You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘experience’ tag.
You may think that I am an anthropomorphizing fool. I don’t care.
I want you to think of Elena Tonra’s words coming from the point of view of a product you consume, perhaps an electronic device. I envision my computer singing the words of this song. How when I am finished with it, will it end up in a landfill? Will I dispose of it so easily and carelessly? Am I not in some way married to it? Am I required to have its use necessary for me to finish my schooling? To finish this project? To blog this to you now?
Yet it is so easy for me to forget, now. Possibly I’ll just leave it at a train station one day. Because of this class, because of this project, I am more aware of the natural world and the perceived dependence for survival with technology, with consuming. My computer is not trash. It is a resource, and one that I intend to make long-lasting.
I will not throw you in the landfill.
“This is torturous.”
This is Trashy.
Be excited. This post contains two trashy webcam pictures.
For this week, this is the amount of trash I have created. I feel sad about it…because…this was completely my intention. I refuse to not wear contacts, and this plastic seal was from my purchase of saline solution. So anti-climactic, I know…
But, here we are! Tomorrow, we will be at the end my 30 day minimum for this trashy project of mine. It was phenomenal, but is surely not the end. For your joy (and mine even more) I will continue to post weekly for some unknown duration. This has been such a journey, such an adventure.
On this day of near nostalgia, let me provide you with an understanding. Of how, through all the days we live in a capitalistic and consumeristic society, we are pressured into consuming. We consume and this becomes trash. I’m not proclaiming that consumption is trashy. It’s just that the way in which our products are available to us is trashy. We consume and that becomes trashy.
I chose this idea as my project because I wanted to do something. I wanted to do something which I could do. I wanted to show people that it is possible to not be trashy. It is possible to not feel like trash. And for me, I do feel less trashy. I am, have been, and will continue to be, less trashy. The way we, as a society, package products needs to change. The way we position, all alone, trash bins, with no other form of disposal nearby, needs to change. We need to change. We need to change?
This is the amount of trash I have produced during my 30 days. What you are not seeing is the amount produced from products I purchased from before my 30 days. You are not seeing the amount I have recycled. You are not seeing the amount I have composted. And thank goodness, you are not seeing the amount of toilet paper I have used…
This all took planning. As I write this today from out-of-town, I had to plan my traveling. I had to plan to not stop for food or drink packaged in single-use materials. I had to plan to take my own container for composting. I had to plan for recycling. I had to plan for not being rude. Not everyone can do everything all the time. This is why I share with you my trash. This is less, and this is doable.
And this is still Trashy.
Everyone in my immediate family has at least one tattoo. When I turned 18, it was expected that I would also get one, but I had never been crazy enough about any particular design to get one permanently inked into my skin… until the fall of 2009. While looking at a display of Celtic jewelry at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, I came across a tree of life. I became enchanted with this symbol which communicated the interconnectedness of all living things, and began sketching my own version of the tree because I knew that I had finally found something worthy of a tattoo.
The tree of life describes so much of what I value as a person, but unfortunately a tattoo on my back is not enough to keep me from getting caught up in the daily races and occasionally forgetting my place in the grand scheme of things. It’s so easy to get lost in all the noise. I want to live quietly: I want to be less offensive, selfish, and obnoxious. I want to live more peacefully, simply, patiently, and deliberately. Therefore, I will be walking my talk this month by taking time every day to meditate. I’ve already started to practice clearing my mind by doing this inside, but next week I will be moving out of doors so that I can more easily reflect upon my place in the natural world. Awareness and appreciation are the first steps in acting responsibly toward the environment and my fellow living beings, right?
If nothing else, at least Neil deGrasse Tyson also likes being connected.
[Explicit Vid]
I consume trash. I am trash. I am trash.
This project of mine is Trashy. For it, I will be walking my talk, living my life with the image of being waste free. Ideally, the only ends for my product consumption will be through composting and recycling. Of course, there will be situations in which I can not, or will not, be able to do so, but we can talk about those during the following weeks, when I encounter them. For now, this is just an introduction to my latest adventure.
