One Month of Garbage Weight Watchers
Jane and I have survived one month of garbage prudence. Two months to go! Already our small bag of garbage is half full. The culprit? The plastic lining of the large cat food bag, as anticipated. The rest? Crinkly plastic protectors around bottles, plastic tabs for the almond milk and in a brain dead moment, the packaging of sustainably caught smoked salmon. I was too focused on the treat and not on the packaging. My carnivorous desire for salmon got the better of me.
This week, however, I celebrate a few successes. I was in Montreal for work where I was troubled to discover that only polystyrene plates – a.k.a. plastic number six – were provided for the meals. Plastic number six can't be recycled where I come from. I didn’t bother to ask if polystyrene is given another life in Montreal. With nary a recycling bin to be found at Bonadventure, such a question seemed pointless.
Emboldened by the encouragement from the folks at my table, I kept and cleaned my plate and plastic cutlery and used them at every meal. Needless to say the wait staff seemed a little puzzled by me. I must have looked a little crazed whenever they attempted to collect my plate. And it wasn’t just my plate and cutlery I kept. Every scrap piece of waste was lovingly wrapped and placed in my bulging pockets, bound for the organics bin in my house. It’s a darn good thing the trip lasted only two days.
The plate and cutlery I’ve kept for reuse.
Imagine if everyone avoided the garbage bin like a bad idea. We might all be crazy, but not as crazy as throwing everything in the bin without thought to its collective impact.
In the US that’s 1,700 pounds of trash per person times 300 million. Imagine what that looks like. Lord help us. What if we all reduced it to four modest bags of garbage per year? Trust me, it’s doable. Or didn’t throw any of it out like Dave Chameides?
Halloween Fair Trade Fun!
Jane and I have given up our dream to renovate the house. Instead, we are spending our money on Halloween candy.
I can’t be a party pooper. I have to give the little goblins something fun and for me something fun is chocolate. And I can’t buy chocolate without choosing fair trade organic which costs more money, a lot more, than chocolate harvested by child slave laborers. For some reason.
We’ve ordered 200 Cocoa Camino dark chocolate minis. They were shipped to my office today. I’m not even going to tell you the cost (under $50!). We may also get a few boxed raisons to augment the minis. Just because. Think of it as a chocolate separated raison treat. Happy Halloween!!
Help us Obama One Kenobi
To all my Democrat American friends and anyone else living on planet earth, let us pray:
Dear great spirit, please give the American people the wisdom to elect Barak Obama as President and end eight years of hell that has befallen the US of A, not to mention certain parts of the world. Please guide him when he's in office, oh great one, as he transforms his country from the second biggest carbon gas emitter on the planet to an effective leader on sustainability. May he serve eight great years, be one of the most beloved and important presidents in American history and live to a great old age. Look after him oh big spirit. He’s going to need it.
And if that doesn’t cut it, envision me in a white robe with cinnamon bun hair sending a simple message in a droid in a country not too far far away....Help us Obama One Kenobi. You’re our only hope.
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