Flexing our Consumer Muscle

So this plastics challenge has given me a lot of food for thought.

My dad said, "so, it doesn't really make sense for us to take everything wrapped in plastic and put it in paper." I agree. So what's the solution?

I'd like the solution to be more sustainable sources for making paper. There are a lot of new fibres that people are making paper out of that are much faster growing, and easier to process into paper - like hemp and bamboo. There are also a lot of new ways of making biodegradable plastic bags and other plastics. Homegrown foods in Stony Plain has a plastic looking bag made out of corn. And it's not like there isn't a surplus of corn in North America. A lot of it grown not for food, but for ethanol. We have so much new scientific knowledge, that it's really silly that we're not applying a lot of this new technology to environmental conservation.

This is where we need to start flexing our consumer muscle. Taking the time to look at the things before we buy them. Looking for companies that are willing to go the extra mile to make the choices for packaging sustainable, and making sure the plastics and paper we do buy are recyclable and end up where they should. It's so easy to become complacent and cynical and approach it all with a good ol', "so and so isn't doing it, so why should I?" But we all know, that's now how to make change happen.

Cultivating Compassion

I listened to a really great podcast this week.  It was with a Tibetan Buddhist monk and it was mostly on the topic of happiness.  One of the points that he made was that happy is a very vague term that can encompass a lot of different feelings and emotions based on our perspective.

He used the dalai lama as an example.  He said if you find a real spiritual teacher, they are someone that is consistent. Someone that always shows their real character even behind closed doors.  You don't think of a spiritual teacher and think oh he's a great teacher, but he's so grumpy.  The two are just not very compatible. 

He also suggested that true happiness is something that takes work.  We all make the time consistently to exercise our bodies to stay healthy but we don't spend 20 minutes everyday to cultivate compassion.  I took some time this weekend to just be quiet and reflect.  It was something I need to do more of in the future.  I don't have any intention of being a great spiritual leader, but I do have the intention of keeping my mind and spirit healthy.

Daoist Medicine Theories

In China I studied a lot of Daoist internal medicine theory. The theory comes from the idea that you can circulate Qi or Chi through your body with control in order to use your own body's energy for health. According to Daoist theory, we all store our Qi somewhere called our DanTian and although there are many parts to this and many different types of Qi, I'm going to leave it a that. Through practice and meditation, we can learn to move our Qi first through the main meridian that runs up and down the centre of our bodies, and with further practice through the rest of the 10 meridians. 

A lot of Chinese medicine practice stems from the five element theory. The five elements are like a template that divide natural phenomena into five groups or patterns.  The five groups starting with Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. In each of these groups there are other characteristics that correspond to each element. For example, Wood is representative of the liver and also of the emotion anger. The theory can become very complicated and there is a lot of depth to it. I'd like to just outline a very basic idea. 

The five major or 'yin' organs are the kidneys(water), lungs(metal), liver(wood), spleen(earth), and heart(fire). Each of them also has a corresponding yang organ, a direction, an emotion, a colour, a flavour, and I could go on and on. I have found a lot of benefit in practicing Qi Gong, where we work on opening up the twelve meridians associated with these different elements and organs. I'm hoping that over time I'll be able to share some of this theory.

Cutting Out Plastic

When we started this challenge I had a whole mental plan. As a lot of mental plans go, there were some seriously unrealistic ideas in my mind. For example, how much preparation it takes to buy groceries. We've been trying to do meal planning, which makes planning for shopping a lot easier, but still there's always those last minute things that you forgot about and those things that you're used to having as staples in your diet, that suddenly are unavailable.

Dan and I make a lot of smoothies, and we often use some kind of frozen fruit. I never really thought about how many bags that adds to our waste, although we are very diligent with our recycling. I filled up my car with reusable containers for my trip to bulk barn and it can be a little difficult to get used to. But I'm really hoping this challenge will make me more mindful of what I'm buying and how it's packaged and whether or not I should be using my purchasing power for that product.

I am making even more of my own food now. No convenient sauces in a plastic jar. No yogurt (because who has seen yogurt in glass?). And now that I just thought about it, no cheese! I'll figure it out. By the end of this mission to reduce my footprint, I might just be a full on homesteader...

You might be curious why?... why is plastic so bad? Here's a link of some really disturbing statistics about our use of plastics. https://www.ecowatch.com/22-facts-about-plastic-pollution-and-10-things-we-can-do-about-it-1881885971.html

P.S. Cellophane is biodegradable... it's not easy to identify. What I read is, if it rips straight it's cellophane based, if it stretches, it's not. I don't know how accurate that is. Just something to keep in mind if you're on board with this challenge.

Plastic Free July

So I came across an email that I would have shared earlier if I had the chance to read it. It's about something called Plastic Free July. People take a pledge to not purchase any single use plastic products. This is something I think about often when I shop, but this month, hopefully I'll really get some good ideas. There's a mailing list where they send out tips and tricks to keep your purchases plastic free.

This doesn't mean that you can't use plastic. We all have containers that are designed to be used many times before being recycled. Also, now that I've discovered bringing my own containers into places like bulk barn, I might be able to enjoy a lot  of the same foods, without all the trash. I'm going to try and buy a lot of my berries and fruits from the farmers market. Since the vendors there are perfectly content to let you bring in your own containers. It is mostly going to take a lot of prep and a lot more forethought before heading out to shop for groceries. I know it's going to be challenging, but I'm also sure it will be a lot of fun to challenge myself like this. I left the link below for anyone else interested in trying to take this on.


http://action.storyofstuff.org/sign/plastic-free-july17/?t=4&akid=7276.1016292.fRAMap