Hide the garbage cans - the rest will follow aka 100% ZERO-WASTE Events

YEAR 1 (for me) - 2013

The Neighbour Savour IV Potluck was set to occur October 8, 2013 from 6-9pm. This year, I noticed that in the event write-up, the words Zero Waste appeared, that of course caught my eye! I was delighted to attend, especially because I saw the words "Zero-Waste" appear in the title.

I was excited to see how the evening would unfold, and how zero-waste would be approached - as the concept can have varied meanings for many people.

There were re-usable cutlery, ceramic plates, glasses, and mugs - a sure sign we were off to a good start. But then it came time for clearing the plates. I realized quickly that there was no spot for compost and my heart broke. I quickly decided I'd convert the glass container I brought my potluck item in (as it was now empty), into a compost holder, surely we wouldn't have that much assuming none of us were wasting food on our plates!

Unfortunately, someone thought that was a dirty bowl that needed washing, depite the sign next to it which read "Compost", dumped it in the garbage, and proceeded to take it to the kitchen. I had walked away and was cleaning up other stuff so I was not there to witness this or of course I would have explained the situation. But as I walked up to check on the scene, this is when I noticed my bowl was gone, and there was a lot headed into the garbage!

Asking people if they knew where it went, or what was going on, I was matched with looks of confusion and chaos as if I was speaking a different language. This confused me utterly because generally folks at a Village Vancouver event, especially one with Zero-Waste in its title would be more aware than most....

Long story short - I ended up taking the garbage  bag home with me (and to be fair, 1 big black garbage bag for 200+ people isn't so bad but....of course we can do better!)....and sorted it at home.

My roommate certainly wondered what the heck I was doing but she knew me well enough by now to not be too shocked to see me walk in the door with garbage - most people leave their front door with garbage.... I like to do things a little different. Actually I don't like it.....because it is the result of humanity being on auto-pilot, and of course it's entirely unsustainable for me to take garbage home, sort it, and clean the recyclables (waste water, no less)  that have been soiled with food waste.

Here are some pictures, diversion rate after I was done with it? 100%....

For comparison sake, what's Metro Vancouver's diversion rate, you ask?

The stats I have, as at the most recent Sustainability Breakfast in Dec 2014, showed a current diversion rate of 60%, which they would like to be at 70% by 2015 (I guess that's this year...felt a lot further away in December 2014), and 80% by 2020.

While it sounds admirable, I say...we can do better Metro Vancouver! Why not aim for 100%? Even if we don't reach it, isn't it better to have a goal of 100%? I think so! And 100% IS possible, I live it every day (so do the other members of the collective house I'm living in), and we did it at these events, too.  Photo evidence, below...it IS possible!

This was the bag that came back home with me. We rode the bus together, along with my friend Peter. A great zero-waste ally. 

Boo was my little helper. She is a zero-waste kitty warrior. :)

This is showing the contents now diverted, bag emptied (was washed to be re-used, as you can see foodbits in the bottom), and the food waste to the right, which was taken to the compost. 

Had this all been sorted before it hit the "garbage", it would not have required as much washing - which is of course why proper set-up is key!

 Here's what we ended up with when all was said and done.

Here is everything that was generated at the event - so all in all a very small load which is great! In large thanks to the re-usable dishware/cutlery. But ALL of it can be diverted from landfill, 100% diversion rate. The plastics/foil-lined/unnumbered hard plastics, and numbers that city doesn't take went to Pacific Mobile Depot through Village Vancouver monthly plastic drop-spot, The remainder composted and that's about it!  

YEAR 2 - 2014 - Better Equip, Lessons Learned

The following year, Neighbour Savour V, and I was ready. I contacted the crew and let them know I'd take the reigns to create and manage a zero waste station. I know what we went through last year, and I didn't want the same thing to occur.

Having these re-usable plates and cutlery is incredibly key! (We did have these last year, too!)

Got there early, and set-up shop, having the help of my good friend was incredibly useful too, her and I sat there a good portion of the night and helped people sort their materials into the proper bins. I also went back and forth into the kitchen to explain that soft plastics with food had to be first rinsed/washed before we could recycle them.

