I'm not generally one for lists of New Year's resolutions-it seems to be the same list year after year for me. (I am painfully aware that I need to eat healthier, exercise more, keep in better contact with my family & save money) This year I have decided to focus on the smaller steps that add up to grand results. One major point of focus this year will be to create less mindless trash by switching to more reusable products. Now, mind you, I have a true disdain for preaching-just feel so tickled by a few wonderful products and ideas that I have found in my travels that I want to share. (Reviving Show & Tell one rant at a time.)
Oil Cloth Market Tote & Reusable Sandwich/Snack Bags
found on Etsy
Glass Nail File
no more wasted emery boards!
TerraDent Toothbrush
by ECODENT Premium Oral Care
A fabulous friend of mine Eva is creating fun jewelry & accessories made from recycled and upcycled materials. (Her Porn Star earrings are quite naughty but not too vulgar-they are made from recycled porn magazines.) She sells through MySpace RECYCLED BY EVA and also Etsy MINDLIKEWATER
I was so shocked when I first moved out to the desert by the lack of recycling. I called Las Cruces, New Mexico home for about 9 months (quite a shift from Oakland,CA!!!) My time there made me realize just how lucky I had been in the Bay Area to have so many green resources available to me. I realize that I am walking a very fine line here between crunchy and conscientious. (I'm afraid I must admit to a profound dislike of Birkenstocks-eew! Patchouli, & The Grateful Dead-sorry if I've offended!) Separating my plastics, the green from the brown glass and the newsprint (remember newsprint!?!) from the other papers had become such a routine part of my daily existence that I nearly panicked-that took years of training!
I spent my childhood in Marin County & San Francisco in the 1970's so I've definitely been involved in my share of earth centric activities. I've found that much of what I grew up assuming was normal (i.e being brought, by my mother, to a psychic on my eighteenth birthday to have my charts done...) will raise a mocking eyebrow in other parts of the country. I've been known to snicker & snub on occasion but I'm so grateful to have been exposed to so many diverse and sometimes unconventional things growing up.
I was really fortunate to have access to MANY wonderful natural areas in the Bay Area. The natural diversity of California has always awed me. One can travel less than 5 hours in any direction and see something totally different than other locations. (If the traveled direction happens to be West-a boat will be required!?!)
The ocean factored greatly into my childhood...salty afternoons picking up agates & shells with my mother-our feet sinking into the frozen surf soaked sand and foam. Sand flies would scatter as serpentine bull kelp was disturbed from it's half buried state. (Always reminded me of a sea monster of sorts with it's long smooth tail & bulbous head...But, I think every kid thought this...)
The many wooded areas close by also afforded me a great appreciation for the outdoors. There was always some natural excursion set up by the Parks & Recreation Department to keep the kids learning & out of trouble. (Mostly...)
I loved creek stomps through the woods-tennis shoes squishing as we explored single file the length of a winding waterway. The stiff cuffs of my wet 1970's cords, the sought after crawdad, the dreaded banana slug and the smell of wet bay leaves and damp. We played capture the flag in a park thick with redwood trees-this created GREAT opportunity to be stealthy. I never liked the cut throat elementary school P.E. experience-too many ways to expose every personal weakness (I was a dreamer) But, the capture the flag games have left such amazing memories...
Ah, the beauty of the Natural World! I could ramble on for hours...
There was a landfill in San Rafael, CA that I used to visit with my father. He was a general contractor so there was always something monumental to haul away-cracked drywall with its chalky interior exposed, an odd end of plumbing pipe oozing grey slime...(I can still smell that strange rotted matter-petroleum tinged odor unique to plumbing projects!) He would begin to back the truck up-slowly-as I would guide him with hand signals to stop just short of the perilous concrete drop off. We would then begin the process of sending the junk & yard debris plummeting from the bed of the Ford to meet its demise at the bottom of the pit. (I remember that glass xmas tree ornaments were kinda fun to throw in! Quite dramatic when they land! What is wrong with me?!? Good Lord!) I enjoyed perusing the treasures that the men at the dump would rescue from the bulldozer. I would wander through appliances-that with just a small tweak would continue to toast, wash or bake a cake. These were useful things, I assume, chucked in only to make room for a bigger shinier model...
Although, the trips to The Dump with my father have left fond memories-I see the larger picture now. It was the bonding (and the lollipop that the lady in the booth would give me) not the landfill that I will hold in my heart!
Unfortunately, I grew up with 'disposable' items/products as the norm in our household. I'm not sure when it was that we fully embraced this 'use it once' mentality-I suspect that it was sometime in the 1980's! I do remember a time, much earlier, when we would bring our various household necessities to a small crowded shop called Mr Fix It-I won't forget.
The bottom line is that I don't want my practices to contribute to the destruction of our natural resources. Step by little step-rewriting the script to better my existence.
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