Sustainability
I Believe the Children Are Our Future
The duty of reducing one's carbon footprint is a relatively new concept, unseen and unheard of mere generations ago. Our most recent ancestors didn't have to consider the condition of the planet or the effects their daily living may be having on the well-being of future generations. While they rarely wasted anything and found new uses for items that would otherwise be discarded as trash, this was a direct result of the mental strain endured throughout The Great Depression. That era shaped them into waste not, want not people, and they did all they could to ensure they always had what they needed even when it seemed silly to the next generations. We would snicker as they carefully unwrapped their gifts, folding the paper ever so gingerly, so that they could reuse the wrapping paper when it was their turn to bestow a gift on someone. Watching them rinse off used aluminum foil or plastic margarine containers for the purpose of food storage was met with eye-rolling and snide comments about how cheaply those items are available at the store. Our elder generation had the reuse portion down of the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, and recycle. The other two Rs, however, were not on their radars. The concept of recycling was unbeknownst to them. To think of placing certain trash items in a container at the end of your driveway so that a special truck could come gather them to take them to a special facility where they would be cleaned and treated in some way so that they might be used again to create something else was never heard of in their lifetime. Reducing waste was also not something that would have made any sense to them. Hard-working and determined people, the end would always justify the means. They didn't have the luxury of information at their fingertips. Whatever needed to take place to reach their goals is exactly what would take place. This was especially true with the boom of The Industrial Revolution. No executive or employee ever questioned what damage may come of dumping waste into the nearby waterway. The amount of smoke billowing from the smokestack was of no concern to air quality or the health of the people. It was not until they began to see the consequences firsthand that anyone surmised the possibility of the dangers and even then the almighty dollar reigned supreme over the well-being of a few ecosystems.
By Melissa Wright5 years ago in Earth
On saving the planet...
What you have to understand is that we are running out of time....we need changes but they are too slow to come. We need earth shattering commitments and for leaders to stand up and fight for what’s right or more accurately the right thing to do, because of course why wouldn’t anyone want to save our beautiful planet. I am sure this doesn’t make much sense to most people, so where does that leave us?
By Ruvini De Alwis5 years ago in Earth
The Fallacy of the Thrift Shop
The fallacy of the thrift shop is that it is simultaneously one of the best tools that we, as individuals, can have to fight over-consumerism and one of the tools that have been warped to support over-consumerism. The rise of thrift shops is often taken as a sign that more people are engaging with circular economies or at least thinking of reusing their items and giving them a new life by allowing others to have them. Yet both buyers and donators of thrift shop items, particularly clothes, are contributors to this fallacy.
By Melissa in the Blue5 years ago in Earth
Reducing Our Consumption of Animals Is Our Last Shot At Saving Earth
Stop eating meat and dairy: it's an unpopular directive. Browse any Facebook groups for five minutes and you're likely to come across multiple cringeworthy memes about veganism and vegetarianism. Where I come from in the southern region of the U.S., fried chicken and grilling out is a way of life. Only 14% of the world population identifies as vegan or vegetarian...and while that is up from other years, that means that 86% of the world population has likely grown up consuming animal products. And that's a hard habit to break.
By L.A. Hancock5 years ago in Earth
The Recycling Industry is TRASH
You've gathered a trove of plastic this week. Triumphantly, you parade over to your blue bin and plop it inside with a satisfying thwack. You dust your hands and pat yourself on the back - you're a good person; you care enough to recycle.
By Olivia L. Dobbs5 years ago in Earth
Artists can do better
There's something hugely exciting about a newly purchased sketchbook. It seems to offer unlimited hope and potential, opportunities and exploration. But all too often the pristine white pages of a new sketchbook stay exactly that way, often for months and even years, as the unused sketchbook gets added to the ever-increasing pile of other unused art supplies. As an emerging artist, I understand the deep need for my art supplies to become my closest companion and to be employed regularly to record, interact with, and document the world around me. I know undeniably that they are my best friend and faithful ally in providing the self care, mind distraction and creative expression my heart yearns for; but more often than I would care to mention, my stacks of unused art supplies have become elements of excessive clutter and unnecessary consumerism.
By Monique Green5 years ago in Earth
My GUPPYFRIEND
Finding ways to keep the earth clean and ways to stop the ozone layer from deteriorating has been important to me since the moment I dropped my iPod into the recycling liquids bucket in sixth grade. To be honest, it was not because my Apple product failed due to sticky mixed liquids but because the bucket was so full of liquids after children had not finished their juice or milk, only threw the plastic into the bin. I did not realize the impact that wish-recycling has on the recycling process but I ensured to finish my beverages from that day forward as I was disgusted.
By Tia Hendricks5 years ago in Earth
Bodies Of Water
My first step toward making waves of transformation was a scary one. I listened to my heart pound every night like the rhythm of the waves crashing violently on the beach as I lay in bed anticipating my new life adventure and leaving behind my old life as a carpenter and a painter. I began to recognize through the years, that this feeling was my aliveness coming to get me like a swinging trapeze bar, according to Danaan Parry in Warriors of the Heart.
By Arieal Pearl Healy5 years ago in Earth