The ultimate step 1? Hide all garbages.  I can't stress this enough. When people cannot find the garbage then they start to think "what can I do with this?" They usually find a better solution to the auto-pilot garbage bag toss. We have become so accustomed to tossing stuff that when a garbage is present, even if it's next to a recycling bin and a compost bin, it will, more often than not, end up in the garbage....we get on auto-pilot, too many other things running through our minds. I get it. So just hide the garbage cans and it will save you a tonne of frustrations and grief.

Our zero-waste station. My friend and I sat on either side, and helped people when they came with materials to renew. 

I made signs for the station, but I made signs in other places too - the bathroom, for paper towel (ideally we'd have a re-usable towel roll, or mini hand towels but we worked with what we had).

This was in the upstairs bathroom (the only one I thought existed until mid-way)

Where the garbage used to be, I put this sign as I figured folks may have remembered from last year a garbage here. 

Shhh, don't tell: Garbages were sill around, (in the below photo they are at the very back and to the left), but no-one will search that hard for a garbage....however, just in case.... I put a little sign on it. Gotta play it safe. 

Garbages hidden? Check

It wasn't until mid-way through, as people started showing up, I learned there was another bathroom, downstairs, this time, genders were seperated. So, I made some signs, ensured the men's was clear and replaced the garbage with the compost collector. :) Phew, close call!

 So - what did we end up with?

City recycling (blue bin, and yellow bag), compost (green and white buckets), and one bucket of soft plastics/foil-lined recycling to go to Pacific Mobile Depot. I was able to take the recycling, and compost as I was living super close to the hall at the time, and Ross was able to take the soft plastics. Thanks Ross! 

A BIG thank-you to everyone who attended the event, used the system in place, and participated in a zero-waste potluck. We couldn't have done it without you! 

200+ people served. 

ZERO-WASTE. 

That's how it's done, yo, that's how it's done. 

Here are some other photos from the Green Party Gala - 2014 Fundraiser; also a zero-waste event. Warms my heart! :) Especially nice to meet and work with the event coordinator who was equally as passionate and dedicated to zero waste as I am - what a treat! 

Garbages? Hidden

Diversion Rate? 100%

...And, of course, Elizabeth May - doing her thing. :)

Loving our mother, earth.

EDIT: reading The Upcycle completely re-opened my eyes, and reminded me that....we don't need to live under the fear of "not enough" or, we have to "minimize our use", when we are working within systems that are interconnected, and regenerating - think: Permaculture. If the water in the shower is heated by our Sun, and then used multiple times before re-entering the traditional water treatement system (i.e used again in the sink, or toilette, then pipped out into the yard where you have a natural grey water treatement area, and the water can then be filtered and soak into your food forest....well that is a completely different story than single use, and water heated by non-renewables...)...just sayin ;)

I recently had a conversation with someone about give and takes re: the environment, and they mentioned that they just loved to take long showers and they were not going to give that up,  it was what they did, they loved them, and it was one area they were not willing to "compromise" in..... but there were other areas they did better in, so, they figured, it all balanced out

I've heard this type of thing more than once, and in fact it tends to be a pretty common thing that comes up. In the moment I've always tended to express gratitude for what they did do, and sort of let the other piece go unsure how to truly handle the comment, feeling uneasy about it but not really sure why, or how to articulate it. 

Here are my thoughts......

It makes me think about how disconnected we are and how we still think of these types of things in terms of "compromise", or "giving something up", as seperate than ourselves. That if we want to be turly "enviro", we have to stop the things we enjoy and to stop all of that would be impossible so we must choose a few.

I am definitely pro taking baby steps, changing one thing at a time, then adjusting your lifestyle around that new change, integrating it, then taking the next thing. And, I recognize it can be very daunting to change everything at once....however, I guess I see that as a continual cycle of change - and maybe even something you changed in the beginning, you may get new information and it causes you to change further down the road....this process to me is not static. Yet in the aforementioned conversation ones mind already appears made up.

To me, what's truly going on here is that we are seeing the issue from an outdated paradigm/mindset. In fact, when you truly feel love for someone, it becomes natural to not want to hurt them. Thus, when we truly feel love for our earth, our mother, to hurt her would not feel right.

This is simply what happens when we love someone, and it's actually quite beautiful how it works.

