Here We Go, Together.

1/8 You guessed it- week one of trash in a quart and I got a nasty cold... And, I learned something: sickness creates unwanted trash! Now my bag, at a week's end is stuffed with cough drop wrappers, Klenexes (which  I've learned perhaps can be composted), and medicine wrappers (also learned that medicine like alkaseltzer for cold doesn't even really work). I tried to accept the challenge with no tissues on day one of the cold by using an old sock (I don't have a hankie). That quickly became rather gross and so I gave into "America's leader in facial tissue softness".... Overall, I was thinking my baggie for a week was going pretty well. Everything besides flushed toilet paper and work trash (due to health department requirements I can't exactly be eco-friendly... but we'll see what more can be done on that note at a later time) was fitting into my bag. Then today I realized there has been a flaw in my plans. .. I live in a house with 9 other peo...

This Thanksgiving my friends and I gathered to eat a wonderful vegetarian meal. We began discussing very uplifting things such as wasting water, global warming, and trash. Someone referenced a story about  Plastic-Filled Albatrosses  (check out the link), and this really got me thinking about how much waste I produce and where it is going. So, out of these conversations and some more thinking I came up with a New Year's plan for myself. I will be putting all trash I accumulate over a week into a quart-sized zip-lock bag. That way, for one thing I can see what trash I use, and I can monitor, because I will only have limited space. Thursday, Jan.3 I began on Tuesday,and this has been more challenging than expected! I've been researching what can be recycled much more frequently... did you know that you can't recycle Dixie cups? I have candy from Christmas that I wouldn't normally have.. Candy is wrapped in plastic and foil that can't be recycled, but I have the cha...

Lately I've been thinking about separation. It began a while ago when I was watering our garden out back. I was using water from the rain water catchment and because we live in the desert and rain water doesn't come daily, or even monthly for that matter, I was much more careful. I paid close attention to where the hose was, how much water each plant got and that I sprinted back to the catchment when the watering was complete. And then I thought, why am I only acting this way with the rain water? If I were using water from a faucet, why would I be more likely to waste? It's not as if there is a limitless supply of water in the world. And then I realized that i's because perhaps when I turn on a faucet I don't SEE where the water is coming from, or SEE i being depleted. So, when I can't see the results of my actions or the source of my resources, it makes the usage less personal, and less important. Which is extremely unfortunate because the majority of our reso...