"With my feet, may I walk upon the earth and feel compassion” is the opening verse of Jerry DesVoignes, Vancouver's chant master's song, Shine Like the Sun.Believe it or not, I just learned how to walk – again – this time properly, in alignment (with my body) and lightly on the ground. It’s a (psychosomatic) practice (that feels somewhat akin to meditation or can be) and a skill! (See www.corepotentials.com.)
Another practice and skill is that of recycling. Thanks to a roommate in my 20’s who introduced me to the concept of 'clean garbage,' - yes you read that right - i.e., rinsing/washing/wiping items so as not to stink up the garbage can and/or room/environment, and also to the concepts of compacting (garbage) and recycling, I began my journey to ‘being green’ environmentally speaking of course!
I’m not perfect though I do my bit, for the most part. For example, I use and carry a stainless steel mug as often as possible instead of contributing to the massive coffee cup crisis as I call it.
Imagine, only Americans (from North and South America) who drink coffee/tea from disposable containers. Add onto that the paper or other material that the sleeve to carry the hot beverage is made up of. Think of all that ending up in landfills due to people’s ignorance and/or lack of care or responsibility for the (health of the) environment.
Yearly, there may well be more than four (4) billion of such Starbucks cups that fill landfills around the world. Witness this powerful slideshow that shows an example of this: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/disposable-coffee-cups-i-think-not.html And that’s only one coffee chain, not to mention food containers, plastic cutlery, and the like.
Furthermore, I reuse plastic bags, cloth bags, and my knapsack for carrying groceries and other things as well as reuse plastic bags from home or work for garbage, etc.
Perhaps in part as I love trees in particular and prefer nature to concrete jungles (of commercial and apartment buildings), I take my non-recycling goods (i.e., stuff, see below) to be recycled even further so it doesn’t end up in a landfill taking up precious space and land.
Likewise, our Green Team Committee (GTC) at work (that I initiated) does our part by recycling almost everything, including blue box items (papers, newspapers, and flyers as well as metal, glass, and plastic with numbers) in addition to non-blue box items such as soft plastics, hard plastics without numbers, wax or aluminum foil-lined items, and the like. We also have a compost bin; check out www.growingcity.com for details.
And furthermore, the GTC plans activities for Earth Day at work www.earthdayvancouver.org/ and Earth Week earthday2012.com/tag/earth-week-2013/ such as clothing exchange (donating leftover items to a local women’s shelter), a 100-Mile/'green’ potluck lunch in April, as well as week-long, environmental activities during Bike Month in June in Vancouver www.biketoworkmetrovan.ca including www.carfreevancouver.org.
We take this a step further by contributing our agency’s research findings and suggestions to improve our organization's gashouse emissions via a Climate Smart team.
There’s a powerful and beautiful Native teaching about respecting and honouring Mother Earth for seven generations to leave behind for not only our generation and the next. This reminds me that in my grandmother’s and even in my mother’s time, there was no garbage or recycling pickup. Every item was reused.
Have you seen the movie REvolution by Rob Stewart? It’s about the deadening, i.e., extinction of live coral reefs and marine life as well as animals, wildlife, and even the possible extinction of mankind if we continue treating this planet as we do, with no forethought of environmental consequences (www.therevolutionmovie.com/). It’s a must-see film if you wish to understand the impact of the ecosystem and how everything is interconnected.
How can you contribute to the empowerment of Mother Earth in being green(er longer)? How will you walk upon the earth with compassion, treading lightly and peacefully?
I am going to start carrying around a plastic plate in a plastic bag in my knapsack (that I've been thinking about doing lately...and keep forgetting to do). Maybe even carry plastic or compostable cutlery (that I already have)!
Ignore Kermit the Frog when he declares: "It's not easy bein' green." It is easy to ‘be green!’
