Friday started the community wide springtime clean up effort, not just the people in Dillingham were out picking up the accumulation of a plethora of now exposed consumer items and miscellaneous. Folks were invited to go pick up their bright yellow BP bags and stroll casually along the roadsides to retrieve miscellaneous garbage and debris. The city dump was also offering 'free' discard of bagged debris from homes and businesses. So, in the spirit of community cooperation and definitely feeling the need to rake 5 months worth of canine crap... I grabbed a rake, some bags and headed outside to clean up something, somewhere, wherever.
Alongside the road leading up to our house, I spotted this little white marble. Just sitting there all alone waiting to be moved to the next stage of its existence here in the universe, the orb needed to be relocated. So, I picked it up and into the trash it went. It was interesting to see what trash gets uncovered after the thaw. Sometimes you find garbage that seems to have spawned from beneath the tall roadside grasses. You think this at first because looking at that old beer can, you know that it isn't the latest beer can design, perhaps not even last years either. Strange Indeed... but even more bizarre is something altogether more intriguing.
As I ride around this rural Alaskan town that has only a few paved roads, that are not exactly well-maintained, I wonder where the trash comes from. I keep my windows up in the Spring/Summertime to avoid the microscopic dust that pervades everything and in the Winter to keep out the cold and snow. This is the quandary that plagues my thoughts as I randomly stoop to reach and grab everything I could see. Because trash is defined as garbage, refuse, debris, whatever... but the occurrence of this in a place that has no trash producing inhabitants means that there was a conscious effort for it's location. Someone had to willfully roll down the vehicle window and make the choice to throw a piece of paper/foil/glass/aluminum/whatever out into the right-of-way. Or... they negligently participated by having loose debris in the back of a truck or trailer that was driven down the road. Or... They accidentally left there Teddy's purchase on their car roof while chasing a kid into the car that was refusing to listen. But whatever the cause, I'd dare say that a sizable majority of it could have been easily prevented.
I can say that I probably have also been responsible for litter and not many folks can say they have never littered or whatever you'd like to call it. It is an issue that people have always had. It is one of the few things that as humans, we must acknowledge without a doubt. The Human production of waste almost always has a negative impact upon the Earth. However the entire rest of the Animal kingdom known and unknown produce no waste other than leaving behind the remains of their meal. In the wild, the remains of the food chain, whether from scraps left at meal time or feces left after the animals body had harvested the available nutrients and BTUs. Then along came the humans...
No matter your belief about the origins of Universal existence... the Animals were here before the humans, long before. They have survived for far longer than Upright Man. Then We came along and decided that the consumption of food and space required the excess destruction of Earth's resources. The resources that, if you are Christian or Jew or Muslim, you are commanded by God to take care of and nourish. If you are aren't religous, or theology controlled in life you can't escape this either. Man exists as the only species on Earth that has left a negative impact upon Earth, with a huge portion of it being wasteful and unnecessary and guess what, just plain ole' stupid. The wastefulness that We as a "higher" order being have enslaved ourselves with in life is counter to our own innate behaviors. Science and Religion do agree on something, our built in survival. Humans are 'designed' to use our greater knowledge to seek out a sustainable existence. Ahemmm. . . I'm pretty sure that all humans can agree to this. Any takers?
But guess what folks, this is not what We as humans have become. We have as a society grown into this consuming beast. Extra shot lattes, special flavored that, super shiny cars, rougher and tougher toys, bigger and badder weapons, every color whatevers and media driven choice have caused a rapid decline in both human productivity and the overall health of Our home. . . Earth. This rampant consumerism also coincides with the Industrial Age of human existence. This sad era in our habitation of Earth should also be called the "War Age", because during this time period, there has been a state of conflict going on somewhere on Earth. Unfortunately the United States is the country that claim some involvement in more of those conflicts than any other nation that has ever existed.
These developments in our society have all started to culminate and it is high time that people take notice and action. No...No...No... I'm not saying go down and sign up to be a Greenpeace protester or grab a Guy Fawkes mask and harass bank tellers. But rather take notice of what you are consuming and not look at it just from the waste result angle, but also the production process as well. Then look at the result of your consumption or the benefits you received. An easy example is this... Coffee.
Even if you are the worlds most fair trade friendly organic grown coffee drinker, with your own cup... there are aspects that you may not have even considered when buying that Grande Mocha. Coffee comes from Asia, Hawaii, Central and South America and Africa. To ensure a smaller carbon foot print, Try and find coffee that is from the closest region. But then... look at the brewing methods and storage of those condiments and accessories and those magazines and the electricity for the internet routers. Then think about all the fuel consumed to get to that one special coffee shop that your friend that Barista works at. Yeah that one... But damn I love a good cup of coffee in the morning.
But right now I'm drinking some good ole' sweet tea. Since Russia is closer to Alaska than anywhere else, I figured this Tea was more environmentally friendly to use. The added bonus being that it was already in the cupboard, thus increasing it's current value as the fiscally responsible choice of refreshment.But let's be fair to ourselves now... it's not our fault is it? We deserve these things as humans right? Just because I as a human am smarter than all those millions of animals that existed before me without directly causing a negative impact upon the earth doesn't mean that it's my fault does it? Yea damn right it does. You, Me and Them are all responsible for this, because we do stand at a point in time where we can make a significant enough impact to have a positive result upon our environment and our legacy in history. A simple reduction in consumerism of just 20% would actually do more than most people think.
If you buy just 5 coffees or something similar such as chai teas, lattees, energy drinks or sodas a week. Do the math, that can be anywhere from $6-$20 per week. A 20% reduction would be $1 - $4 per week or $52 - $204 per year. Now let's add that to dining out, extra snacks for movie-time, that next round at the bar, and that dvd you bought and watched it only once. Having an extra grand or more in your pocket through the year could help a lot in actually making a sustainable life for the consumer. Instead of unnecessary clutter and waste, that savings can be placed elsewhere.
Yeah...Yeah...Yeah... go ahead and put it in the bank and save it for that rainy day. Under ideal circumstances, this would be the best approach, but we are a consumerist society so maybe that money is just gonna go to another worthless consumer good that actually has little value to us. But... maybe, just maybe that money will be spent on something that has true value and durability.