Plastic. It's what's for dinner.

For Sea life that is! Plastic waste is one of the most significant sources of marine pollution: According to UNEP, plastic accounts for 90% of all debris floating in the oceans - with every square mile containing close to 46,000 pieces. Let me just say that again. EVERY SQUARE MILE OF OCEAN CONTAINS CLOSE TO 46,000 PIECES OF PLASTIC! It's not that there is enough plastic in one location of the ocean to equal 46000 pieces each square mile, it IS per square mile. Can you BELIEVE THAT? I'm overwhelmed. Plastic is our best friend. We use it in every moment of life it seems; from our toothbrush, our shampoo bottle, tupperware that holds our lunch, pieces of our shoes, furniture, tennis raquets, canoes....the list goes on and on. You name it, you can find it in a plastic version. So, what to do? Stay tuned. I'll be finding out.

More Horrifying Pics of the 'Patch'

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

There is absolutely NOTHING 'great' about this travesty. Though I'm not an Oprah watcher typically, my husband woke me up from a nap last Saturday as he had come across this horrific article about a garbage dump in the Pacific Ocean that's double the size of Texas and stretches from California to Japan. He knows I'm obsessed with stuff like this lately which is why he dared wake me up from a nap! ;) As he's shoving his laptop into my face, my half open eyes are trying to adjust and to my absolute HORROR I see this trash heap. I couldn't believe it. If you're not ashamed, you should be. We have all contributed to this. It's high time we start decontributing. Check out Oprah if you haven't already seen the GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE HEAP. http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090422-tows-ocean-pollution/1

Week 1 and still changing!

So, I just bagged up my very first full trash bag since I began this journey of stewardship last Friday. Before, Andis and I would typically fill a trash bag every other day or so and this week we lasted 10 days! Woohoo! Our trash bag was about 20lbs. which is a decent change from about 80-100 lbs. of trash in a week. ;( We had NO IDEA~! Anywho, I've started holding back my food scraps for the local community garden compost pile and most of our trash this week WAS food scrap so my goal for week 2 is to last 15-20 days before I fill a trash bag. Wish me luck! How's YOUR journey going??

Love That Link!

Hey Everyone! Found a great new exciting, enthralling, supportive and God loving Green website! Check out www.greenchristiannetwork.com. Good information given by good people, serving a GOOD GOD!

Little Bits of Trash = not so little bits of trash.

So, I was surveying my pantry this evening, something I do often since the beginning of this journey. Andis will find me just staring at sections of our house (usually the kitchen and bathroom), pondering trash for moments on end. As I was staring I was thinking about the ease of the 'single-serving' movement that currently plagues our society. We usually don't have time to measure, we don't have time to make, we want just enough, we want it now, we want it fast and we want to be able to fix it with ease and thoughtlessness. Oatmeal, sweetener, creamer for my coffee, energy drink packets, bouillon, crackers, snacks, popcorn, cereal, vegetable juice, milk...you can find virtually anything and everything in single serving size. Think about all of those tiny individual packets that ARE NOT recyclable for those of you who don't know. When instead I could buy in bulk and have one container (that is PROBABLY recyclable) to dispose of. Novel! Now, buying bulk popcorn and cooking it in anything other than the microwave seems like an absolutely ancient practice, but does anyone remember the JIFFY POP? We had one during my childhood and I LOVED IT! You pour the oil and popcorn in, watch the spinner and all of sudden, like magic, POPCORN! It reminds me of Sunday nights at the Baker house; popcorn always, a family film, always and pizza and soda if we were lucky...and the Jiffy Pop. My how simple things were then! ;) I digress.

Moral of the story: Single servings are stupid. Buy in bulk!

Wait, CAN I recycle that?

Ok. We all know, paper, plastic, glass, aluminum can be recycled....but what about all of the 'itsy-bitsy's' that we aren't sure about? Well, in an effort not to assume anything, I'm finding out. Here is a partial list of things that I have come across and wondered about. Hope it helps you on your journey. ;)

1. Post-it's, receipts, manila folders: YES, YES, YES! These can all be recycled in the paper bin as long as they aren't soiled (coffee, spit, etc.) They can be flattened or wadded up, it makes no difference and you don't even have to take the staples out! Yippee! And for those of you thinking, awww, no need to worry about those receipts, there so few and far between and they're so small, it won't make a difference....DID YOU KNOW: In the United States, alone, 220,000 tons of receipt paper are produced each year. One ton of paper is equivalent to seventeen trees. Simple math...those 220,000 tons of U.S. receipt paper require the use of 3,740,000 trees every year. (Receipts don't just grow on trees, afterall; they're made of trees!)

2. Coffee bags: Yes and No. Most coffee bags are paper on the inside and the exterior is thin aluminum which is actually not recyclable. Paper bags lined with glassine which is a thin, water resistant paper film are recyclable in total but paper bags with a wax lining are not...and paper bags with plastic lining are recyclable but must be separated and recycled separately. Tree-hugger Tip: If you frequent a local coffee house, ask if you can bring your own container!

3. Soiled Paper plates: Yes! If you want your recycling center to love you, rinse the plate, but it's not necessary to be recycled.

