Something doesn’t add up
Gentle Goal Towards Making Myself as Sustainable as Possible
For the past few years I’ve made it a gentle goal to gradually make myself as sustainable as possible, most specifically with my purchases, or abstention from purchases: Choices I have enjoyed in order to make incremental sustainable shifts in my lifestyle. Of course the main contributors to the climate crisis are big corporations. (We’ve got to tackle that too.) But for me, making these shifts has been a good feeling, not just an alleviation of guilt for being a contributor to our planet’s CO2 levels as a car-driving (and car-loving) American, but as a passion project that has brought me joy.
- My favorite purchase: THIS ^ shampoo bar is lovely! No plastic bottle, no plastic wrapping. And it makes my bathroom smell fresh. (I still am using a conditioner in a bottle. Yeah, I’m not perfect.)
- I abstain from using Q-tips.
- Always bring a water bottle to work and a mug to my local coffee shop.
- I take my empty soap bottles once and a while to a place called Off the Bottle, a store with bulk cleaning products that I can use to refill my soap containers.
- I just recently bought the refillable LEAF razor. I just used it today to shave my legs and I LOVE it! A little pricy, but it’s high quality and the idea is it’ll last forever. No plastic.
5. I bought a scooter! It was relatively affordable ($399) and hopefully it’ll save me some gas money in the long run. And, it is HELLA fun. I use that to scoot scoot to the climbing gym I like to frequent. I call it my motorcycle, which it clearly is not, so it cracks me up. I’m hoping to take it to work soon too, at least once and a while. After doing research, my brand-of-choice was HiBoy.
6. Instead of paper towels or tissues, I have these recycled fabric cloths I bought from a local shop in Denver. Some people find it super hippy, I find it super soft and a nice, money-saving option over time! Some of these I fold up into tissue boxes, and others I leave out as paper towels. You can find something similar on Etsy. Or I use rags for cleaning from old clothes that I can then toss in the wash later.
7. Instead of plastic trash bags, I use the paper bags I get at the grocery store. (This makes for the need to wash out my trashcan more frequently, but eh, it’s worth it.) Yes, I could use those compostable trash bags, but… paper bags are free, and I usually forget my reusable ones for the grocery store anyway.
8. Powdered dishwasher detergent that is encased in cardboard, instead of plastic and laundry detergent encased in cardboard.
9. Thrift shopping, baby!
10.Trader Joe’s expandable sponges made from natural vegetable cellulose, not plastic. There’s 12 in one small little package.
My big goal which perhaps is the biggest one, (and hardest one) is to take my money out of the Big Banks, which are enormous corporate investors in fossil fuels, and to put it into a better bank. But this has proven tough and scary! Hard to make the leap, I don’t know why. SO, maybe, the goal will be to write a letter to the bank to push them to divest from fossil fuels? I don’t know, again, I’m not perfect.
So there you have it! A not-so-giant list of things I have enjoyed in making myself a little more sustainable.
One of the Solar Punk social media people I follow on Instagram, who is an environmental engineer, mentioned there is one major psychological phenomena that behavioral psychology has shown us is one of the biggest ways to influence change towards environmental well-being: Want to take a guess? It’s not more education, or feeling bad about climate change, or throwing more money at it (although those are good things too) but actually SELF EFFICACY: The feeling that you as a person matter, and can make a difference. This leads to personal changes and well-being and conversations between peers. Which can also affect policy. Who’da thought huh?
Also, if you don’t know about the Solar Punk movement, check it out. Google it. It’s inspiring. In order to create a better world, we need creatives to show us ideas and images of what is possible as an outcome, and then we can all devise road maps to get there.
Which one is your favorite sustainable option? Anything not on this list you love to use?
Happy Earth Day: Comparing humanity to the lifespan of a human
I sometimes compare humanity to the lifespan of the human: Right now we’re in our rebellious teenager stage. We’re dysfunctional and hormonal, starting fights between countries, thinking we know everything but have so much to learn. We fail to recognize that the habits we have now will impact our future health and well-being of our body/planet. We need to kick that addictive oil habit. But we’ve started now and can’t stop. We have so much potential but we’re squandering it on the moment, the quick fun fix instead of paying attention to the signals of our planet, telling us: Rest, recharge and change you’re unhealthy consuming habits.
You know that phrase live fast and die young? When the young die early because they’re living a rock and roll lifestyle doing drugs and making bad habits cause they’re fun. That’s the stage of humanity we’re in, and we might die at the peak of our potential.
