Consider the Alternative

For every consumer choice, there is an alternative "greener" choice.  I have been wanting to write this post for months (at least since September 2012) when I thought I would title the post "A House Divided" because of how my household voted in the election.  But not only that, we have different choices in terms of household goods (soaps) and sources of nutrition (food) and whether or not it is worth sorting out the recycling.  In our house, marriage means compromise and I am so happy to be using a composter and driving a Smart car that I can only do so much for the environment.

Finally riding the Fuji again

But regardless, here are a couple things I/we do to be "greener":

(1) Natural soaps in the bath for hands, face, hair, body = CT Organics

(2) Natural soaps at the sink for hands, dishes = CT Organics, Seventh Generation

(3) Natural soaps as cleaners for tile, tubs, toilets = Pine Sol, Baking Soda

(4) Natural soaps as cleaners for bicycles, countertops = Simple Green

I am attempting to battle against the alternatives:

(1) Bar soaps, body washes, shampoo, conditioner = detergents

(2) Antibacterial hand soaps = detergents

(3) Chemical cleansing = Formula 409, bleach, Comet

(4) Chemical cleansing = Windex

Buying eco-friendly cleaners

You might ask why I would crusade against these alternatives to "greener" choices... I have some sense that the synthetic molecules will eventually build up in the environment.  I worry that our rate of manufacturing, use, and excretion of detergent into the environment far exceeds the rate of its fate in the environment.  I imagine that these molecules persist in the order of 10,000 years, but maybe I'm wrong and I've been meaning to do some more reading on the subject.  Maybe during 2013 sometime.

Another thing I'm doing to be "greener":

(1) Buying local = farmer's markets, homemaking, friends/neighbors exchange, walking to downtown

(2) Living local = "day without a car" at least one day per week

(3) Commuting socially = Metrolink

(4) Commuting sustainably = Bicycle

Taking the train

I am attempting to battle against the alternatives:

(1) Buying supermarket = food out of season, trucked 10,000 miles, swollen for market

(2) Gasoline addiction = cars are status symbols and lifestyles are unrealistic for our children's children

(3) Commuting solo = lonely, stubborn, type-A

(4) Gasoline addiction = cyclists are not esteemed in our culture, safe cycling should be a respectable option!

I feel like I live in a bowl of mixed nuts.  I want all the nuts to taste well together but not every flavor is to every guest's palate.  I'm meeting lots of new people these days with classes starting up again.  It's fun.  Regardless of that I feel like a hypocrite up in front of a classroom of young idealistic people preaching about carbon dioxide emissions while driving on the freeway 80 minutes per day.

New Year's Resolutions

Yesterday I did some #madpainting, actually I painted all day and got totally exhausted and fell asleep early.  But then here I am up early in the am.  I am having a hard time putting pen to paper these days so I thought maybe putting electronic keyboard to work would flow more smoothly.

I feel like I'm not ready for the new year even though I compiled a summation of my awesomest status updates from 2012, I do not feel like it's 2013 yet.  I remember taking down 2012's calendar and posting up the new 2013 calendar and thinking, wow I didn't think I would live to see this year in history.  I had been determined to live such an amazingly controversial and dangerous life so as not to live this long.  Hey history! I've been trying to distinguish myself all these years and I'm still just a thread in the great quilt of life.

I'm not really into resolutions, but I do reevaluate my lifestyle on a quarterly or semesterly basis, one of the perks of being in academia.  You clear the decks and set a new standard for yourself and your students for the new class.  Never fails by the end of the semester everyone is back to their habits.  So why do we do it? Well this semester I resolved to commute by bicycle 2 out of 5 days in the week.  This is due to a calculation that I ran, assuming I saved or "stored" carbon credits for being a cyclist while in graduate school.  Well, now I have already used them all up by driving back and forth to school (37 miles each way).  So I will attempt to involve a bicycle in the means by which I get from my house to my office.

Got to spend a good deal of time with family this year.  In that sense our harvest has been abundant.  Our garden right now is paused with the exception of a wildflower mix that is going crazy!  The student garden is in ??? shape.  I visited it on Friday before winter break and the squash leaves had frost damage.  I guess winter is here.  On Christmas morning we ate squash from the garden.  For some reason this was important to me.  I also learned that just because it's called field corn doesn't mean you can't eat it.