As it turns out taking care of yourself and performing simple steps towards living a more environmentally conscious life equals happiness and a sense of purpose! And who would have ever known that this simple equation is so easily attainable! That we don’t need hordes of junk or excess amounts of stimulation to be happy. That taking care of your body and rebuilding relationships with the land and your community are all you need! So here comes Spring Quarter, my little project. The idea is simple:
1.) Do things that promote a healthy state of
mind, like exercising, eating nutritious food, and simple things, like
working to rebuild relationships with those closest to us. Under section one
falls a lot of various things that a lot of my writing and other informal and
random events fall under. You can revisit all of these on this blog.
2.) Practice tiny steps towards living a more
environmentally conscious life. Basically, the reduce, re-use, recycle
mantra works well here. As David Sazuki says, “In the long run, sustainable
living demands a fundamental shift in values. But Action invariably precedes a
profound shift in values, so actually doing something is important. In the
process, one learns and becomes committed.” When the question of how people
affect the ability to push societal change, there is always the inevitable
argument that individual change is not enough and that we need systemic change.
While I agree with this, I believe there is potential in individual action. Action invariably precedes values. We
have to understand personally why our lifestyle choices need to change and then
find empowerment in the fact that we possess the ability to change our own lives.
*Synergy!
I knew that, even before I started the actual project that
the activities that comprise components 1 and 2 listed above could not, and
would not, be contained within such a simple framework. Simply put, the
activities in section two actually promote the mental health that I am to
achieve in section one. For example: Riding a bike is a great and simple way to
reduce your carbon output. In the process the exercise you get is good for your
body and the sensory stimulation, just the act of getting fresh air, are good
for your mind. Food is another great example. If you shop for locally grown,
than not only are you supporting sound agricultural practices you are also
eating real, nutritious, and delicious food that promotes a healthy body and a
stable mind. And –if you get the experience of growing food in a community
plot, or just in your backyard with room mates, food provides centrifuge for
building stronger relationships with the people that you love!
Writer’s Block
Starting a writer’s group was something that my close friend
Lucas and I have been talking about doing for years. The details for this
quarter’s incarnation were hashed out over a road trip to Idaho, Specifically
while driving through a wind farm in Eastern Washington. You can put all sorts
of structure to a project, but in the end things will always end up in a
different place then where you had intended. Initially the writer’s block
portion of this project was designed to achieve a very straightforward goal: to
become a better writer. As “class time” with Lucas progressed over the quarter,
writers block came to represent something more than just becoming a better
writer. The lines of class time overlap with the seasons and who we are
becoming as people, releasing the full
benefits of a writer’s group, even if it was just a party of two. The
experience was organic to say the least. You see, you can’t separate writing
from life, and this quarter my life was this contract. Given the fact that
Lucas isn’t getting any credit from this project, he has been a very good
sport, sticking with me through all of the ups and downs, the moments of
staring blankly at the page, experiencing the mind numbing frustration of
having an epic life story ruminate in your brain, but struggling with the
ability to connect thoughts to paper. Or the tiny moments of illumination that
often sprout up, completely unscripted, over dinner, when the official class
time was over and Lucas and I were just hanging out.
Even
when we’d ride our bikes to Volunteer Park, and struggle between a tough time
of stagnancy, not knowing what to write about, or what to even talk about, we
were surrounded by the immense beauty and spectacle of spring time. The
evolving season it seems stimulated the creative process. The writer’s block
came to mimic the explosive growth of the nature around us. If nothing came to
mind when we forced it to, then something sure came up during the gloaming
period of these spring nights when we’d walk through volunteer park or look at
Grave stones in The Civil War Cemetery.
Hot Yoga!
Initially, I wanted to take a yoga class to help me with
stress and anxiety. I never planned on it being hot yoga, but I don’t think I
would have been able to put up with plain yoga, once I did yoga in a room that
was heated to 105 degrees! Over the quarter I had to take a break because of
some bad neck pains that may or may not be yoga related, but I’m starting to
get back into it again. When I am doing hot yoga regularly, the experience is
hard to explain in words. Lets just say sweat, lots of sweat, a great body and
mind workout. And when yoga is done, I actually have an appetite to eat food,
and at the end of the time I am exhausted, and I can fall asleep without an
artificial remedies.
Transportation
Luckily, in the middle of
April my van bit the dust, and even when I borrowed my uncles truck for a bit
while my van was being worked on, the truck burst into flames one night while I
was driving it in Downtown Seattle. No, I wasn’t hurt, but the truck was
completely totaled. I took this as the best opportunity to commit to
alternative transportation and reduce my carbon footprint by not being so
dependent on vehicles that rely on fossil fuel. I fixed up my bike, and rode to
places where I usually drive to, like work and the various cafes that I study at.
