It is as though the raw materials are dug out of one hole in the ground--a mine or an oil well--only to be transferred to another hole in the ground--a landfill--with a very short stop at my house in between. Indeed, in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, some 28% of our municipal waste, by weight, was packaging and containers. No Impact Man
I just loved that succinct way of describing trash. This is really dumb. Today I felt inspired to follow through on an idea I had a while ago. As soon as it came to me I raced outside with scissors and chalk and pulled some black landscape cloth out of an
outdoor pot where I’d stuck it months ago. I marked and cut and came inside where I pulled out the sewing machine and stitched my creation together. May I present my impetuous whimsy – Mr. Trash Dummy.
So I have been trying to reduce my trash for 4 ½ months, but I don’t have a good sense of how well I am doing. Here is one foot of trash (get it?) from the last 2 weeks. I really have no idea how long it will take to totally fill up my trash dummy. This isn't very scientific, but it is gratifying in a childishly simple way.
I compost my food scraps, I have almost no mail or junk mail and this goes to my worms too. I recycle, though that is pretty minimal too. The bits and bobs of plastic and foil, plastic from my restaurant take out containers. I recently bought a so-called earth friendly detergent. So I will have that big container at some point. I return my egg cartons to the farmer and often use yogurt containers. This should be interesting.
Seriously, I think there is something to having a visual. In Fake Plastic Fish, Beth Terry photographs her plastic trash and weighs it too. I am partial to the human shape. I think this will be my way of showing myself how well I am doing with eliminating trash. And possibly I can come up with a use for Mr. Trash Dummy.
Screen Beans in the Microsoft world are still my favorites.
Main Entry: dum•my
- a: a person who is incapable of speaking b: a person who is habitually silent c: a stupid person
- a: the exposed hand in bridge played by the declarer in addition to his own hand b: a bridge player whose hand is a dummy
- an imitation, copy, or likeness of something used as a substitute: as a: mannequin b: a stuffed figure or cylindrical bag used by football players for tackling and blocking practice c: a large puppet usually having movable features (as mouth and arms) manipulated by a ventriloquist dchiefly British : pacifier 2
- one seeming to act independently but in reality controlled by another
- a: a mock-up of a proposed publication (as a book or magazine) b: a set of pages (as for a newspaper or magazine) with the position of text and artwork indicated for the printer
2 comments:
"I have almost no mail or junk mail..."
Wait--how did you manage that? I've tried calling the catalogs to get off their lists, tried www.catalogchoice.com too, and the stuff just keeps coming--including catalogs for the previous tenant, who moved out over TEN YEARS ago. Plus the grocery flyers and other local advertising--and OMG, the election crap--it's horrible! How do you stop all this stuff from coming in?
I love, love, love my mail carrier. She is a dream. She admits that she is not really supposed to do it, but she doesn't deliver crap. She even knows I am supportive of progressive groups and lets this mail through.
Also, I signed up with a group I found via No Impact Man. I am sorry I don't have the name or the link because I don't trust my internet connection (and how long it is taking today) to go find it. I know that Green Dimes is recommended too.
Lastly, I am semi-retired and I am incredibly cautious about cookies. I do not shop online except for one seed company and Path to Freedom's Peddler's wagon. I am even cautious about visiting sites where there is shopping. This has helped a great deal I suspect with my name staying off lists.
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