MATERIAL CONCERNS
I was thinking it had been awhile since I wrote an entry, but its been THREE years. Sorry folks! I’m not sure how you’ve survived such a long stretch without my pithy insights.
Like many of you, I occasionally listen to the Huberman Lab Podcast, and find it thought-provoking. I read guest Dr. Casey Means’ book, Good Energy. In addition to the health advice, what struck me is how our food choices impact the health of our soils, and how impoverished soil reduces the nutritional value of our foods. I assume that I think about soil health a bit more than the average person, given my obsession with composting and love of gardening, but I had never directly tied money spent on organic foods as a contribution to the health of the planet. I’d selfishly only looked at it in terms of my own health. I’m buying more organic foods these days, and encourage you to! The veggie peels and chicken bones make great broth for fall soups, and anything else leftover makes compost that much more organic, our soil that much healthier, and contributes to the health of anything that walks over, grows, or eats from that soil in the future. It’s a great investment.
Ari Wallach, a more recent guest on the Huberman Lab Podcast, authored a book with the greatest tagline, Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs. That makes you stop to think for a minute, doesn’t it? Yep, I read this book, too, and watched his TED talk. Wallach is an accessible thinker, and inspires us to look at our actions through the lens of future generations. This isn’t a new concept. The Great Law of the Iroquois, (from the 12th century, I believe), included sustainability’s mantra, “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation...”, but do you feel this consideration has diminished over the past fifty years? It’s a trait we need to reinvigorate in American culture.
And, (I didn’t know Andy Huberman was making such an impact on my thinking!), I am currently listening to the podcast on micro & nano plastics. It’s distressing. I can’t drink out of my BPA-free plastic reusable straw anymore. I find the ubiquity of plastic VERY depressing. It is an amazing material, but we need to severely curtail its manufacture and use to where it is needed. I’ve thought the fastest way to reduce single-use plastics is to use them again, but with their degradation, even that is scary. I try, and I need to try harder, to not buy new plastic. My concern borders on the overwhelming, so I’ve been trying to think of ways we can make an impact. I’ve resurrected my school lunch improvement bubble diagrams, and continue to be proud of spurring one cafeteria to stop putting whole fruit into plastic cups. The kids can handle a wee bit of roll in their fruit selection process. If anyone needs glasses for a party to avoid buying solo cups, contact me. I have a huge bin of pretty ones and am happy to take them back dirty, even! And plastic utensils? Let’s just stop!
Habitat ReStore is where I go when I need a little treat out of the house. (I know, but it works for me!) The amount of plastic gardening “stuff” is astonishing. I have tentative plans with the manager to hold a little workshop there in the spring to make a dent in the amount they get in. Please DO NOT BUY NEW PLASTIC anything for your gardens. There is enough of it in the world already. I put a big box in my garage to hold “seed starting supplies” for spring, to include all my egg cartons (pulpboard, and the plastic ones when I accidentally buy those), take-out containers with the black bottoms and clear plastic lids, cardboard tubes, and myriad other plastic tubs, yogurt pots, milk cartons and plastic bottles. Start collecting yours. too. Ideally we’d use non-plastic, and I’m a bit ashamed of the take out containers, but this is my first step!
So, I am contemplating starting a series of more environmental “plant parties,” to gather people who care and want to share ideas on better ways to do some of these things. Would you be interested? I’m thinking Seed Saving, Seed Starting, Plant Propagation, and we can see how it goes. Let me know what you think. These things are much more efficient with a group, unless you are a farmer.
Random other idea: If anyone has any suggestions on how to get manufacturers to standardize glass jars to— say three (or seven!) sizes of Ball jars, wouldn’t that be amazing? In addition to efficient grocery store stocking, there could be a company that would take back the jars, wash them, and resell them to the manufacturers for reuse, so they wouldn’t have to produce new. All the jar lids would be interchangeable. They could agree to use labels that come off easily in some process the take-back company uses. Ah, the future could be grand!
Come see the slightly odd things I’ve made from recycled items at the Conifer Newcomers & Neighbors Boutique at Conifer High School, Nov. 2, 9-4. Booth 79 in the cafeteria on the way to the bake sale!