Where you once maybe got enjoyment from an activity, you now don't because in the very depth of your being, you comprehend that it causes harm, and ultimately, that creates a sense of cognitive dissonance inside us - or....in layman's terms, a feeling that doesn't sit quite right. Usually ones behavior is adjusted accordingly, because we have a desire as humans to not feel this sort of uneasy feeling. We naturally want to feel good - makes sense.

And I think we incorrectly assume that we will feel bad, or limited if we cut certain things out because we think of it only from one direction, from one point of view - of what we are "losing", but we don't think about what we gain, and the feeling we feel when we do what's right for what we love. It might seem counter intuitive for now but actually, we feel good once we stop it, not sad that we don't have whatever it is anymore.

When we love someone, we don't make these sorts of calculated responses.

"Suppose she goes into anaphalcctic shock, well there is a hospital she can go to right, and what are the chances she would die? I can probably keep peanuts around?"

"Well, my mom can't breath properly when I spray this hair spray in the air and it makes her wheeze for days, but I really love this hairspray, nothing makes my hair look as good, and well, I make her breakfast on weekend so, it all balances out right?"

We likely wouldn't even think to this point, our emotions, our feelings, our bodies would speak, they would take over before we started to analyze it because the moment we saw we were hurting someone we loved, we would feel that pain inside, and want to change to remove that pain...and the joy derived from that item, or activity would cease to exist the moment we learned it hurt our loved ones.

When did we lose our deep love for our planet, our mother, our only home, and all our fellow inhabitants - that which gave us life? This very life we're living, The life that allows you to read these words on this page and comprehend.

It's not that I have to tell myself a stern"NO" every moment, that actually, I really want to be doing all these things but I "know" they are wrong and harmful to the environment so I stop myself. It's that I literally do not seek any enjoyment from these things anymore, and in many cases it hurts to do the wrong thing....and not from a place of guilt or shame, but from a place of love. 

For example, if I had to throw compost in the garbage (or anything in the garbage) I would feel tense inside. Why? because I know this isn't the place it belongs, and the only reason I'd be doing it is likely because I don't have time to sit down and seek out where it's proper place should be (i.e. search online what to do with random items I have no idea how to recycle,  or find an artist who may want this item to incorporate into art....as some examples).....and while time does feel very real and has very real implications in our current society, nature does not function on that same time scale...but I digress, because now this could lead into the philosophical realm and I'm trying to keep this grounded (for now). 

People often say "oh just throw it out, it won't hurt...." or "you do so much for this planet already, you can slack a little here" it's getting back to the justification type, wrong or right mentality....but it's not about that, it's not about weighing out the good and the bad - it's about listening to what feels right inside.

I have told people, when asked, that I don't think I would enjoy attending large music festivals anymore because I'd bare witness to all the carelessness, wastefullness, litter and general disregard, and this would quite literally, break my heart. And I should add that large music festivals are things that used to bring me a lot of joy (or so I thought). I went to Sasquatch music festival a few years in a row back when I was younger and loved it so much...but I've changed....the joy doesn't come anymore, because what is in the forefront is the pain I feel. And what's different is it's internal now, not just external. Whereas before I noticed the garbage and thought about it...I now feel it. To me this makes sense, we're all deeply interconnected, and when we hurt the one we love, we hurt too.  Now, some would look at that and say "wow, she is really missing out on life, because she's too intense, just relax, be casual about it"... but to me, I don't see it that way.

How do I see it? 

While it's true, I don't derive the same enjoyment out of activities and items that I once used to, this is only unfortunate if we stop right there. When you take it a step further you see that while  I may not have "fun" like the mainstream world has fun right now, I have ventured down a path that brings me many joyful moments, and honestly they feel more full of joy because I don't have to deny any part of myself while doing them (the part that would know deep down this is wasteful, or wrong, or harmful to mother nature)....it's pure bliss.

So what I wonder is..... where did the love go and how do we get it again? How does love form? 

Zero Waste in Arusha ...continued.

It's funny how the universe works....and by funny I mean epically appropriate. Just as I was starting to want to do Zero Waste here, I met a guy whose trying to do just that in Tanzania. Check them out Active Green Society.

