Packaging! And bulk!

What is up with the ridiculous amounts of packaging? It's going to drive me nuts. I went to costco the other day to buy in bulk for the next few months/years. One of the things I bought was a package of 10 Britta filters. I didn't really need 10 filters, but that's how things work at Costco, so into the cart they went. Upon arriving home, I opened the box to pull out a filter, and inside I found... more boxes! The filters were packaged in boxes of five filters, and those boxes were then placed inside the larger box. Additionally, each filter comes in it's own plastic bag. What an awful waste of resources.

I'd like to add a little note about buying in bulk. There are two different ways to buy in bulk, and I'm not sure that the difference is always appreciated by consumers. One way is the Costco way - you buy a lot of one item at a discount, often ending up with more than you really need. This way works best for businesses, groups such as church groups, and large families. The other way is to buy from the bulk bins at a store, such as a local food co-op or natural foods store. The store buys in bulk at a discount, and passes those savings on to you - you buy only the amount you need, generally without a lot of extra packaging as well, and everyone wins!

Getting ready for a week of ?

Normally I would spend Sunday preparing for the week ahead. This is a new time in my life, though, so I'm more preparing for the long-term. I have a whole list of projects that I plan to get started on, and I'm hoping I can structure my week like a regular work-week, except instead of working for money, I'll be working for my own well-being. For example, every day I hope to spend some time working on my portfolio in case I decide that I actually want to do architecture again, some time studying things I want to study, and some time working on projects that I've been procrastinating. Also, I plan to spend time going to the gym, and I'm hoping to start getting a reasonable amount of sleep, which has always been a problem for me.

One of the things that I did today that is a normal Sunday activity for me was to go to the farmer's market, which improved my mood considerably. There's nothing like seeing piles of fresh produce in January for reasonable prices, grown locally by actual farmers, to make me happy. I bought mandarins, Brussels sprouts, lettuces, two types of mushrooms, potatoes, and squash. That should easily get me through the week, if not farther. I'm excited to make mushroom soup, tomato-squash soup, and roasted Brussels sprouts with potatoes.

So at this point, it's a matter of deciding what I want to do each day (in addition to looking for a job, of course). I plan to spend two days working out at my mom's house, and then the rest of the week is mine! All mine! It's a bit of a strange feeling to have so much time for myself. I'm a little worried that I'll get too used to it.

A new year, a new decade?

I start this new year near rock bottom for me. I was recently admitted to the ranks of the unemployed (which has me doubting my value as a person as well a my career choice), so many of my friends have moved away, and I have almost no family to speak of. Therefore, I think it might be time for a New Year's Resolutions post as well as a gratefulness post. I'll start with 5 things I'm grateful for and then move on to some resolutions.

1. My apartment. I love it. It's especially nice during the day when the light is coming in and I can see the plants outside. There's something awfully nice about being able to see plants outside your window. I can't wait to actually use the yard when it gets warmer.
2. My garden. I'm hoping to spend more time there as we head into spring, but for right now, I'm quite happy just to know it's there waiting for me.
3. My cats. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's so nice to have unconditional love from someone, even if that someone is a cat. They've been really good lately, not making nearly as many messes as usual, and being much more loving and cuddly. It makes me very happy.
4. Snow. I wish I lived closer to snow, but it's pretty darned close as it is.
5. Having warm clothes. I don't think I really appreciate it enough. Warm clothes are good.

OK, on to resolutions:

1. Lose weight and get in shape. A usual resolution. I've done it before, and I can certainly do it again.
2. Climb a mountain or two. This goes hand-in-hand with resolution #1.
   
3. Find a job that I look forward to doing.
4. Stop drinking soda. So far, so good. I was really tapering off during the month of December in order to prepare for this, and it's going well.
5. Become a cleaner, more organized person.

It seems I'll have to spend some more time thinking about this. I want my list to be attainable and reasonable, so I don't want to just write down any old thing. So I'll start with some baby steps.

Ruminations on Wall-E, garbage, and culture

I recently had to write a paper for a sustainable design class that I'm taking. The assignment was to watch Wall-E and write a paper using the prompt "Is this the direction of our planet is taking? Is it a world problem or individual? Or… does the development of machines threaten humanity itself?" I'd like to share my paper with you:

The movie Wall-E portrays an eerie picture of where humanity is headed. It depicts a future in which the earth is so covered in garbage and toxic waste that it is no longer able to support life of any kind, and humans have fled to live in starships in the hope that specially designed robots who have been left on the planet can clean it up in 5 years so that humans can return to a newly habitable planet. Unfortunately, the earth is so badly contaminated, that it becomes impossible to return for the foreseeable future, and humankind ends up adrift in space in a big-box-store existence that emphasizes constant consumption and little personal responsibility, the traits that presumably led to the mess in the first place.

