So when you decide that others are not going to make up your story for you, that leaves you with the task of making it up for yourself. I don’t consider myself a very good storyteller, but really, I’m all I’ve got. And I may as well start with something (which I can always rewrite later).
I realized that my criteria for what I like in others’ stories, might also apply to my own story. Thus begins a first draft. I’ll start with “sustainable”, since by its very nature it would keep me around long enough to tell the rest of my story.
Sustainable for me, is not just a synonym for “environmentally friendly”, but a long term mindset. It is a receiving from our connection to the past, and an offering of love to future generations. Sustainable is seeing the overview of a long winding path up the hill, rather than focusing on every dip and valley in the road. It’s not about going cold turkey into a drastic change of persona, but step by step inching steadily toward the person I would rather be.
I know from experience that I don’t respond well to new year’s resolutions, diet commitments, and poorly thought out social obligations. To say I am a vegetarian, or that I will ride my bike to work every day for the next month, would put an end to it right there. I can however, report, that this past year for the first time in my life, I’ve been dairy free for about half the year. This is also the first year that I’ve regularly ridden my bike to work (not every time mind you) but EVEN when it is cold and raining!
I will probably eat another cheeseburger, and most likely take the car to work next time it downpours. I can also report that this year we considered, but did NOT purchase a solar powered water heater, we did NOT sell our gas guzzling van, and we have about the same number of toxic or harmful cleaning chemicals and beauty products as we did a year ago. But life, and growth is messy. There are dips and valleys, and winding paths.
We still have plastic storage tubs and cups in our kitchen, but only a small portion of what we used to. And I have trained myself to hand wash them, rather than put them through the dishwasher. We have replaced about half of our Teflon pans. I have made several attempts at making my own shampoo from natural materials, and using natural medicines whenever possible. There is plenty of room for improvement there, but I am learning. And we have finally saved up and purchased a king size mattress made of local, organic cotton and wool with NO pesticides or fire retardants.
The hardest part I think has be reducing the amount of stuff we have in general. This is not about a simple action like filling up a bag and donating it to charity. This is a fundamental change of mindset. It is linked to my lifestyle, my identity, sense of worth, comfort and goals. A change like this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s right up there with cutting yourself off from high fructose corn syrup and sugar. (This year I’ve consumed less than half of what I did the year before.) Our experience at FreeGeek has given us hands-on experience with curbing the flow of lead and mercury into the landfill, and has led me to learn more about the other electronics that surround me (cell phones and computer monitors). I am still learning to let go and trust that I will get what I need.
So here I go on my sloppy shopping spree through life, picking up mostly what looks good to me, and passing up mostly what doesn’t, dropping a few things here and there, but for the most part I’m surrounded by stuff that is good, or at least on its way to getting better.
So there’s a story. It’ll probably be different next year. Did anyone read this? I’d love to hear your sustainable experiences- leave me a comment!
January 24, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Well, I have been thinking about your question. We actually think about this a lot.
I sometimes I feel overwhelmed about the amount of stuff we have…too many books ( did I just said that?), clothing, scarfs, hats, rings, more earings than I can possible wear, agghh…I don’t even want to think!
I personally go to goodwill to find shoes a little too often, let’s say once a week for example.
Although we buy mostly second hand stuff, it is still stuff.
But yes, we are committed to finding better ways, the road is long and there is so much more we could do. I could take the bus to work, I could skip the goodwill trip.
We do however turn the heater down at nights, recycle all we can, plant a garden in the little space we have, buy second hand, and consume organic food as much as we can afford.
We feel proud in our compost bin ( that we finally got after hunting for one-garage sale style three years). I cook most of our foods at home but lately have been wondering about the local vs. organic deal. right now I have organic grapes from Chile and that -for some reason- doesn’t feel right. Any insight you can offer would be gladly accepted.
I would personally would like to try to experience less stuff, less clothing ( so I don;t have to keep closing my closet door- so I don’t see the mess), less toys, less books, less decorations, less…less.
We will continue to eat meat- from local growers mostly- as becoming vegetarias is not in our near future-yet. We will continue to recycle, cook at home, buy second hand, compost, turn lights off. But yes, I could…
Not fill the tub when santi takes a bath every night,
Not drive to work, the grocery store…the corner.
Not have the same version of shoes in red, dark blue, black ( even if they are from goodwill).
Cook even more so I don’t have to throw away food.
thanks for asking!