My first “awakening” moment came when an aquaintance informed me about all the chemicals that are in normal shampoo. I was shocked, never having given that much thought. And I changed my shampoo (and my hair got so much better). And I started to read and also changed other products. And then I saw your blog, and I read and looked around me, and for the first time in my life realized how much plastic I consume and have around me! It shocked me, truly and deeply.
So I’ve decided to try to avoid plastic as much as I can and feel comfortable with. i’ve also renewed my dedication to recycled paper (and organzied some friends to order recycled materials that we need as students from a special company because we can’t get them in recycled quality in the stores). I’m also going to do my best to raise awareness in my friends. They’re a good bunch, and a couple of them changed their shampoos after I told them about the ingredients, so I’m hopeful we can all change for the better.

Thanks for your blog!!!

So what made me cross the line from being an armchair environmentalist who paid only lip service to someone who is a kook (according to my husband) who spends too much of her day thinking, talking and trying to do something to better the environment? My kids. I know it sounds very cliché. But it is the truth. Five years ago, my first daughter was born. I began to see the world through her eyes. I began to worry about the world she would inherit. And then everything became personal. I know it is very selfish to wake up because of my own offsprings. No matter, it served as my aha moment.

I am still struggling with how to deal with people who simply don’t care, even though I know I was there maybe not 5 years ago, but definitely 10 years ago.

Fantastic topic. Thanks.

First of all, thank for your blog, which has inspired and educated me over the weeks that I have been reading it.

I heard about the Pacific Ocean Plastic a few days ago from my husband. It broke my heart. I cry when I think about it. Just the thought of that muck continuing for generations from now – showing our selfishness and our greed. I think about the plastic I have thrown away in the past, and I know that I am partly responsible for that mass of plastic too, because some of it may have ended up there.

I come from a deeply religious Christian background, and I guess my ‘greenness’ is part of my love for my Creator and my reverence for the amazing world he made. I was very fortunate to spend a lot of time outdoors in the mountains and other wild places growing up. My parents didn’t have much money, so instead of expensive amusement parks, MacDonald’s and movies, we went walking in New Zealand’s bush. I am so thankful for this! When I’m walking in the bush I feel more alive than at any other time. So even at an early age it used to really bother me when I saw rubbish or other desecration of the natural world. I am convinced that if more people were able to experience the beauty of the natural world they would have more respect for it, especially if they are given the opportunity as children.
If there was an ‘aha’ moment it was reading Envirowoman’s blog. I suddenly started noticing how plastic was EVERYWHERE. I was already using cloth bags when shopping, but my plastic avoidance has gone to a whole new level. I have quite an obsessive, intense personality, so it is pretty hard at times. I get upset when I am out walking now and see rubbish (I need to combine running with picking up trash like you do!), and supermarket shopping is very stressful because I can see so much plastic, the vast majority of it destined to be used once and then thrown away. I have cut down our meat consumption to once or twice a week, and am reducing dairy as well.

But I have hope. I was picking up rubbish today at my children’s Playcentre. It is in the grounds of a school, and lots of rubbish blows in – cling film, chip packets, bottles, plastic bags, etc. I was upset about it, but I thought, ‘In five years, this is going to be different. It won’t be like this. It will be better.’

My opinion on the question you asked of us is that the sight of what is happening to the environment is the most powerful stimulus to change.

Imagine the impact of seeing Fresh Kills in NYC or a shipload full of electronic junk headed for China. I recall in grade school a field trip to the city garbage dump where large earthmoving equipment was lifting and hauling mountains of garbage. You could clearly see in the mess all the familiar things of our daily lives. At that time it was burned in a huge incinerator just a mile or two from where it all was picked up.

That local garbage handling facility is long gone, though I would bet the volume of garbage we produce in town is just as great if not greater than in those days. Now everything disappears from Chicago to…Wisconsin! Every bit of our trash takes a 45 mile ride to a landfill most will never see. And the local landfill? It is a beautifully landscaped park with the highest peak of garbage turned into a winter sledding hill we call “Mt. Trashmore”.

My point is that we don’t see the ugly side of what we do. We don’t see the belching smokestacks that are now in Asia. The filty rivers of China, the choking smog of Chinas roaring industrial cities that produce what we buy. To all appearances, we in the urban USA live a life of no consequences on the environment because our surroundings are totally artificial, paved over, built up into the sky, or if there is greenery it is carefully managed by a “forestry” department where every plant, every tree was planned to be where it is.

If ever there were a case of out of sight – out of mind, we live it. So my prescription for opening eyes and minds is to visually shock. As a small example, I pulled aluminum cans from a garbage dumpster after a football game. The folks who held tailgate parties left without thinking of what they do, with happy memories of partying and drinking but leaving behind over 6 pounds of pure aluminum, 490 cans, in the garbage (this from just one dumpster I pillaged), headed for Wisconsin burial.

Here is the picture I sent to the city council, the city manager and the local paper. I think it makes the point.
http://cbplace.com/cans2.jpg

PS – Wisconsin puts out a promo bumper sticker for distribution in Illinois that says “Escape to Wisconsin!” I’ve always wanted to modify it to say “Escape to Wisconsin, Your Garbage Already Has!”

Then I saw my first friends cross over, from high-strain living into high-value living, and I realized that the first step looks small– but it always led to a permanent separation from a former lifestyle.

Like the caterpillars in “Hope for the Flowers,” is the slide from affluenza to sustainability necessarily individual, self-guided, and terrifying?

My “Aha!” moment was to decide to stop partway along the slip into a more wholesome life, and live with a foot in both worlds. I am drawn, oh, so drawn, to join everyone in Paradise, but I am also powerfully motivated to encourage and inspire others to set their first foot onto the slippery slope. I don’t know how to do this if I completely retire a world of renewable energy and back-to-the-land food forestry.

So I set myself the goal of encouraging others to build eco-topias where ever they are, from suburbia to to the densest urban centers.

I’ve begun to see the results of this labor, and it’s very very rewarding.