Our American society, capitalistic and consumeristic, is far too wasteful. In 2010, according the US EPA, 54.3% of municipal solid waste, our trash, was “discarded.” The recycling rate, being 34.0%, was the highest of any year. Still, about three quarters of the materials reported as discarded are those which could be recycled – paper, food scraps, yard trimmings, metal, and glass. More so, the material I discard most, is plastic. The non-recyclable kinds I find which I consume during my everyday life, come from product packaging: that stretch you fight to get at your new AA batteries, the lining of your favorite cereal, the individual sandwich bag, and so much more.
There is so much more to plastics. I feel bad, but this project is just one step in bettering my life with the environment. I am including plastic in my life, but only those which are long-lasting, reusable, or labeled as recyclable. And even though the chasing arrows symbol represents recyclable material, I know that’s not always the case, as many of those recyclable plastics are used to create non-recyclable plastics. To this, I take my trashy lens off. I will see the symbol as recyclable, and maybe later on, I will make this next step. Someone who has made this step, and who has helped me prepare for the weeks to come, is Beth Terry. The information she presents has been very helpful and inspirational. Links below.
This is Trashy.
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw_2010_factsheet.pdf
When I started this project I never realized how much I would re-learn. When I mean re-learn I just realize just a couple of days ago that I actually had forgotten some things I used to do before I came to college and somehow I lost along the way. Then re-learn because I had to learn how to brush my teeth and turning of the water, or take shorter showers. This also helped me spread the word to other people such as friends and family regarding what I was going and why I was doing it. I also think that just because the project is over does not mean I will stop and go back to my old ways. At least I want to believe and try that I will continue to be cautious regarding my usage as well knowing that I can live without eating meat 2-4 days out of a week, plus greens are good!
As far as the ovo-lacto vegetarian goes, I am please to say that it brought me back to what I used to do before I got to college. What I mean is that before college, I would not eat so many process foods or even can foods, i would normally eat fresh food. When I say fresh not always organic but not canned. I would also not eat out as much if I did it would be on the weekends on Sundays as a treat and only 1 meal. How did being an ovo-lacto vegetarian help me do that? Well to start of I wanted to eat healthier than what I had been, and I knew that most of the foods I had were meat related microwaveable meals. Excuse was no time to cook, or too tired to cook. As well as the cheap the better since I am poor. So when meat was cut off from my diet 3 days out of the week I had to re-invent my meals. I found it a bit hard to find microwaveable meals that did not contain meat, or in other words that were fresh and healthy. So I actually had plan my meals, and most of the recipes where ones I learn from home and they all require fresh ingredients, even if some people substitute it with other non fresh ingredients. That forced me in a way to buy only what I needed for that particular dish and probably 10 time healthier than a Banquet TV dinner plus I had left overs!
As far as dinero ($) having a plan of my week meals helped me not to buy out of the list items like chips, juice, cookies and well junk food saving me money! plus having left overs helps because I would not always have to cook the next day unless I wanted something different then I would just save the left overs for another day.
Another perk is that I have lost some weight, and that’s because I actually get full with a meal instead of having to eat 2 TV dinners. I also feel healthier even if I have been getting sick lately… I think is for the lack of sleep not nutrients though… but Its the end of the semester and I am always sick toward the end… but over all I have also worked out, and when I walk I don’t feel like I am about to die! So Woohoo!! Plus when I don’t buy my TV dinner is less cardboard
Water usage… I have cut down a lot of my water usage, my showers have been cut down to 12 minutes and if i’m not too dirty 9! If I don’t shave then 5 minutes. Over all m usage of water has lowererd and I’m happy for that. I no longer wash my dishes by hand since my roommate prefferse to do it plus according to this article a dishwasher is better than hand-washing: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/dishwasher_vs_h.php
Electricity usage: This last bill was $65.52! so if you remember from $138.65 to $81.03 and now to $65.52 15.51 was saved from the last bill to this new one. Over all savings have been $73.13 so I think that says pretty much everything. I won’t deny it’s been hard at times, because unplugging everything can be frustrating in the beginning but after a while its just part of your daily routine.
