A long time coming (from my Blogspot account that I forgot about!)
Sunday, April 28, 2013
A long time coming...
So I started this blog as a test, a long time ago. And then I found twitter. . . So essentially, everything I would put into a blog has shown up on my twitter feed over the last few years at twitter.com/juliafar. Check it out if you'd like.
But I realized I do want to write a little more from time to time, and that each piece doesn't have to be that long. Thus, a restart.
This morning I watched a fascinating talk given by Phillip Zombardo, of Stanford Prison Experiment fame, about the concept of time, and how it shapes who we are. The talk can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJybVxUiy2U
This discussion was about whether or not people face their day to day decisions seeped in the past, present or future. At one point he says what I think we've all known all along: those who care about the environmental movement are almost all future forward thinkers, planners and doers. The good news, is the ones who are future-focused tend to outperform (in a manner of career success and social success) those who are stuck in the past and have a negative view of their past or the present hedonists, who do what they want without care or concern for the future. If you don't think about the future, you can't care about it. So, somehow we've got to figure out how to inspire people to think about the future. And we've got to inspire some of the future thinkers to care about the environment too! Again, more good news: everyone thinks about the past, present and future at some level already. Meanwhile, that's the challenge I'm thinking about today.
In the meantime, the last post said I would test out how to actually live the greener life... and I have done a lot, and so much more. Here's a brief overview of the stuff that's top of mind: I have successfully switched over to recycled aluminum, toilet paper made with high recycled content (method or seventh gen for the most part), paper products that are not bleached whenever I can find them, shampoos with no phosphates, greener cleaners (ps method's dish detergent is a miracle worker), am attempting to have as many meat free days as possible, am seriously considering the clothes that I purchase and the labor used to make them, same with my food if I can and the list goes on and on... so all in all, i'm making good strides. But! it's not all a success story. . . about a year ago I moved and got new roommates. While they do ok with their recycling habits, and I think have agreed to recycle more because of me, I'm still pulling recyclables out of our garbage. I'm always trying to be the one to purchase the paper goods, the soaps, the garbage bags, but sometimes my roommates buy something else, i.e. the status quo stuff. and in order to keep the peace, I'm not making a huge deal out of it. But, I have gotten them to recycle more! I also found out that one of my roommates is now exceptionally open to less-harsh and less-toxic cleaning materials and storage products because she's very concerned about what we've been learning about BPA, phthalates, triclosan and now the flame retardants in our couches... and she started to buy these better products too, so now our odds of having better cleaning and paper products are better. And I think she'll toss her couches when we move out. We're also trying not to eat on them and to dust more regularly to prevent any Penta-BDE or whatever flame retardant is used from getting on our food and into our bodies. But I'm sure it's happening.
Other setbacks: We can't purchase green power because our building doesn't meter our apartments individually. I can't compost, because the building (and my roommates) won't allow it. (I haven't given up yet, but it's just going to take more time). I can't grow my own food because there's no community garden area...yet. Also, because our rent includes our electricity and water, one of my roommates just loves to leave all of our lights on, even if she's not anywhere near the room or even in the apartment. She says it makes her feel better to know the light is on in her room and has implied in other conversation that it's inconvenient to remember to turn them off. So, I've given up on the one in her room because it's her space, but I'm constantly turning off the lights in our shared spaces, and closing doors, and lowering our heat, and using our windows as A/C when possible. I really wish the building would do a competition and monitor energy use because I'd love to know where we are compared to our neighbors, and we'd totally kick a** in that arena.
Anyway, I'm not sure any longer how helpful it is to tell people what it's really like going through this experience. We've got to make better choices, but I also fear we get stuck in the holier-than-thou route, and that's not helpful. Competition can be inspiring, but one-upping doesn't encourage. And that's not my goal. Like I said in the last post, I've been fortunate enough to be able to access a lot of information, and I simply want to share experiences. Everyone's path towards a greener life is going to be different. ALL actions are better than no action. Some people will find it easier to purchase so-called eco-friendly products, some people will find it easier to ditch their car, or travel less or work towards vegetarianism, or replace their lights/appliances or insulate their homes etc... What matters is that you think about it. And if you think about, one day you'll act on it. And one day you'll act on it in a new area of your life, so long as you keep thinking about it. And another day, you'll tell someone at work that it's important that your work also have these values... and from there we're off to the races. Just imagine what could be!
I know this post isn't as concise as the last. I'll try to better to keep it up. I find the most incredible things online and in my day to day interactions and I'd like to document them so I can come back to them.
Here's to keeping the post current,
Julia