Listen to the children. A youth #ClimateStrike is happening today. The children are striking to make me act more responsibly. I marched along side them. I don’t have children but they all felt like they are mine. I would be a proud parent if my child cared this much and was relentless about doing the right thing. I usually feel too small to matter in this big world. But with you kids, I felt stronger. To all the children who participated today, thank you !
On learning to live the 1.5 Degree lifestyle
Posts from the “Too Small” Category
Learn about your local ecosystem. “Climate change is going to do unforeseen damage to our food supplies and the eco system in general. The less privileged you are, the more you will be effected.” I used to say this to folks who complain that the climate alarmists are fear mongers. For a long time, we only heard of climate change in context to sea level rise. That meant that if you didn’t live on a coast, you would be fine. If the storms and rains affect our food supply, we should move towards vertical farming and use technology. We should desalinize our oceans and use the water for domestic use. ….. I used to think this way. It was a simplistic solution to a…
Image Credit : Emergence: Cynthia MacAdams There is an old adage : “women shop for clothes, men replace clothes” I say “hyper consumers shop for clothes, responsible consumers replace clothes” Break the mould. I recently purchased a blue dress. Why did I get it ? No particular reason. I had liked it and wanted it for a year. It’s very expensive but I found it for a good price (60$) on the second hand market. The second hand shop added a further discount and it was the trigger I needed. It’s only one thing and too small to matter right ? To offset the one incoming, I dug out one garment to let go – a pink t-shirt that I never wear. Whats wrong…
Practice deeper materialism. In a quest to appear less materialistic, we proudly announce “I don’t care about stuff”. We don’t put in enough thought into our purchases. We buy frivolously, hoard for the wrong reasons and eventually throw way too much. The result ? We used 1.7 earths in the year 2018 and pollute the land/water/air. The middle ground between ( consumerism+prioritizing objects over sustainability) and ( wont-take-care + will-throw-away culture ) – is deeper materialism. “What defines an object is how we use it” – Mike Tolvanen. A decade ago, I had the shopping gene. It now somehow metamorphosized into the decluttering gene. I can’t stop giving things away. If impulse buying is bad for the environment, so is impulse decluttering. What is…
Join an Organization. “Be good and then, do good”, says Gary Snyder, the American poet and naturalist. Individual efforts to live a sustainable life are a good first step. But resting on individual laurels for a collective goal does not make sense. Being surrounded by like minded people and working towards the same goal keeps the cause alive. Lobbying for your cause in what ever capacity helps. Knowing how to present information and educational material helps. Climate change is a depressing problem to read about. It’s easy to feel hopeless and dejected about the current state of things. But humans are resilient and capable when working together. Joining an organization streamlines our efforts. My choice : the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Find a local chapter.…
Watch Tummbad. ( IMDB rating : 8.4) ( A critic’s review ) I haven’t watched an Indian film that seared into my mind the way this one did. It explores the effects of greed on ones soul. It explores greed as something we pass down as a hereditary trait. One particular scene hit me hard : The father shows his son the gold he has accumulated. The son’s eyes light up in glee. He says “with this, we can live out a lifetime” to which the father snaps with disappointment “you are just like your simpleton mother. We need more”. The demarcation between the words “I need” and “I want” is not taught to us unless we are lacking in resources. Perhaps the best Indian film from the year…
Use Shoe Trees. Above are two pairs of shoes. Both made by the same brand. Both purchased at around the same time by two different individuals. The individuals weight about the same and have the same shoe size. The shoes got similar amount of wear. The one one on the right used a shoe tree from the start and was conditioned with a leather wax. The one on the left never touched a shoe tree or a leather cleaner. These two pairs aged very differently. Waste can happen when an object that should last for 400 wears becomes unwearable after 200 wears. Shoes need a full day’s rest between wears. The ideal way to care for them is to use shoe trees. They absorb…
Do our zero-waste actions matter ? I get asked this question a lot. I get told that they don’t. And always a “no” when the above said action is inconvenient. Most often by folks who don’t practice simple living. I think they matter. We often don’t notice the effects because we live in a complex interconnected web of life and our modern lives/privilege disconnected from us observing the connections. If our ancestors consumed and wasted the way we do, what would the state of our planet be today ? Would we stand a chance ? What would our future generations think of us if we don’t care ? I would like to practice sustainable living nevertheless of if my actions are statistically significant. Why ? For the joy of it.
Let me show you an object in my home :
I own this rubber tub. It sits inside my sink. I do my dishes in it. When the tub fills up, I go empty it in my vegetable bed. I sometimes leave it outside to harvest the rain water. A certain section of my vegetable bed has solely been fed from the gray water from my sink from the start of life. They will be harvest ready in a month. I plan to make kimchi with the cabbage. The collard greens go into my smoothie from time to time. The beets will be roasted to perfection and then glazed with a balsamic. These plants not just feed me. These tiny holes in the leaves were made by multiple birds who live on this land alongside me.
Do the little actions matter ?
They matter enough to keep these plants alive. The joy of it is not too small to perceive.