Just wanted to say...

Participated in a podcast on Social Environmentalism and thought I'd share.

Click Me ;)

Feel free to comment questions, comments or ideas. I'd love to hear.



Mav

Are feet shoes?

I'm watching a documentary, A Year On The Ice and this is a scene where this seal pup accidentally wanders into this science camp because it got lost on the ice and they won't help it find the sea again. I think it's bullshit how people say, "we aren't allowed to interfere with the wildlife, we have to let nature take its course." Look at it this way, we are all a part of nature. This other species is in distress and is calling for help. We are a capable, intelligent species with the means to help this creature. Interfering would be killing or disrupting mating or feeding. This is different, this is an individual looking for a chance at survival and we think we are outside this and we have to let them die on the ice. I say no! This is not the only option! In fact, it's cruel and counter-intuitive. Why do you think we have that gut reaction to help? Why do we stop ourselves from showing compassion to other species in the name of science?


Mav

Humanicide- n. "The inevitable extinction of humanity because of human nature."

Seems a symptom of a highly developed intelligence is a massive god complex.  We think we are so entitled.  It's our "rite" to have children.  It's our "rite" to use up the earth.  It's our "rite" to slay others in the name of gods that we can't even prove are real.  We still live in the same world that was survival of the fittest.  We are still playing that game.  We will ALWAYS be playing that game.  We are not better than our environment, nor are we outside of it. People think back on evolution and only see the short game because hindsight is 20/20 and we have a lot of the information from a span over millions of years. And we think we've beaten it from having  been here a few thousand years....But evolution, time, nature, life, existence is only a long game.  Survival of the fittest does not just mean having enough babies to survive.  It means finding your balance with the world, with nature.  Our race will die.  Our culture will end.  It is completely inevitable.  We are already fucked.  We will fall because we refuse to find our place in nature.  We continue to believe ourselves better than. We have gotten to where we are because of our highly adapted brains.  We have gotten that through the ages of slowly adapting to better survive. But there must always be balance. Now, I fear we have caused too much damage too quickly and are working (in terribly too small groups) too slowly on righting the problem.

Or maybe the real problem isn't the majority, ninety-some percent, but the minority, greedy, power holders who benefit so much from the destruction of everything we have come to know. It feels hopeless. We have been hounded and brainwashed and critiqued and judged and condemned and told how to live our lives every second of every day as soon as we pop out of our mothers. Oftentimes, it's even sooner than that. The government is using us. We are their slaves. We are forced into this society, this capitalism, religion, racism, ethnocentrism, patriotism; on penalties of death, imprisonment, "re"claiming of all property, exile, public isolationism and separation from family. Wanting to live life in some other way is not allowed. Since when is there a handbook on the way to live your individual life? I had no idea that all humans were so simple that we all fell into the same philosophical and intellectual/mental and physical mold; or that we were so dumb that when left on our own we weren't able to survive by our own organic methods. When is enough enough? I'm done listening to what everyone tells me I'm supposed to do. I refuse to be a slave forever. Do you?


Mav

questions

I am sad for no good reason. I miss my boyfriend, even though he is asleep in the next room. I don't know what I'm good at. I don't know if what I'm good at even matters.  I feel trapped by things I have no control over, like politics and society.  I'm forced to pay the price for my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents (etc) choices. I don't understand how people think. I don't understand why people allow things inside of our social structure to happen. Why do we view each other based on country? Are we not all children of the same planet? Why do we view each other based on gender? Should not love and self expression be a completely free idea? I don't understand a lack of empathy. In every situation, EVERY ONE, is it not an evolutionary enhancement to be able to see things, no matter what those things are, from the others perspective? 

At work today, we were having cowboy day and this guy (the one guy in our group who I guess has pretty heavy Native American heritage, and they are always making jokes about him drinking and whatnot and he makes them too.  I am one quarter Cherokee.  Maybe it's not half or more, but I'm still proud, so anyway this guy I just told you about...) says, "Well I'm gonna bring my tomahawk since there's gonna be cowboys." And I didn't know how to feel really, but I found myself offended that that is where he went.  Native Americans of all different tribes and locations have rich, wonderful traditions and history. No one is denying that they shed blood (I dare you to name a "race" that never has), but it's a very narrow-minded stereotype to represent them with merely tomahawks. Not to mention that this guy will probably run around like he's scalping people.  

Just to throw it out there, you can be racist against someone of your own "race". Anyone who gives you the whole, "Oh, I can't be racist against <insert race here>, because I am <insert same race>," is full of so much shit that they should be used for fertilizer.  That's the whole point! It's so stupid, that there are no rules of engagement. If all is fair in love and war, then I'd call racism a a kind of socio-verbal war. It acts upon the masses to convey general ideas and perception of different groups of individuals based upon propaganda spread by those on top to keep the masses muddled in their own misconceptions so that they can't see the true injustices that are being done in the world. (It's in the book.) Maybe it's not so conspiracy theory as all that, but all of that does come into play. 

We act as if we were born into a world that has these laws of survival written down somewhere never to be changed again. We so easily forget that we, the humans of earth, so long ago that it almost doesn't even feel like us anymore, we made all this shit up. We are the ones who decided race was a thing.  We are the ones who chose to listen to a far away possibly nonexistent god or gods.  We are the ones who decided money even was.  Now, we need to remember who we are, and look again and allow those things to change. For us. For our now and future. 

Which is where I get lost again.  Why do so many agree with me, but so few speak out? As a society, we are ruled by outliers.  Why is that? 

Now how do I turn this into a sustainable future?

Mav

PS: broke my phone. again. 

I don't have a good title. How's that?

I ordered a shampoo bar that comes in a paper wrapping.  I got J. R. Liggett's.  It's about 3.5 oz and about 1.5 x 2 inches big.  I go out of my way to avoid the plastic and it comes in a square foot cardboard box with a sheet sized cardboard that has the tiny little shampoo bar on it and it's completely wrapped in plastic -_- 

Plastic. It is inescapable.  I'll be trying it soon. Maybe tomorrow.  Laid up with bronchitis right now. 

But this shampoo bar is all natural.  Made with tea tree oil and hemp and almond oil. I'm excited about it. 

Sickly,

Mav

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. 

Open-Spirited, Free-Minded People

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

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.