How many things do we really have control over?

We watched this video today in Anthropology, and I think it's really well done. And I think everyone should watch it. It's 20 minutes long, but it holds your attention well.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The Raw Deal

I just read this article on Glamour.com (I won't apologize for love glamour and visiting their website every day) and I just thought it was interesting. Enjoy.

Good Morning, Starshine, Good Day, Sunshine, Good Night, Moon

I just wanted to say that I just watched the documentary "No Impact Man" which you can all watch instantly on netflix, if you happen to have netflix, otherwise, please rent it and watch it, because it really is just so good. I can't say I love documentary's in general, but I have nothing against them existing. Sometimes I have an issue with the philosophy of the documentary, or the message, or if it's being to preachy, or if I feel they approached the object in the wrong way, but I had no such feelings about No Impact Man. It's about a family in New York City (mother, father, small daughter) trying to make no net impact on the environment for a year, and the steps they take, and the phases of the process they go through. The wife is kind of whiny sometimes, which can get a little annoying, but I appreciate so much how passionate the man, Colin Beavan, is about the project (it was his idea) and his enthusiasm to understand what he and others are doing to the planet, and what it's like to change, or adapt to different ways where there might not be such a negative effect on the planet.

What I like so much about about it is that it's not saying all of these shocking facts that are supposed to terrify you into be eco conscious, I believe watching this family's eco routine motivates and encourages me personally enough to do what I know I should be doing, or even showing me the alternatives that I may not have thought about before. He pinpoints classic cases of people being eco-light, and that would be thinking that recycling is the answer to everything, when it really is not. People feel okay about using plastic if they recycle it, but what many people don't know is that it degrades in quality after recycling it so many times, so really, it's better than throwing it away, but there are so many other alternatives, such as glass, which can be recycled forever without losing it's quality (and would also take 4000 years to break down in the environment if not recycled, so that's even more incentive to do it!) Many people recycle the wrong way, too, but that's a battle for another blog post. I also also appreciate about this movie is that it addresses the social stigma of being an "eco-nazi" and how it can negatively affect you socially, and how people view you. I consider myself to be mid-range eco friendly, which I would say means that I do better than some people, but really not as well as I should, or would even like to. I say this because, even with the way I live now, I feel pretty embarrassed sometimes about my efforts, or feel completely judged because of them. My roommate in particular has a special talent of making me feel stupid because I want to turn off the T.V. when we leave the room for two minutes, but it's important to me, and for that reason, I don't feel like I should have to feel bad about it. It's a negative attitude that discourages me because I do something that I know is the right thing to do. A friend of mine threw out a plastic bottle that still had liquid in it, and I felt like a complete ass fishing it out of the garbage and yelling at her for not dumping out the liquid and recycling it.

One last thing I will say, is that I know that I'm "liberal", and therefore tend to think differently than most "conservatives" about the merits of eco living, and I appreciate that people have different views on the subject, and I know there's a whole thing about recycling and whether it actually does make a difference, but could you give me a good reason to have every single light on in the house while you're sitting there, or even out for the evening? Or generating more garbage than is humanly necessary? Or taking the worlds longest shower? (I am so so guilty of this one, because I've always loved showers, and I'm cutting back on my time, but I'm still not perfect at all, let's be honest) Would you feed your body a high fat diet every single day, and justify it by saying that you eat a salad every once and awhile? (minimal earth friendly effort would be the "salad" in this scenario) I should hope not, and so don't do the same to the planet.

I'll get off of my soapbox now.

I just want to walk away

Edit!

I checked, and Stout takes their garbage to a composting facility. You're safe this time, Stout. You're safe this time.

Citing artistic differences the band broke up in May, and in June re-formed without me

I wish Stout would read this article.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/compostable-and-biodegradable-plastics-false-security.php

I was at the Pawn last night, and Mia got a bag for all of her things. I was offended that she got a plastic bag, but she needed it to carry everything. I said "well at least it's biodegradable." Then the guy behind the counter started to say stuff like "oh yeah, well all of our cups and utensils and stuff is biodegradable, too, so it's great, and you have nothing to worry about." I didn't want to get into a whole thing, because I really wanted to get my pint of Ben and Jerry's home and eat it, but doesn't he realize that effectively Stout's "green" initiatives aren't really doing anything at least in the dorms? I mean sure, they encourage people to use less energy, and turn off the lights and stuff, but when it comes down to it, they haven't made things like composting campus wide. If they're gonna be all into composting, they could at least do it right. If they were smart, they'd get a compost pile, and provide the dorms with biodegradable bags.

It could be worse, I could be alone

142. I recycled with NHS.

Even if you're not in NHS, you can recycle with them, and I kind of always wanted to, because I like recycling, and you get out of class, and I don't what it is, the recyclers always seemed cool for some reason. But it's hard, and the bin is really creaky, and you have to sort out all of the trash that might be in there, and you can't put the newspapers in there, because those get picked up separately, and it's just like distributing for newspaper, if you're not organized, you don't know where anyone has been. So, I don't think I will be doing it again unless they really need people, but now I know, right?

Go placidly amid the noise and haste

This one might seem very familiar, and it should. It's a slight variation on one of my previous new things.

107. I took a one minute shower.

You may remember 3 1/2 minute shower day, and think that this shouldn't count. But it most definitely does. It was so difficult, but I'm completely clean. I had to skip conditioner of course. My hair will be having a wack attack tomorrow, I'm sure. One minute was what I was trying to go for the first time. I honestly couldn't think of anything for today, because believe it or not, I DO have a list of ideas, but a lot of them required much more time and effort than I had to spare. I dare everyone to try and do the one minute shower. Maybe not before a hot date.

Re: Hurrah!!!

So, I didn't update yesterday because blogspot was being a buttface. So new thing yesterday:

16. Oct. 28: I read an article in Newsweek.

Now, I've never chosen to read an article, but I may have read one at some point for some class, without my knowledge. The article I read was about how living eco-friendly is starting to become so fashionable, it will start to be expensive. Not that it isn't already, but it will become even more expensive. The link the article.

Now the new thing I did today might seem like really lame and stupid, and an easy-way out, but I really wanted to do it:

17. Oct. 29: I visited mpr.org.

I've never used the site before, and I really liked it because it just had so much stuff that was accessable to me. I went on the site to mainly look for a podcast of an interview I had just missed with Seth Meyers. I got a text from Lizzie telling me about it, and I tuned in for literally the last ten seconds. No such luck in finding that interview. However, I have a new favorite website, because I love the classy websites of legit publications, such as bbc.co.uk.

So...I feel all newsy

Dukakis on Crime

So I was struck with a brilliant idea for my new thing today while I was on my home from seeing "W." (which I will post my review of later) and I got super jazzed about it:

9. I took a 3 1/2 minute shower.

Now, this may not seem that impressive, but let me tell you, I can take some long showers, meaning usually like 6 times as long. So, I did something that I didn't think I could do (that's always my excuse for not taking a shorter shower, because I simply 'can't do it') but it's also good to get in the habit of reducing my water usage. As green as I claim to be, I waste a lot of water, and don't really think twice about it. So, why can I stand to take a 20 minute shower every night, and still cringe when I throw a pop can in the trash? I had never really thought about it before.