At work, as part of my quest for zero waste I encountered some alternatives which not only saved the environment, but our pocket book too. As  mentioned in my last post, I found a toner cartridge in the garbage...yikes! So I took it out and made a plan to deal with is responsibly....I ended up finding a place called Galaxy Computers here in Arusha that does re-fills - it took an email and a couple phone calls and I had my answer....all in all it wasn't that big of a deal to spend the extra time...but it seems many of us are too busy to take that time. It's that mindshift again that needs to occur . . .it's interesting where our priorities lie.....and it's also important to recognize how easy we get ourselves into these routines that don't get broken until we pause for a moment - i.e. our process had always been - buy new ink/toner....never refill, it wasn't even on the mind. Anyway suffice it to say, I was pretty stoked that we could refill our ink, and such a price difference too! To refill the blank ink cartridge was 5,000tsh, versus a new one...28,000...boom!

It's fun to find alternatives and feels so good to treat our mother with love and respect. Not to mention, during ones quest for alternatives, you end up meeting some great people that you may otherwise not meet. Start small and you eventually source all your different areas to recycle or upcycle this, re-make or re-work that! :)

On another note, banana leaves are RAD and multi-functional, and I love not having a drawer bursting with twist ties. . . . those pesky twist ties, impossible to recycle because they are both a debatable/indeterminable type of metal, coated in a paper that is debatably coated with plastic residue........and elastics...because all my produce comes bunched with ties and elastic.. . because of course one method isn't enough! I require no such drawer here because of .......banana leafs and creative minds!

I wonder how I can bring this back to Canada.... or what sort of alternative would grow there that would double as a tie to bunch delicious organic produce. . . oh the possibilities! The thought of a grocer without twist ties and elastics....makes my heart happy.

Thoughts?

Zero-Waste - It's time Tanzania, it's time.

EDIT: A quick search online found me this blog post about a company called, TENA, that is now collecting plastic bottles from people in Arusha. So I have emailed them to inquire further. I think for now they are just collecting, not recycling but hey, that's a great start. I think for now I will keep the bottles so that we can fill them with other plastics and make bricks and build a bench, but it's great to know about this so I can share this information to those who are wanting to do something about their bottle situation. 

It's been a while! I've been posting to my Africa blog mostly, so check it out if you're curious, though it's less about waste specifically and more about my own thoughts and other such things...check it out here! but I think it's due time for a post on this one!

So, I just got back to Sinoni (Near Arusha, Tz)  from Kinesi (a small village near Musoma on Lake Victoria - beautiful, peaceful place, though very hot and I'd argue it's due to lack of trees - many have been cut down for cooking, and not done so in a sustainable way, though things are starting to change)...and I seem to feel very inspired to rock some zero waste action at home here. 

I’m not even sure why or what happened...I think just because so much got thrown out while I was away and I happened to be near the garbage and caught first a glimpse of a bunch of paper in there…. And then as I dug further, I found some jars, three to be exact, one glass one even! And then I found some compost, a sack for sunglasses, a paper clip (okay that’s minor but still, why put it in the garbage it’s very useful and I don’t have many in the office!! And to toss something that’s perfectly usable, just seems like the garbage was closer than the office… why not put it in your pocket for when you're in the office or somewhere where it's usable! #mindshifting), I digress, I also found an essential oil burner…not sure at all why that got put in the garbage…and so it was settled…I’d start organizing this waste…

The paper went into the compost toilette – which is a great carbon addition! The box that was holding the paper went back in the office, with a sign on it now informing people that it isn’t for the garbage, it’s a place to put paper to recycle! (as shown in the below photo)

The jars were cleaned and now they will be put in the cupboard to hold dried goods – way better than bags of stuff – so the rats can’t eat into them!! 

The essential oil burner will stay in the kitchen or it may make its way to my room wherein I have some lavender essential oil that would go great with such a thing, to allow for some peaceful moments. 

The glasses case will be used to protect sun glasses, the paperclip will be used in the office, and the plastics that I can’t recycle here (yet!)….will make (slash, have already made) their way into the below bottle brick…brick #1 of je ne sais quoi, such that we can build an earth bench or some other earthen shape and incorporate the bottles into it so that they stay in situ and do not pollute our one and only, beautiful home.

Search "Earth Bench with Bottle Bricks" and such epic inspirational photos show up!Photo Cred: © Brennan Bird, www.earthbench.org

Here is some of what I pulled out of the garbage bin, minus the square plastic container, which had compost to bring to the compost pile, which is I suppose what started my garbage journey as it is what led me to peak into the garbage....

