I try to be diligent about keeping potential recycling materials out of the trash. We compost non-meat or -dairy food wastes and use it for our gardens, and our town provides bins for recycling as part of our routine trash collection. Among my weekly chores is taking out the trash, recycling and compost. I do […]
Category Archives: trash
“Plastics typically are made through human industrial systems. Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas or petroleum; however, recent industrial methods use variants made from renewable materials, such as corn or cotton derivatives.” ~ Wikipedia “Indeed, a recent study in the journal Science, authored by the researchers associated with the Pew report, estimated that some 11 million metric tons of plastic […]
“We should design man-made objects and products in such a way that we’re not destroying the resources, but that we’re basically borrowing them for a certain amount of time … And that we can take them out in their pure form and put them back into the system.” ~ Professor Dirk Hebel, Karlsruhe Institute of […]
“The concept that we could use it, throw it away, and it doesn’t matter where you throw it, and it’s going to safely disappear, that does not exist.” ~ Ramani Narayan, Professor, School of Packaging, Michigan State “The vast majority of plastic waste produced around the world is not recycled, but rather incinerated, landfilled […]
Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service — then let them go. ~Marie Kondo We’re doing some painting and drywall repairs in our upstairs bedrooms, including a couple of closets. Of course, that required the shuffling of furniture and […]
“Scientists say the weight of human-made objects will likely exceed that of living things by the end of the year.” ~ Helen Briggs A good friend warned me years ago about peak oil, when the production of oil from the Earth reached its peak, and the amount of oil remaining would continuously decline, exacerbating […]
To see a world in a grain of sandAnd a heaven in a wild flower,Hold infinity in the palm of your handAnd eternity in an hour. ~ William Blake, Auguries of Innocence When I was young, my mother was not a tidy person. She claimed to have started smoking when she was twelve, and chain-smoked […]
“What we call progress is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.” ~ Havelock Ellis My friend knew where the old dump was outside of Leadville, and any excuse to go into the mountains was okay with me. We stopped on the edge of town and then turned down a dirt track to […]
I remember sack lunches from my school days. PB&J or tuna salad sandwiches wrapped up in wax paper (or those wax paper bags that came out later), or sometimes bologna with a slice of processed cheese. Always on plain white Wonder Bread — the “American way.” Potato chips or Fritos (when they came out, after […]
Neoliberalism, as a loosely defined set of political beliefs, calls for more individual freedom and autonomy, resulting in increased responsibility for each person to address major societal issues. ‘Individualization’ is the process by which responsibility for addressing major environmental issues such as climate change is placed on individuals. ~ Sydney A. Page-Hayes I take […]
Writes of Nature 