We are the most advanced global civilization we have ever been. We have so much potential to become a unified, peaceful planet that thrives in coexistence with our planet/body but we’re blowing it now when it matters most: When we face the point of no return with the climate crisis. We could be the Janis Joplin’s who lived fast and died young as a civilization. We need to kick that oil habit and utilize our full potential to create a healthy happy lifestyle within our planetary organism that is earth: That is ourselves. Or we’ll wipe ourselves off this planet.
Happy Earth Day everyone. C’mon humans, let’s grow up.
The divine masculine in dance
I absolutely love this video. Pure joy from a man comfortable in his zone. Free flowing. Energetic. Powerful. Uplifting. And his kiddo doing art in the background just adds to the organic flow. The caption reads:
To the haters, he only offers kindness. He is THAT comfortable in his skin and masculinity. 🙌
The opposite of suffering is not happiness…It’s compassionate acceptance of negative feelings
…acceptance and the gentle movement towards change
Happy Friday the 13th! A harbinger of good, an association with the divine feminine
In the current culture, Friday the 13th is largely considered an unlucky day. Funny thing is: I’ve always noticed I’ve had GREAT days on Friday the 13th. So much so, I look forward to them.
Deep in the recesses of my brain, I had this notion that it’s somehow associated with paganism and the divine feminine. So I decided to look it up today. Sure enough I pulled up an article from CNN:
But, as with most pagan things, it was condemned and deemed “unholy” when Christianity took hold, because it stood at odds with the new patriarchal order. If the rulers now consider god to be a single man, not many gods and goddesses, then the way to control that is to say anything the opposite is bad and wrong. So anything around the number 13 and feminine power was suddenly bad.
I like Friday the 13th. I Embrace its pagan divine feminine origins. I already feel it in my bones. It’s a day to celebrate. Celebrate the yin. Bask in your bleeding womanhood. Extend out loving kindness to your fellow women, men and all people. And hold yourself as holy.
Ode to the pelvis
It curves, it supports it blossoms out from the core of the frame. The heart of the center. The butterfly of the body.
The female pelvis serves many purposes. The male, mostly one. The female pelvis undulates and circulates, it dances and runs and pushes life optimally through it.
Not only do these female bones support and propel the body to motion they also support and propel life into being. All beings.
If you were to ask the authors of medicine though, it would say:
These female bones support the human frame for bipedal locomotion just like male bones, AND they succeed in purpose and responsibility to push humans to life. We are not constrained by it. We merely have more ability.
We can do just as much as male bodies, under the pressure of a body built for multiple purposes. It’s like running a race and still winning when you have hurtles to jump while your racing someone with a clear path.
We’re so used to female bodies being presented as less capable when in reality we are more capable ie have multiple capabilities. We’re all different, not better or worse than another. The female pelvis is optimized for bipedal locomotion AND for propelling life to being. Be proud of your pelvis.
I’m often amazed that doctors and chiropractors have images of the human form and skeleton, but rarely, if ever, is it a female body or skeleton on the wall. As if male is the default. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth anyway. (All humans start as female in the womb. Why do you think men have nipples?)
Regardless, it’s important to take into consideration the beautiful and vital differences in anatomy in medicine and everyday life, even, and especially, down to the pelvis.
Montana elects first trans-non-binary representative and first trans woman representative to the House 👏
This is ground breaking! SJ Howell will now represent District 95 and Zooey Zephr will represent District 100 in Montana! I met SJ Howell a handful of times when I lived in Montana. SJ Howell has done amazing work: They’ve worked on a successful campaign expanding Medicaid and worked on increasing civic engagement for low income women. They always were badass and so kind. It means a lot to have someone like that elected to represent the people.
And Zooey Zephr: I can’t wait to see what she does!
Vote!!!
Tomorrow is a VERY important midterm. It’s Roevember. And people are on ballots across the country who are election deniers. This midterm is crucial to democracy. Vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote
Vote
Vote
Vote
Vote
Vote
This is perhaps the most important thing in the abortion debate
The misinformation that has spread about what a pregnancy looks like at the beginning weeks, is astounding. (The misinformation has been intentional by forced birthers.) it’s important to know what it really like. See below for what a pregnancy actually looks like before ten weeks. And, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s a beautiful thing if you want to grow those cells into a life but it’s also perfectly fine to avoid the growth of those cells too.
To read the Guardians full article, go to https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/pregnancy-weeks-abortion-tissue
To learn more about the MYA Network, check out their site. https://myanetwork.org
Julia View 