4. Photos or glossy photo paper: YES. The answer is yes.

5. Styrofoam is NOT recyclable. It seems like we should know this, but we don't. No, no on styrofoam.

Ok....as I come across new items in question, I will share!

365 Days of Trash

As Andis and I were sitting at our fave Mexi restaurant after church today the thought entered my psyche...what if we could produce no 'trash' for an entire year? I don't mean waste because even recycling and compost is considered waste, but what if everything we consumed could either be reused, recycled or composted? With the average American producing 4-6 lbs. of trash a day, that would save 3,650 lbs. of trash from entering landfills between the both of us in a year! What an impact!

Naturally, I knew that someone else had done it before so I began to research and found Sustainable Dave who took on the same challenge last year. To check him out go to www.365daysoftrash.blogspot.com. His manner is quite different than ours will be as we don't have a basement in which to store our trash until D-day nor do we have a worm farm for composting, but our goal is this....

Compost all of the food waste that we can, reuse and recycle the rest. I know that this will be a journey and a learning process and that we won't be able to achieve our goal of no trash for a year right away, and that as we progress we will come up with new alternatives to waste so patience with ourselves is the key, but if you don't start somewhere you won't get anywhere I think.

Wish us luck on this adventure.

Lay off the landfills. Recycle.

Check this link out for more info. on landfills. How they work, where they are, the effects on our environment, etc. Pretty eye-opening. The most staggering part to me is the fact that landfills are not designed to decompose the trash that sleeps within them. 65% of 251 million tons of trash go into landfills each year to just sit. Imagine, decades down the road, your great great grandchild purchasing a nice little piece of land with a view, building a house and then realizing only after their entire family started to get sick, or their house started sinking that they had built directly on top of a landfill. Seems far removed and impossible to us now, but could it happen? Yes. Do you know where your local landfills are? Do you know where every landfill in your area has been for the last 50 years? http://earth911.com/blog/2009/03/30/the-lowdown-on-landfills/

Day 1 & Little Lessons.

So, we've officially started a recycling program for our apartment complex and though there are only 4 apartments, the waste that we produce is more than I'm sure we know. We bought some trashcans, made some signs, gave instructions to everyone and here we go. A few beginner tips for everyone out there desirous to do the same...

1. Check with your local recycling company before you launch into what you think might work. It's beneficial to know if yours will take big bags of everything and sort themselves or if it's more of a self-service center where each item needs to be bagged separately. Ours is self-service so it's important that each category is separated for easy drop off. The Smithville center only accepts aluminum, plastic, cardboard and newspaper so we will need to take 'other' paper, glass and ink to Bastrop.

2. Reminding participants is important...especially in Phase 1. We are so used to 'trashing' that we mindlessly toss things into the garbage that can actually be recycled. I was actually tempted to trash the very sign I was making for one of my containers because it wasn't pretty. Really Whit? It's a recycling bin. Like I said, these growing pains are very real and deserve attention. ;) Remember, we're retraining ourselves here so patience is necessary and peeking into the trash to see if anything snuck in is also important.

3. Know thy center. The home page of http://www.earth911.org/ will allow you to search for centers in your area by product so it's easy to figure out if they accept #1 or #2 plastic, only aluminum, etc. This will take the guesswork out of your recycling program. NOTE: You might have to drive a few miles to find a center that accepts all of what you can recycle, but if you can share the load with neighbors and friends, the value of recycling should outweigh the cost of gas to get there. ;)

3. Know your products. The following link leads to an article on plastics, the difference between them, what items are represented by what number, etc. Bon Appetit'! http://home.howstuffworks.com/question217.htm

4. Don't get discouraged! Remember, you have come upon this passion and though it becomes contagious, don't expect everyone to be on the same page as you right away and be prepared for the fact that they might not ever be. This could cause tension if they are someone in your household, but remember that there's no need to exchange our love for our neighbor with a greater love for the environment. God's desire is our love for both and the harmony therein.

Happy Greening.

Some thoughts and feelings about this journey.

The emotions envoked in me when I imagine making the choice to change my lifestyle in response to becoming a better steward of the Earth is first and foremost EXCITEMENT, HOPE and insurmountable bits of inspiration. I've always had a desire to live a simple life. In my daydreams I see myself living on a farm or a small piece of land on the water, surrounded by gardens and fresh air. Gathering eggs and hanging clothes on the line, biking to the grocery store and having iced tea in a hammock by the lake, thoughts only interrupted by the laughter of children, the birds chirping and the bugs buzzing. Not bothered by the radio, t.v. full of fear promoting bad news, the internet, iphone, ipod...all of the tools that replace our longing and desire for the still, quiet music of silence and for realtionship with God.

The joy of such thoughts are quickly crowded out by impending failure and defeat; the worry that I won't be able to give up my comforts and ease for such self-sacrifice, but is is really self-sacrifice? I consider what I might consider giving up and what that loss might be replaced with.....

Big house, lots of space, fast cars, ease and comfort, lots of STUFF in exchange for a greater intimacy with with my family, myself, my neighbors, God. Patience, peace, quiet, simplicity, joy in the small stuff of life and the assurance that I'm behaving in a way that would make God proud and is helping to preserve this great planet for future generations and creating a healthier, less toxic environment for my family and myself.