Recycling: I never thought that most of our trash was made up of cardboard, paper, and plastic. As I mention before before we took out 4 trash bags of more if we had extra people over, but now since we recycle we only take out 1 trash bag a week or 2 if other people are over, or my roommate eats out then we have extra trash… Eating out and having left overs make a lot of trash… never thought about it before but they just take so much room… and most of the containers can’t really be recycled… but over all thanks to recycling our trash has been cut down more than 50%. This I should have known because I used to do this all the time in California, but when I moved to KS in 2002 somehow it just diapered… or in other words its easier to be lazy and just do one movement instead of two… that should not be so!
Over all this project made me happy, it made me realized what I was missing and it makes me crave healthy food! I will be going to the farmers makerket this saturday!! I can’t wait I love food, and when its fresh and good for you even more!
I have to give thanks to Dr. Carroll for giving us this opportunity because I believe we all learned so much not only new information but we learn new things about ourself, and I know we will all take something with us from this projects. I am not looking forward to having my own garden of fruits and vegis, and just eating more healthy and in hopes that some people might also get motivated to be more green and diminish their foot print on earth.
Also Fox has some good ideas that we can all try, please take a look:
Also if you are intresting in doing something good this can help you start that project:
http://www.dosomething.org/dosomething101/home
Also you can enter to win the Green home from HGTV, the car you can sell since its an SUV. But how cool is it to have such a green home, and be close to shops and all you need in walking distance! At least thats what they said.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-green-home-2010-giveaway-enter/package/index.html
P.S
As I said this is the end to a new beginning! I hope its the same to all of you. 
Here is my presentation board.
It pretty much has the information that is provided here in my blog, just more colorful:
Just for a quick disclaimer, I have tried to post this a million times and I’m pretty sure its to no avail. If it has already been posted I’m sorry .
Before this class I have honestly never thought about what it is to truly be environmentally friendly. In all actuality I never even took the time to consider what it meant to be environmentally friendly. However the readings we have done made me realize that the reason that most people are not more environmentally responsible is because they are not environmentally conscious.
As of now it seems we are all stuck in the mentality that what matters is the fact that we make it to work on time, get the house clean, make it to class, put on our socially acceptable attire and pick up our under-paid paycheck with a smile. I believe that we are not conscious to the damage we are doing to the earth because we simply are not conscious.
I know that I for one have been in this lifestyle for years. I go through the motions of my day as opposed to experiencing my day. If I were to take the time to focus on who I am, where I came from, where what I’m eating came from maybe I would begin to enjoy what I do on this earth instead of taking it as a chore. I believe that if I were to meditate for an hour or two a day I would have time to reflect on my life thus far, and perhaps even have better hope for the future.
I researched exactly how to go about meditating and throughout the various websites I browsed I found that no one really has that answer. Several insist that prayer is the way to go, others find serenity in nature, some use cd’s but the way that intrigued me the most was from the people who said that they can meditate at work, over lunch break or even while driving. Of course I am not going to attempt to reach a meditation zone-out while driving, but that is the level I hope to get to. I am willing to try ever technique possible to achieve this peaceful state.
I am going to attack this in at least four stages. First I am going to try to become more in-tune with my body. So far I have found sites that say Yoga will bring on a more self-aware meditative state, but I’m hoping to find something a little less mainstream. My second focus will be becoming more aware of the natural environment. So far I found several ways to do this, some say just focusing for a few minutes on where what you’re eating comes from and others go out and meditate in the elements. I may try them both. My third project will be meditating to better understand my own mind. Sounds weird to me still but most of the articles that I’ve read about the subject says that I need almost have a conversation with myself after reaching a meditative state, and I think that will be interesting. My fourth and last focus (for now at least) will be the soul. I am honestly nothing near religious (although I was in a Catholic school for most of my life) but I think it’s important to realize that there is more to us then just flesh just as I believe there has to be more to the earth than oil.
I believe that my greatest difficulty to achieving my goal will be being able to clear my mind, let alone find the time to do so. I can’t remember the last time I was able to sit and just be. I’m very excited for the opportunity that maybe one day I will be able to do so. I believe that by meditating I will open myself up to realize what I could do for the earth as opposed to what I can achieve economically while I am here, or at least that is my goal.