Unfortunately, the movie is not just a crazy fairy tale, but a representation of a real possibility, aside from the fact that we don't currently have the technology to evacuate the entire population onto space-going cruise ships. One of the big points of the movie is the amount of garbage that must be dealt with once the planet has been emptied of life, and that reflects the current state of affairs quite well. When we throw something away, where does it go? Where is “away”? And where are the resources coming from to replace all of the items that are disposed of? What happens when those resources are depleted? How are toxic wastes managed?

This problem is a world problem. When one person or company puts toxic waste in a waterway, that waterway becomes contaminated for all downstream users. When a rich country depletes more than its share of resources, poor countries have to go without, meaning the inhabitants of those countries are often lacking the basic necessities of life, such as food and clean water. They often turn to unsustainable practices just to earn enough to survive, polluting the air, water, and land around them so it will be unusable for future generations.

The development of machines does not threaten humanity directly. Despite the fact that in the movie, humans are shown as being dependent on machines for every possible action they might take in a day, from brushing their teeth to moving around to eating and drinking, that type of society is far too energy-intensive to happen any time soon. At the moment, almost any American can choose that lifestyle anyway – we can get into our cars, parked just steps away from our couches and beds, and drive to work, stopping by the drive-through on the way to pick up breakfast and coffee. We can park right outside the door to where we work and spend the rest of the day sitting at a desk, with a break for lunch – either a trip through the drive-through or maybe having something delivered. We can then drive home, take a few steps to the couch, and spend the evening watching TV, getting up only when dinner is delivered. Most people choose not to follow that lifestyle, so replacing cars and couches with machines wouldn't make a huge difference, as the majority of people would still not choose that lifestyle.

More importantly, we need to concentrate on the more urgent matter at hand – the depletion of resources and the contamination of the resources that are left. Americans continue with consumption, contamination, and disposal of resources without giving it a second thought. Something must be done to change these patterns if the planet earth is to continue being capable of sustaining life. To quote Umbra Fisk of Slate magazine, “disposable” is a dirty word.

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last update. Crazy. A lot of things are going on right now in my life, including moving! I'm finally moving to a new apartment. I'm quite happy about that, although packing isn't going so well so far. But at least I'll have a yard and a washer and dryer, which I'm so looking forward to.

There hasn't been a lot going on in the garden. We're having a ridiculous fall heat wave, with temperatures up over 100, so I haven't been too inclined to get out there and work. I planted some squash seeds a few weeks ago, and some of them are doing well, some are not doing quite as well. One of the tomatoes, the pineapple tomato, has grown immensely, and I'm expecting quite a few tomatoes from it in the next month or two.

Quick update

A few updates about life, garden, exercise, and food:

Life is good right now! My house is very slowly getting cleaned and organized. I've decided to tackle this issue slowly, in the hopes that cleaning and organizing will become a habit. I guess I'll see how that goes.

The garden is doing well. I've spent several hours there over the last few days, and the ground is cleared of weeds, some of the plants are thriving, and I planted some more squash seeds. I'm hoping they'll do ok.

I've been running and doing the 30-Day Shred. So far, so good. My muscles are tired and achy, but I feel good. I'll have to get to the gym one of these days to weigh myself, though.

I've stopped eating dinner, sort of. I've been eating and energy bar and a few nuts for dinner for the moment. That won't last long, though, mostly because I'm out of energy bars. On the other hand, I've been eating a fairly large breakfast, so I thnk it balances out. I'll update more on how that's working for me. And now it's time for bed!

Garden bonanza

I've got huge plans for food from the garden this week! Tonight, I'm making braised cabbage with a red cabbage that I found in my garden. I had pretty much given up hope on the cabbage, and tonight I went to pull out some older plants, and there it was! I'm also in the process of roasting a pepper from the garden to make frittata for breakfast tomorrow morning, along with tomatillo sauce, frozen from last year. It will be a bit of an experiment. As a side dish for tonight, I'll be making a simple tomato and avocado salad, with heirlooms from the garden. Despite my heirlooms barely producing, I'm determined to enjoy them as much as possible.

In other garden news, the corn has just about petered out. The cucumber is still barely hanging in there, and I'm hoping the removal of some of the corn plants will convince it to grow a bit more. I also have a honey dew melon! I was despairing about not having had any melons from the garden, and lo and behold, there it was! The basil is going crazy and I've barely had time to do anything about it. The tomatillo plant is looking promising, but hasn't produced a lot yet - about enough to make a small batch of sauce. Today, I planted squash in six more places. I'm hoping at least one of the plants will pull through. I bought a packet of multi-colored pattypan squash seeds, and I would love to have white, yellow, and green to make zucchini pickles with.