I'm not sure what's prevented me from making such a lifestyle change before. Andis said this morning, "It all just makes so much sense. Why didn't we do this a long time ago?" What has prevented us from making this change?? Not being raised with the value of the environment being stressed, lack of knowledge, the pressure of society, advertising, all of the above. In order to break the cycle of 'consuming' and 'trashing' and replacing it with reducing, reusing and recycling, wholistic living and detoxifying the consumption that is necessary I see that three things are vital: 1. the desire to change, inspired by awareness of reality, 2. the knowledge and education needed to stimulate change, 3. a deeper understanding of God and His Truth to sustain change by putting my 'trash triggers' in perspective and taking their weight and power away.

My addiction to consumption and waste begins to wane now.

Planet Green....

is the BEST website EVER! Go to www.planetgreen.discovery.com to find a guide on 'going green' in every part of your life; from home to body to fashion and everything in between. My favorite is the list of 27 ways to 'green' your head though I'm not quite to a point where I can highlight my hair with potato peels. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/fashion-beauty/twentyseven-ways-green-head.html

Happy green hunting!

Serve God, Save the Planet.

So, I found a great book that speaks along the lines I've been thinking about. It's called Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth who was an E.R. doctor, living the American dream; big house, fast cars, all the modern conveniences one could employ. He began to suspect that the Earth and its inhabitants were in deep trouble as he bore witness to increasing cases of chronic diseases. Turning to Jesus for guidance, he discovered how the scriptural lessons of personal responsibility, simplicity, and stewardship could be applied to modern life. The Sleeth's have since sold their big home and more than half of what they owned and are sharing in the joy of adopting a healthier, less materialistic lifestyle which has led to stronger relationships and a richer spirituality.

I will share our experience in this journey as we come to a deeper understanding of our responsibility as stewards and the adjustments in lifestyle that such a worldview will inevitably entail.

For those of you anxious to start your own journey, I would definitely recommend this book!

This Is Reality.

So, I figure the first step toward change is to become educated about what's really going on. I'm not exactly sure how to do that as there is so much propoganda floating around and the labels associated with certain 'movements' have certain kinds of people scared to lift a finger because they don't want to be labeled as 'Democrat' or 'Tree hugger' or 'Anti-gun activists'. Regardless, I need to ferret my way through the muck so to speak so here I go.....thoughts and suggestions welcome from those of you who know more than I.

Some staggering facts:

The U.S. EPA estimates that 75 percent of what Americans throw in the trash could actually be recycled.

Incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates one job; landfilling 10,000 tons of waste creates six jobs; recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs.

The national recycling rate of 30 percent saves the equivalent of more than five billion gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels.

According to the U.S. EPA, recycling (including composting) diverted 68 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2001, up from 34 million tons in 1990.

Some helpful websites:

www.earth911.com- Basically your all around Earth guide; help finding recycling centers, what can be recycled, how to start a recycling program, etc. Good stuff.

www.thisisreality.com- The truth about 'clean coal'.

More to come....

Recycle or burn!

Ok. So maybe that title is a little extreme, but not ineffective when it comes to cluing you into my latest of passions. I've never been a recycler. I wasn't raised recycling, no one in my family recycles, none of my immediate friends recycle. I'm what I guess you could call a 'trasher'. I throw away anything and everything at first notice that's it a bit frayed aroudn the edges. I'm an obsessive cleaner and the waste that our 2 person family produces is UNGODLY, literally. We don't even reuse; not ziplocks, not bottles, not foil, not even scrap paper. If there's one sentence on a piece of paper, it goes to the trash.

Well, lately I've been thinking. WHY? Why are we content to sit in front of the t.v. watching episode after episode of natural disaster, global warming and species extinction without even the faintest itch in our conscience that we could be contributing to the problem and even if our psyche lets us get that far, why are we not then compelled, overwhelmingly, insatiably, undisputably compelled to do something about our lazy, self-centered, comfort and ease propelled wasteful, sinful lifestyles? And even more, what about the fact that 1 in 15 people in the U.S. will develop some sort of cancer this year? What about the babies, the middle aged, the elderly, the PETS plauged with debilitating disease? Cancer, Ahlzheimers', M.S., Parkinsons...you name it, we have it. What about the smog in the air and the mercury in the fish and the putrid bacteria in all manner of natural water? What about the pesticides and the red dye and the chemicals we soak ourselves in everyday? And we wonder why we can't breathe and why our joints ache and why we get headaches and why we're obese and why, why, why we spend hundreds on prescription medication. This isn't just about recycling..this is about becoming stewards of what we've been given; our world; the Earth, our bodies, our fellow human.

I've come to the conclusion that we have failed miserably in our stewardship and it's time we make some changes; some drastic, uncomfortable, expensive and not very convenient changes. So, this will serve as an account of one middle of the row family's effort toward change and a more appropriate view of what it means to be stewards of God's good world and everything in it. I hope you find it in yourself to join our meager attempts.