my favorite color is now green

one of the byproducts of our culture's over-consumption, perhaps the most serious one, is the huge amounts of waste we generate when we consume just about anything.  food, power, clothing, driving...pretty much nothing in our collective lifestyle is exempt from creating some form of waste.  we are the world's number one shoppers and we consume the lion's share of the natural resources and made goods on the planet.   the statistics about our carbon footprints, global warming, mass consumption, etc. are everywhere.  i have always heard these numbers, and not being a numbers kind of gal, have been able to pretty easily push the true implications of those digits aside.  that is until i saw the series "intolerable beauty" by the photographer  chris jordan.   some of his images are featured above, but if you have a sec, check out his website.  the whole series is amazing, as is his other work, most of which critiques consumerism.    actually seeing the sorted piles and piles of waste that we all helped generate put things in perspective for me and has made me think twice about where the stuff i chuck actually ends up.  might there be a better place to take this?   could someone else use it?  do i really need to "upgrade" to the new, new thing?  it seems funny that i am so willing to amass stuff and take time and care in picking it out, but i'm not willing to hold on to it when its no longer useful or stylish and not willing to give much thought to how to properly dispose of it. 

for my last week of this project, i'm going to try to make my home "more green" and set up better systems for dealing with the waste my family generates.  the way i see it, recycling and better using resources really is the ultimate testament to being intelligently frugal.  it costs less to repurpose something than to buy it brand new.  and in terms of the energy required to create something,  not having to start completely from scratch saves a ton of energy.  i read a great little book yesterday at the library called how to reduce your carbon footprint by joanna yarrow.  it is chock full of good ideas and statistics on ways you can help save energy and the planet.  here's a good one: "recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a computer for 30 minutes." or how about this?: "in the u.s. each year, as much gasoline is spilled when filling lawn mowers as in the exxon valdez tanker disaster." 

i am planning to set up bins for the recyclables not currently accepted by salt lake county's semi-pathetic system.  I found out that there are still places in town that accept glass so i plan to start making an adventure out of taking our glass and our cans to these individual recyclers.  if you want in on this action, let me know! i think it will be fun for the kids, and bonus, we could actually get some spare change back from all our beer cans! maybe enough to see a movie or just buy more beer? if you want to know what else you can recycle and where to take it in the salt lake vicinity check out http://www.recycle.slco.org  and download their recycling guide. i've got other ideas to share but the superbowl and the stew i made are calling out to me.  it is so nice to be home and revved up for one last week of budgetary battle!  

Free Blog Counter