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This blog is a confession booth for the petty theft of our planet. Here is a place where you can find links and information on how to do your part to help save the planet. The objective of this blog is to externalize the harm you have caused the earth. However your effect maybe small, the combination of all of us is the enormous effect.
wow... public accountability seems almost oxy-moronic! a little appreciated, but much needed facet of the global conscious. i find that i have allowed myself overlook simple things that i can do, on a small scale, that will help myself and those around me! i don't recycle, though i know i should, and i allow myself to be wasteful, simply because it doesn't put a rift in my habitual day-to-day. i know that there are things that i can do, and ways that i can help prolong the impending demise of our city, and the world around it, but it is not as easy as those gung-ho activists might make it seem. however, i find that as i am sitting here, running the list of my ever mounting atrocities through my head, this simple act of making myself conscious of my hurtful ways, is quite an eye opening experience in and of itself.
ReplyDeletethat having been said, i am not all that sure that i can commit to a change (feel free to hate me), but i will think twice...
that first blog's tough to follow; but i'll do my best. i think i'm as excited as brian to get on here and talk about things we have done (and continue to do) that damage our earth though. it'll feel good to let it out, right guys? i'll try not to bore anyone, but i'd like to start by mentioning the whole process of waste. it starts at point of consumption. and humans consume more than any other species on the planet. and obviously our brains and bodies are reasons for it. early on though, we have to remember (or probably not) our days in diapers. when we were in diapers, who knows how much waste we were already producing. i remember talking to my mom about it one time and she said she wanted to use cloths only, but told me it was terribly difficult to keep 'em clean all the time and diapers were cheaper, more convenient, did a better job, too. sorry to be short tonight, but i have to go everyone, but that's just my first experience i can think of as being wasteful. and probably everyone else's, too; which obviously adds to the enormous effect. can't wait to read about everybody else's environmental encounters with mother earth; take care everyone and i'll keep thinkin'...
ReplyDeleteSo i've never done this before but i'll will try to start and speak my voice.. I am normally a compulsory recycler and very conscious of waste reusing as much as i can and a lot of the time annoying the shit out of people. But in big city's like NY where recycling is maybe not apart of education from a young age unless you born in the 2000's? It can be challenging to step up and take time out of our lifes to make that shift happen. And i'm recently accountable for not stepping up and making it happen. two apt's stick out the most.
ReplyDelete1st one: I asked landlord about recycling and he said the truck mixes it all together any way so there's no point. Instead of contacting the council or (311) and finding out if that was true I continued to do nothing. - feeling a little guilty for it each time..) < feeling guilty doesn't make the tress grow back! >
2nd one: This time there is 1 recycling bin for approximate 60 apts and it was put in a black plastic bag. ( I think In NY, recycling is put in a clear or transparent blue bag so you can see it) I thought of buying clear or blue bags for building and of putting signs up explaining whats recyclable and whats not.. I never did either of the two..
Another point for me to learn from and take in. < Thought about doing things is only Thought about doing things. Action is what makes things shift!>
I hope this is the beginning of my actions and won't become complacent again.
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T-Taren-Te (anonymous- till i get an account.)
It’s become obsessive compulsive almost, the way in which I have been consciously avoiding water bottles, plastic anything, wrappers, turning off the lights, unplugging the power.. Sometimes I just feel like there is no way I am not somehow part of the problem..
ReplyDeleteIt kills me to see how much paper is discarded at the end of each day in my studio, for example; if we are not paying for it directly we often fail to realize the indirect costs involved. Yes, at times I use more paper than I need. The changes that are going to have to be made involve us being aware of the fact that we have limited resources, and that everyone is going to have to go a bit out of their way and become more conscious of what they consume and how they consume it. We are going to ultimately have to exchange more with better. The second worst thing for us to be doing right now is to be unaware of the misuse of our resources and energy, on local and global scales; the first worst thing would be to be in denial of it.
i look at the Board of Trustees of major environmental organizations and notice all the law firms, investment firms etc. which people there are principles of.
