I was trying to figure out what I wanted to change and what I could do differently for the coming New Year. As silly as some folks think making new year's resolutions may be, I like to take the time to figure out, if I could change something or do something differently what could it be? The end of a year and the beginning of a new one gives one the perfect opportunity to do some reevaluating or reinventing depending on how you want to look at it. It usually comes down to, for example wanting to eat better, taking better care of myself, working out more, lose some weight, be nicer, give more, etc... Sometimes, I tell myself I'm going to recycle more, or use less STUFF or buy less stuff. However, as I try to go through the year trying to be a better me, I usually find myself slipping and making excuses why I'm not pulling it off as well as I should be. But, that doesn't mean I'm not trying, I'm just being a little more lenient with my environmentalism than I should be.
Finally, this year, I would like to make a better social impact. I was watching the documentary "No Impact Man," and it got me thinking, why shouldn't I do more to create less of an impact on the environment. At the same time, I can be a better person, build a better bond with my partner, and be more socially responsible. I can do all of that just by being more environmentally conscious, and I can save the polar bears while I'm at it. I'm not saying that I'm going to be a total tree-hugging, vegan eating, hemp wearing, bicycle riding-enviro-gorilla, but I know I need to be a little more green. I need to make less trash, use less fossil fueled energy, not be such a consumer, and help to educate people about being more environmentally conscious.
There are 308 million Americans which was reported by the 2010 census (Source: US Census Bureau, http://factfinder.census.gov). Now, take those 308 million Americans and times the amount of trash an average American makes in a year, that's 56 tons (1 ton = 2000 lbs.) or 4.39 lbs. of trash a day (http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html). That equals, Dear God! A lot, of fricken' trash! If you didn't already know, I was raised in California, so that means most of my friends live in California. The most Bipolar state in the Union, Where you can be uber-liberal or super-conservative. Where you either over consume and drive a hummer, or hug trees and eat locally grown soy burgers. The population of California is estimated to be around 37 million people versus the over 5 million Minnesotans. I lived in Berkeley before moving to Rochester, so I understand the concept of being environmental and green, but I don't think I ever took it too seriously. It's a lot easier to be Green in California, they give you a lot of different chances to be green. Minnesota, it's a little more difficult to environmentally conscious. Especially, in the winter time. You kind of need a truck or SUV to get around, there's not a lot of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables that aren't root vegetables, and we have the heater going 24/7 up in here. However, I truly believe, no matter where you live, we all need to just take stock and realize, we can all make a big difference by using a less. We can start by educating ourselves.
If you've read this far in my note, here are some trashy facts:
In the U.S., 4.39 pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year are created by the average person.
Only about one-tenth of all solid garbage in the United States gets recycled.
Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
Each day the United States throws away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.
Almost 1/3 of the waste generated the U.S. is packaging.
Diapers: An average child will use between 8,000 -10,000 disposable diapers ($2,000 worth) before being potty trained. Each year, parents and babysitters dispose of about 18 billion of these items. In the United States alone these single-use items consume nearly 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp. We will pay an average of $350 million annually to deal with their disposal and, to top it off, these diapers will still be in the landfill 300 years from now. Americans throw away 570 diapers per second. That's 49 million diapers per day.
- Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
Source: http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html
I've decided that my New Year's Resolution is that I'm going to try and make less of an environmental impact on the world and try to educate others along the way. Kayla and I already use 1 car and it has great gas mileage (she's been getting around like a champ in the snow), we try not to make unnecessary trips, and we try to do all our errands at once in order, to use less gas. I'll look into one of those food compost things for food waste and buy stuff that use no or less packaging. But, I think the biggest thing is that I'm going to try not to buy anything new or unnecessary. Kayla says, we should get rid of the TVs - I'll think about it, I can't make any promises - but, I will get rid of cable.
In addition, to actually cutting down on consumerism and grabagism I'm going to keep everyone updated on it, so you'all can keep me on task. Because, this is all really about the impact we make on each other. We are a society, people living amongst each other in a giant community, unwittingly affecting each other if we want to, or not.
As of 1992, 14 billion pounds of trash were dumped into ocean annually around the world.
- Forty-three thousand tons of food is thrown out in the United States each day. In contrast to...
- According to the Bread for the World Institute 3.5 percent of U.S. households experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 9.6 million people, including 3 million children, live in these homes.
While some are going hungry and go with out necessities such as, toilet paper and tampons, others complain about being over weight and wanting more stuff they don't need while using too much toilet paper (Toilet paper wipes out 27,000 trees a day). I think if we all just were a little more mindful about the things we use, take for granted, or just don't think about, I think we could make a huge difference in the world, together. By changing some habits, I don't think you'll just help Save the World, but I think you'll save some money while you're at it.
There's also a book that was written after the "No Impact Man Experiment" by Colin Beaven called, "No Impact Man The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet.” http://domesticfuel.com/2010/05/14/book-review-no-impact-man/
Green Tips Website: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/thegreenguide/2010/04/27000-trees-a-day-used-for-toilet-tissue.html
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