Stickers on fruit… if it’s just a regular little sticker, I don’t count it even though I know that the paper is probably coated with some kind of plastic. I’m not counting any other kind of coated paperboard either (disposable cups, milk cartons, etc.) although I do try to avoid them as much as possible. I wrote a post about these types of hidden plastics a while back. The link is here:

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/11/hidden-plastic.html

I guess the main reason is that I can’t weigh that stuff because I can’t separate it from the paper, which is the bulk of the weight. But I really don’t use much at all. Maybe when I get my regular plastic waste down to almost zero, I’ll start tallying all the non-recyclable, non-compostable garbage and see how that goes. Although, even coated paperboard is allowed in our green compost bins here in Oakland.

As to you second question about pets, I’ll be dealing with that issue very soon because we are getting two kittens in a couple of weeks. The cat box situation is already solved. I have no problem using certain plastic items if they have been previously owned, such as buying from Goodwill or getting through Freecycle. I put an ad on Freecycle for a cat litter box and someone generously gave us a very nice one. I feel good about reusing plastic items that would have ended up in a landfill, rather than buying new ones.

That’s really the only pet item I’ve figured out so far.

I have been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now via google reader. I really admire what you’re doing, and while I’m not anywhere near there myself, I find myself being much more aware of what I buy and consume and how I can start making small changes. I have two questions about your project, one that is a biggie and one that’s just kind of silly.

Silly question: Do you count the stickers on loose produce? (apple/banana stickers) Just curious.

Big question: How would someone with a pet go about avoiding plastics? I can’t imagine living without a plastic litter box, for example, or even if I could find a non-plastic box for cats (I suppose I could google it, but it’d probably be expensive). And dealing with pet messes, pet food, pet care in general–I can see ways to avoid or minimize plastic but it would be hard to avoid completely.

Thanks for sharing your blog with the internets!
–Tricia

It has also been said that the problem with Western man is he can’t sit alone in a room by himself for 15 minutes.

If there is any secret to what gives me peace of mind, it is that I attribute no significance to myself. I look at a pebble on the street and realize it could well be millions of years old, part of some larger piece of rock from who knows where. What am I but a wisp of smoke, a fleeting shadow, a momentary spark?

Loving, caring, respecting, honoring, nuturing are all very valuable, desirable things and whatever significance we have it comes from how we treat others.

But overall, in terms of the physical world, we are no more important or permanent than the leaves that fall from the trees each year. I have not noticed any of them complaining that they must fall, or desperately trying to cling to a branch, or one believing it is a special leaf.

You mentioned the Dalai Lama. He is at peace even as his country is taken over by the Han Chinese who are on the path to out-hustling and out-consuming even we Americans.

The best way to deal with life is, I think, to think of it as a fluke. What are the chances of you or I being alive here and now in this incredible universe? I count myself incredibly lucky to be here and if it all ends tomorrow, that’s that. To even think about being sad over it is laughable.

My advice to all is to get out there and do what you feel gives you a purpose. Squeeze every drop of juice from the life you have, a life you did nothing to deserve and every breath of which is pure good fortune while accepting your mortality, the inevitable, with grace.

In the Mahabharata, part of the Hindu canon, a spirit challenges one of the protagonists to answer a series of questions in order to bring his dead brothers back to life. One of the questions is “What is the greatest wonder?” and the answer is “That although death is all around us, we live each day as if we were immortal.”

When mortality is accepted, life begins. As Erich Fromm said, “The tragedy of man is not that he must die but that so many die before they are born.”