world. Most of the fucked up stuff comes from humanity's own journey to figure itself out and find peace. It's that universal constant of growth, change and discovery. And that shows in our music. Just as it shows everywhere. But we are also going through a global change in consciousness. It's difficult and fraught with peril and... we are struggling. Songs like Uprising by Muse, speak clearly to some of these challenges.
I found a job, but the hours are pretty crappy and it's on the other side of town, so I'm still looking. In the meantime...
I sent in some poems to a couple of magazines here, but they both turned me down. One encouraged me to send in more poetry in the future. So that's not so terrible, I suppose.
I've been watching a lot of Doomsday Preppers. I have always had a personal goal of being as self sustaining as possible. And this show is basically about how to live without. I enjoy gathering ideas of how to cut costs and energy usage and it can be really quite ingenious actually.
I've been thinking a lot about being free and what it actually means to be free. Free of mind. Free of need. Free to do what I want with my time. ALL of my time. Not my free time. Not my off time. The whole of my time. There's this whole notion that buzzes around that we are free, but we are born into a expected way to be and live. I was born in America, but I don't claim to be an American. Personally, I don't claim any of the citizenships. Why can't I be sans citizenship? A child of Earth.
(Turns out you can renounce your citizenship, but it can cost upwards of $2500 to do it.)
But I kept that job and it's not so terrible. Our car broke down so I've been riding the bus a lot more. Which is cool because it's good for environments. I want to get a bicycle to ride soon and we are looking for a more reliable vehicle. I have access to free soda and coffee and good soup and salad, homegrown and local at work so I'm pretty cool with it, even if I work with some characters.
I was having my pre-work bowl of soup when one of the students comes over and just sits down with me. I was confused but let it go. He begins to speak with me and he finds out, eventually, that I have an English degree. He then proceeds to tell me that I should teach English in another country. I tell him I have no desire to teach English.
"But you're young," he says.
"I know."
"You should travel while you are young and see the world. Wouldn't you want to travel?"
"Actually, I've traveled a number of places and have no intention of ever stopping. I even moved myself out here because I wanted to. No one made me."
"Oh wow, I did not expect that."
(Why?)
"Well you want a job."
"I have a job."
"Here?" Motions to the coffee bar.
"Yes."
"Is this really what you went to school for?"
"I went to school to learn about myself and the world, to grow and expand as an individual. Maybe I didn't know it at the time, but it's clear to me now. I did not go to school for a job, just like i didn't go to school to get married."
There is a moment of silence and he says, "Well, you want money, and a job where you can make lots of money."
"No. Money is bullshit. It's just a made up concept that keeps the greedy in power."
Silence.
"Well, I have to go to work," I say, "see you."
It's ridiculous how we talk about tigers hunting and killing people in the wild. The going theory is that they developed a taste for human flesh when eating tsunami victims. How about humans just became the most abundant food source for them and they are adapting for survival. We are not an apex predator and we underestimate the rest of the world. We are pushing the rest of our planet into survival situations. Are we surprised to see a change in behavior? The same goes for humans themselves. All the alien intervention theories about how it couldn't have possibly be us. Why not? Do we not think ourselves capable of such feats. Also, just because there isn't a lot of record of what happened doesn't mean that what you find is all there is. Keep an open mind in all aspects and notions of what and who these people were. And now we are doing really amazing things, and we say, "It sounds like it's science fiction." Are we still so surprised that amazing things are possible? People are afraid of amazing things because they can be unpredictable.
If you listen to a lot of music, you can tell we come from a complicated and fucked up world. Most of the fucked up stuff comes from humanity's own journey to figure itself out and find peace. It's that universal constant of growth, change and discovery. And that shows in our music. Just as it shows everywhere. But we are also going through a global change in consciousness. It's difficult and fraught with peril and... we are struggling. Songs like Uprising by Muse, speak clearly to some of these challenges.
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