Air. I look around at the pollution we've created in the last 100 years when the earth has been around for so long. I feel uncomfortable thinking about how much damage we've done in just a few short years. The inversion is such a reminder of this.
Water. My shower is very, very hot and has pretty good pressure. I can be in it for as long as I'd like, EVERYDAY, maybe even twice a day. My kids bathe in a tub full of water and then it all goes down the drain instead of somewhere else it could be used. Not to mention all the laundry I do. Wear and wash, wear and wash. There's no conserving at all.
Trees. I throw away so much paper in the form of unwanted mail, ads, homework, etc. It doesn't go away. There are always papers to be dealt with.
Land. We consume and produce so much garbage. I cringe at my garbage can and feel guilty thinking about where it's going.
Energy. How often does something get left on? All the time. Everything plugged in, sometimes running all day and all night.
Gas. During the winter, it's easy to turn up the needle so the house is toasty warm and we're all taking off our socks and walking around in t-shirts. It can be on all day and all night.
My consumption and wastefulness seems endless. (We actually don't do all of the above to the extent you might be thinking but I'm wanting to make a point.)
The recession is rough. Lately all I read about is the number of jobs lost today. And about people desperately giving up and doing the worst possible things to themselves and others.
But, there is a part of me that feels like going through this is exactly what we need to jolt us from our consuming selves, our constantly working selves, cashing our paychecks , and buying stuff and our constant need for entertainment and living it up.
Is it so bad to stay at home and have a simple meal and then just hang out? Is it so bad to not have the latest and the coolest fad? Would it hurt me to re wear our clothes and cut back on being on the internet? Would it hurt me if there was less of everything including department stores, less hours that people are at work and therefore not be able to buy something whenever I want?
Life would be simpler, life would be less complicated, life would be less competitive, life would be at home more and together more.
Todays news reads "The U.S. Postal Service may be forced to eliminate a day of mail service because the economic downturn has led to plummeting volume and revenue, the postmaster general said Wednesday." http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/28/news/economy/postal_service/index.htm?postversion=2009012820
The post office open one less day...... I think that is positive not negative. Less garbage, less emissions, yes less money, but hey more time at home with the family. Isn't that more important?
Call me naive. Call me ignorant. Tell me I'm asking for it and I have no idea. I'd rather you not and ask that we all think about some of the positives of this hard time.
8 comments:
I was going to write that I really liked this blog post as well as your new layout, but then I saw that you don't link your own bro-in-law on your blog list and so I decided that I don't like your blog anymore.
JK. I think it's important in times like these to use them to figure out how we can save and conserve more, so that when things go back to normal we come back with better habits.
Thanks for hurting my feelings though.
I actually thought about our conversation we had on European lifestyle when I was writing this and thought it was a move towards that with the post office possibly closing for another day during the week.
"I was going to write that I really liked this blog post as well as your new layout, but then I saw that you don't link your own bro-in-law on your blog list and so I decided that I don't like your blog anymore....Thanks for hurting my feelings though."
I actually do believe your hurt. It's sort of funny and sad. I guess I don't hate you anymore. JK. Did you notice I took off grandmas and our family site and angela's as well. I'm actually just seperating the family in hopes to keep my identity from weirdos out there.
I definitely agree that it would be better to live more simply. It bothers me when I see stores and drive-through restaurants open later and think someone has to be working so other people can be irresponsible. Money is everyone's bottom line. And I also can't stand being wasteful. But I don't worry so much about water, I guess first because my kids shower instead of bathe and usually with me or Carson (no, my 7-year old does not shower with me!) and also because it does get treated and recycled, in a way. And don't you have recycling? It seems that so many things are recyclable these days that I don't have much garbage. But then again, we kind of live in the recycling capital of the world.
You know I was looking at the inversion the other day and I realized that even 10 years ago it wasn't like this at all. Somedays I think about moving to a simpler lifestyle but I would have to live near a Target! :)
Nice post. The waste really bothers me in totally unnecessary things like junk mail and extra packaging.
I was amazed and frankly disappointed when we visited UT last week to see that not a single person I knew recycled and not because it isn't available, but because it costs money ($10/ month). We recycle far more than we send to the landfill. I felt guilty everytime I tossed something recyclable into the trash. We're trying hard here to live a more responsible life, walking instead of driving, CFL's instead of incandescent, a lower thermostat setting, etc. The thing about it is, I don't necessarily love doing all those things, like the lightbulbs, or having to wear socks and a sweater all the time, but I know that it is the responsible thing to do and what my kids need to learn & see as a way of life. The one that I find the hardest to change is the shorter showers - seriously not something I am ready to give up yet. :) I love that you are thinking about our impact and what we can do individually to make a difference.
All good things to think about. The fist step in making it better is just acknowledging it, so you are on the right track. Does Sandy not do recycling? One trick I have learned is to unplug everything I can...did you know things use up power, even if they aren't turned on? I agree with you on it not being that bad if there are fewer stores, we have too many as it is and you are right - all those things distract us from what is really important. I hope that as a country we can learn from this and do better in the future.
We do recycle here. But still I cringe to think about all the garbage that goes to the land fill. I've heard plastic bottles and diapers and high up there.
Kristen, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only nut that does that. I started doing that after we got our radon mitigation system in to see if the vacuum was increasing our electric bill and when the electric bill came back really cheap, I was hooked and kept unplugging.
I'd like to move to getting our own bags for the grocery store so we don't have to get the plastic one. Grocery stores should offer you first few free since it would be saving them money in the long run.
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