Riding a bike provides a great opportunity to get fresh air, a strenuous
cardiovascular workout, and even spend time with friends. Seattle, the city I
call home, has a very healthy and diverse bike community. Going on a bike trip
is as simple as calling up some friends, and choosing one of the many exquisite
destinations nestled between the cascades and Mt. Rainier. People from out of
town often say, “I couldn’t imagine riding a bike in Seattle. How do you get
around all of those hills?” The answer is you just do it and take joy knowing
that while you’re providing an excellent workout for your body you’re also
doing your part to reduce your carbon footprint on the planet.
When
the rain was too much (I am a wimp compared to the bike messengers in downtown
Seattle and the hardcore commuters who take to the dangerous rainy downtown
streets for their work commute) I bought an Orca card and took a bus. What a
blessing it is, in our busy lives, to just slow down and match rhythm with a
lurching king county Metro bus. I can read my book, fall asleep, and take joy,
knowing that I don’t have to find a place to park, or that honking at moronic
drivers and shooting invisible rage missiles, is left to the noble and selfless
King County Bus Driver, who gets me to home and work safe.
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
This mantra never gets old and never risks becoming a green
cliché because what it implies is so universal and simple. For all of my
preaching about the wastefulness of Americans, I realized that I am the biggest
offender. My busy schedule doesn’t leave much time for cooking or grocery
shopping. I often times eat out, and I would be disturbed if all of the plastic
forks, spoons, and containers suddenly manifested themselves in front of me, in
an ominous mass of wastefulness. Like most Pacific Northwesterners, I rely on
copious amounts of coffee to get me through the rainy seasons, and accumulate a
disgusting amount of coffee cups. At work, along with reusable water jugs, the
water guy drops off packages of shrink wrapped plastic water bottles. Instead
of just getting water from the reusable water jug, I more often than not, just
crack open a plastic water bottle.
The
solution is simple really, just stop giving in and proliferating the illusions
that our consumer culture create. Hell, reduce, re-use, recycle is such age
old, common sense wisdom, it seems crazy that plastic bags or bottled water
exist in the first place. Personally, I have devised what I call a portable sustainable mess kit! comprised
of reusable containers and utensils. Nothing fancy, all I do is carry around in
my messenger bag a fork and spoon, a couple of canvas bags for groceries, a
glass Tupperware for leftovers, a Kleen Kanteen and a 8 oz coffee mug. This
way, even if I know I can’t be at home cooking food, when I’m on the go I am
taking easy steps towards living more sustainably.
Shop for locally
grown food
Initially, I wanted to focus this project entirely on food
systems and my detachment with the food that I put into my body. This focus
changed over time, by a combination of personal choice and the contracts
strange ability to morph itself organically and take on a new, and unexpected
direction. Food nevertheless took precedent in the contract, although I have to
say, if I was to grade my project, the eating healthy, locally grown food
portion would receive a D. And I have to be okay with that. I remind myself
that a quarter’s work isn’t going to be perfect, and that I am working to
change habits of the mind that I’ve been developing well over twenty years. The
first, and most important part is just becoming aware of how I affect systems
with my actions or inactions. I also learn more from the mistakes that I make,
than pretending that I’ve done everything right.
With
that being said, I did have time to visit and shop at the co-op where I live,
and the various farmer’s markets that happen during the weekend in just about
every neighborhood in the city. Through the literature that I’ve read in the
past, and for this quarter, I also know how important the values that I push
are, and even at times, when I give into the fast-food allure of easy food, I
will do so with a sense of responsibility, and understanding of the food
systems that I help to support and the life that I help to destroy, just to get
a quick fix.
Just Educate yourself!
There are countless things that I can change in my daily
routine that the span of a quarter couldn’t do justice to. The idea of taking
tiny steps are to first understand what kind of privilege I have in the society
that I live in. A great example is water. What I know about water: very little.
I know that it comes out of a faucet and I drink it. I know that long, hot
showers reduce the amount of stress I have at the end of the day. But at what
cost? I have to ask myself. One of the downsides of living in a communal house
is holding people accountable for the their water and electricity usage. How is
the price of water equally divided among people if one person takes frequent
longer showers, or another room mate washes laundry more often than others? Of
course, these are first world problems. In the chapter The Ocean Flowing Through Us, in his book, The Sacred Balance David Sazuki points out that much more water is
used in rich countries than in poor countries. A person in an industrialized
country uses between 350 and 1000 liters of water daily, compared to a person
living in rural Kenya who uses 2 to 5 liters. (pg. 107, The Sacred Balance) And
for the caffeinated aromatic lifeblood that sustains us Pacific Northwesterners
through the long and rainy winters, it takes about 20,000 liters of water to
produce one kilogram of coffee.
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