Several years ago I was at a TEA party rally and someone gave a speech that
absolutely stuck with me despite the fact that I was a hardcore atheist at
the time, so his God centered way of putting things was the difference
between me agreeing with what he was saying and not.
It bottom lined either way as this, nobody wants to ignore the fact that while
we are on this (or any planet) we have to consider that our actions can and
do impact the planet we are on but while we are here the fact is we have to
live here too and living here means we are going to use energy and resources. Living
here means we are going to leave a foot print. Living here means we are going to
leave more impact that just foot prints.
Look I admit this I have done things that were deliberately not considered
environmentally friendly as a form of protest on Earth day. Nothing to crazy,
maybe the occasional washing of the car that didn't end with the car much cleaner
unless someone else finished what I started, but hey the car needed a wash anyway
anyway so why not. And in all honesty I don't promise never to do something like
that again. If I need to burn old paperwork because I consider that the best way
to dispose of it and I get the chance to do so safely on Earth day you bet I'm
going to pick that day to burn it and I'm going to have fun doing it.
None of this is saying I want to be cruel to the planet I am living on. I just
don't agree with certain political groups about the best way to handle the problem.
Being an artist, and being raised by another artist while I wasn't raised to �be green�
I can't count the number of times I have walked into a craft store and been weirded out
because people apparently buy things I grew up shopping for in the garage or maybe under
the kitchen table when I wanted to do an art project.
In fact there are still items I will not pay money for because I still think the one that
I somehow got my hands on that was originally being used for something else will work
just as well and be just as much fun to put to use so why waste the money, and as a side
effect why waste the resources involved in making it?
At some point I found myself starting to go through some of my stuff, and while there was
very little I saw fit to part with there were a few things I found myself looking at and
decided for reasons that have nothing to do with my stance one way or another on �being green�
and everything to do with some other stuff that was going on in my life at the time to turn
what could have just as easily been trash even though there was nothing wrong with it but a
few holes that I couldn't patch into treasure seemed like a good idea at the time. While
my motives had nothing to do with being green and everything to do with other things going
on in my life at the time the end result still prevented those items (at least most of them
because there were a few scrapes that I couldn't use) from ending up in a landfill.
I'm not alone. There is an artist I used to know who used to make some of her fabric
painting samples by painting on old sheets. Probably if she had been asked to make a whole
project out of old sheets and or similarly worn out materials she would have been happy to
(assuming she had enough of said materials on hand). In here case it had nothing to do with
�being green� and everything to do with the fact that it was material she already had so it
saved her money that there was no reason for her to have to spend when she had perfectly
good material laying around.
I am whole heatedly against using tax payer dollars, government regulation, tax increases, or
other anti-capitalistic measures to force people to �be green�. I am fully anti-public-transportation,
and very much pro-car, and I love big trucks and SUV's because I know from
experience they do jobs that people need their vehicles to be able to do that smaller
passenger cars just can't. I'm not even going to pretend that going without the amenities
that electricity is something I have ever done in any situation where I felt I had a
choice to speak of. I would never even consider paying the premium for renewable
energy, and I could go on about all the ways I won't change my life to place the
planets interests ahead of my own.
A number of things I am in favor of have �green� side effects but again my motivations
have nothing to do with �being green� and everything to do with people being able to
have better lives.
Given a choice I am very much in favor of expanding any flexibility needed for people who
feel they would benefit from doing so to work from home, work from home part time, and run
home business's that don't impact public health or safety without hindrance. While not
ideal or even possible for everyone, or every situation for the ones where it does make
sense that's a lot of gas people suddenly aren't burning or buying. But again it should
be as much as possible something where it's a matter of people having increased flexibility,
and very much against people being forced into that situation. However there are zoning
laws and other such things that need to change to allow for more of this to occur and
those things in society absolutely need to change.
Actually the guys who have a problem with plastic grocery bags did increase my wastefulness
because when I used paper bags they generally don't hold up. Occasionally I can get a second
use out of them but it's the exception not the rule. Plastic bags on the other hand I rarely
get fewer than two uses out of before I have to dispose of them, and three or more is not
unheard of by any means.
As I mentioned arts and crafts projects why be wasteful if using an old item I already have
will work just as well or better? I could have not bothered taking the time and energy and
just thrown those items straight in the trash, instead I used those old items to make something
new and was able to help another good cause in the process. I also could have decided that I
wanted new fabric for the project and gone out and spent money needlessly on fabric that
wouldn't have been any better than what I already had laying around. Should I get the chance
to build my house at some point I have a couple of things in mind where I fully intend to
use reclaimed materials. While I won't confine myself to used and old items for me, and for
some other artists that I have met over time (be they professionals, hobbyists, or anything in
between) breathing new life into and giving new purpose old broken or worn out things is just
another craft project.
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