a few good things

so for last christmas, my roommate got me one of those daily desk calendars, theme = Green Ideas.

Everyday, it had some idea, action, group, fact, quote or something likewise relative to becoming a more environmentally conscious and thus friendly consumer (more like friendly and hopefully more conscious as how much consciousness does it take to buy washing detergent with the encryptic labelling "GREEN" or "ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY".

as every suggestion is an alternative to an action that is essentially the same action, just with technically less negative effects. like - its okay to still spoil your tots with toys for christmas, as long as they're not plastic and five stars if it is organic. people are missing the bigger picture, the real problem.

this is exactly what i don't like about the "green movement" - people buy green concepts, and the reason for doing so is usually as superficial as its "the new black".. a way to ease the guilt of being a mindless consumer by becoming more mindful. yet, they don't know why - what is so horrifically wrong with the environment - and how these actions help to abate the problem, assuming they even do.  people continue to consumer under the pretense of being a responsible global citizen.

so i give credit to the calendar for including quotes and facts as an attempt to get the masses thinking. these quotes are about the only thing in the calendar useful to me, as I agree with most all of them and have not yet heard them, because all the ideas like "eating one meatless meal a week" and "skipping traditional wrapping paper"are useless to me as its common sense and i already do it.

i want to share some with you:

• "The wild places are where we began. When they end, so do we." (David Brower)
• "In the long term, the economy and the environment are the same thing. If it's unenvironmental it is uneconomical. That is the rule of nature." (Mollie Beattie)
• "All our efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development will be in vain if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continue unabated." (Kofi Annan)
• "In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences." (Robert Green Ingersoll)
  
• "Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans." (Jacques Cousteau) 
• "It is horrible that we have to fight our own government to save our environment." (Ansel Adams)
  
• The new deserts being created aren't necessarily hot, dry, sandy places, but are areas where the soil has been so mistreated by humans that it's not useless for growing crops.
  
• Every year an estimated 7 million Americans are made sick by contaminated tap water, with some rare cases resulting in death. [**I will cover water quality some later date. Just know that legal water does NOT mean safe water, as tens of thousands of chemicals are used in our nation and dumped into our water, and the Safe Drinking Water Act includes VERY FEW chemicals and has not been updated in years. Recent NYT Article . NC Clean Water News**]
• In the US, pesticides poison about 110,000 people each year.
  
• The average "ecological footprint" per American is 30 acres.
• Between 25-40% of municipal solid waste is organic material that could be composted.
  
• Americans use public transit for only 2% of transportation. [What are the demographics? How many of those people choose to do so, how many have to? How many are below the poverty line, how many are ethnic minorities?]
• It takes 7 gallons of crude oil to produce one car tire.
• Leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting its many nuts, fruits, and medicinal plants has more economical value than if people were to cut it down for cattle grazing or timber.

maybe you'll have time to do a bit of research reading and learning on your own over the holidays..

p.s. i felt pretty guilty about accepting the calendar anyways, as I don't believe in christmas and thus want to be as removed as possible from the grasp of the adulterated tradition. but as she was a new roommate and friend and it was a kind thought, i accepted, and have used the pages as scrap paper for my todo and toget lists, and either composted or recycled it afterwards. the plastic stand will be recycled and i will be a free woman again. and this year, i will not accept or give any gifts that are not handmade, second-hand, or edible.

p.p.s. Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas, is for you to die.

 

 p.p.p.s. for those of you that consider yourselves christian in any way or whatother religions that celebrate christmas, a thousand shames on you for the desecration of your once scared holiday by turning it into a 2 month long rampaging display of virile greed and lust. whatever charitable deeds you may do during the holiday season, are overshadowed and belittled, doing  absolutely no justice, and are in no way compensation for the consumerist sins you commit. skip the malls and online stores, and instead spend the time with your family and friends rediscovering what christmas is supposed to be about according to your religion, not Big Business.