ReplyDeleteI ask myself whether they have conflicts of interest with their (other?) paid gigs i.e. do those law/investment firms have fossil fuel refiners, extractors, producers as clients? or are tehy invested in those?
guess i'm thinking of the Sierra Club which has a mutual fund which has licensed its name! how do they decide to do that? what climate change contributing industries/companies get greenwashed that way?
any others?
NRDC loosk ppretty corporate.
I know Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network support the greenwash FSC scheme that industrial loggers of the Amazon and Boreal and other old growth forests benefit from. . .
that's what i wonder. Where are people really taking a stand?
I try to be as green as possible but I have to admit I do more than a few things that I know are terrible for the environment. The main one being my car that I use all too often that is nearly as old as I am (quarter of a century). It is one of those cars that barely can pass the NYC inspection. Also being a painter creates an enormous amount of waste. This often weighs on my mind. These faults are nothing to call home about for sure but i guess im just a little lazy when it comes to pulling my eco-weight. For the most part I try to be as conscious as possible about being environmentally friendly but it really is easier said then done. It takes a continuous effort to really do ones part. I think small things such as this blog are helpful in the sense that it gives people an opportunity to really question their relationship to the environment.
ReplyDeletepublic accountability. that's a tough term. who are we responsible to other than to ourselves? the greater society? I am not sure who that is? and yet programs get implemented for people to do their part. I almost think if there were less of an organized effort at shaping the way we behave towards each other, people just might learn how to figure it out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteam I even making sense anymore? I want to make sure the public understands me. this is important. nothing gets accomplished without clear communication and people raising questions and others providing answers.
what we need to do is be more. if you're gonna litter...love doing it and make beauty with your litter. if you're gonna clean up, go crazy with it and sweep the entire fifth avenue sidewalk and then have a team branch west and east. we need to be more in society. that is our accountability. be more, do more.
same goes for public criticism. if we all were a bit more daring to be a bit more honest to those in our community, we might see a bit more change for the better.
HMMM.. waste.. how do I waste this earth? I think I have a laundry list of things. So I'll just write one I don't recycle, at all. Never have.
ReplyDeleteI was painting the inside of a house in a suburban area in Australia and instead of washing my brushes in a bucket and dumping the excess water on the grass & dead foliage area, like i did when painting the out side of the house, I washed it in the sink and watched the paint go down the drain.. My tummy went funny and I thought of where that water is going to? Is it going to the ocean? Does it get filtered or cleaned before going to the rivers and ocean? What about the Dolphins and the Whales?
ReplyDeleteMy Mum said to me "Taren I had a dream last night that you where putting paint down the sink" My tummy dropped again.. " well.. yes I have," I said. I didn't know what else to do. "Thats really bad Taren that goes straight out to the ocean.."
Questions came up a few months latter- After been ask to paint the NYC apartment I was now renting.
S#%t "What am i suppose to do now I've finished painting this apt. Out side is concrete, drains, traffic, + human traffic, There are some patches of grass but "I'm not going go contaminate them with my paint.."
Do the drains outside in NYC streets lead to the same place as the drains coming from residential and commercial buildings? Does the water/paint/oil/ waste go down the sink and get filtered in the States or does it go straight out to the ocean?
What are we doing with our water waste? Are we recycling water as best we can? And where does the toxic waste go to if it goes down the drain?
How many of us become complacent with the 'Out of sight out of mind' mentality?
Happy to have this blog and to actually sit down and think about it my self.
The biggest ecological sin I commit is letting relationships trump my concern for the environment.
ReplyDelete1) Harmonious neighbors don't tell other neighbors what to do. My neighbors have six children and put out two full garbage cans each week but have no recycling bin(s). It infuriates me. Not only are they undoing everything I am doing with my recycling, but they are giving their children the wrong message about caring for our environment. I still can't bring myself to say anything to them. I don't want to ruin our otherwise good relationship.
2) My marriage vows said, "to love, honor and cherish." They didn't say anything about recycling. This wasn't an issue when we got married fifteen years ago because our community didn't have a recycling program back then. It does now, and I am a compulsive recycler. My husband doesn't believe in recycling. I have spoken to him on many occasions but have been unable to convert him. I've finally decided it isn't worth getting a divorce over. However, I resent being the one who carries around the environmental guilt about this issue.