Worm compost, with newly added cardboard as mulch/carbon filter

I even found some coriander and fennel on top of the worm bin, on some previously laid cardboard that was clearly untouched and had just been put there...confirmation from our Farm Manager, that it was put there under the assumption no-one would eat it! I've now let him know that for sure I will always take these items if there's extra!

While I was away in Kinesi, there were two pits, one was for compost, though that didn’t seem to actually compost as it mostly got burned despite previous attempts to stop burning things, and the other one was for plastics, that got burned… that really freaks me out, burning plastics is possibly the WORST thing one can do, I think it’s worse than just leaving the plastic as is…. But maybe I’m wrong. I have vivid memories as a child, going for hikes in Elbow Falls, and then having fire-cooked meal in the forest before heading home, I remember us always being very careful not to put plastic in the fire...I remember always being the one patrolling the fire to ensure no plastic got in. Now that I think of it, there was even a plastic-in-the-fire-pit debacle during my first summer at MPAcc, in Saskatoon.... someone keps trying to toss a bottle in after I kept pulling it out of the fire, just to spite me (hmm, yes a bit ridiculous, I know!).... I eventually got it out.  A quick search found me this.  Either way it stinks and is a sketchy toxin, so perhaps seeing the ashes of previous plastics, and new plastics piled on top to be burned in due time propelled me to act after arriving back home to Arusha…either way, I can’t believe I went so long without starting a recycling program.

All in all, I think what prevented me was the thoughts that – they don’t recycle here, that’s just the way it is, there is no-where to take anything even if I start to separate it…. 

What silly things to think! But we're all prey to this sort of thought pattern - wherein we just "accept what is"...glad I have come out of that initial trance. 

I refuse to accept that any longer. I think some people may laugh at all of my efforts and think "that will just end the moment she leaves" or ... "it's useless because people don't recycle there"...but to me, for one, it feels right inside to do this, so I do it... but also, if anything, even if I try, and fail, it still opens a conversation,and brings about a new thought into people's consciousness..... and that is better than nothing! Raising awareness even if it ends up all going back to the garbage, to me is a step in the right direction.

Items reserved for bottle brickin'

Perfect bottle drying rack pre-plastic fill! Boom. Note I found all of thee in the garbage...ooo my!

One brick down...many to come!

I’m pretty excited…I actually forgot how excited diverting waste from the landfill makes me feel....I think this may be my calling…. Now I can’t actually sort people’s garbage because that isn’t sustainable, (much like the teaching someone to fish versus giving them fish...) but there’s gotta be something there, because honestly it makes me come alive….I’m so incredibly stoked now that I put some plastic in a bottle and have a brick….and I can’t wait for more to fill....and then to step in some clay, sand, and straw to make some earthen structure!

My current dilemma is - do I start from now on, or attack the current garbage situation? The garbage here is full BUT it’s dirty..it’s been sitting for a while so who knows what’s inside…rats? On the plus side, at least most wet material is out, as the compost is separate (besides the odd person throwing out compost not knowing we have a bin for that)…. But it also has no lid, so when it rains it goes inside so..I’m a bit apprehensive to go through the bin and put everything into bottles …. I may do a bit on the top, let it dry out from sun, then do a bit more off the top and stop when it gets too real… but can it ever get too real? We shall see....

As you can see the big blue bin is the current waste bin, filled mostly with plastics - so definitely I think about 99.99% of all its contents could be bricked. 

With metal I plan to ask someone who is near by where I always see a bunch of scrap metal…maybe they’d take 

it or maybe I could do a mid day dump and it would casually blend in with the other metals….or at least have the conversation.

The water bottles, well, they will be used for stuffing other garbage into but if we have too many I hear that there is some bottle recycling a couple places in the city..maybe…but I think by recycling the mean…they put it in a bag and save it for some other purpose yet to be known. So maybe bottle bricks are the best option.

I think that covers all the waste we have…

Some bottles set aside...for what, I'm not sure.

As you can see the bags open over time, and not sure this is a very effective method but I'd love to chat with whomever is responsible for this so I can learn more.

What looks like birds in the sky, is actually black plastic bags.... mbaya sana. 

Working to get rid of this ;) - the Landfill near-ish to wear I'm living.

I set out three bins a couple weeks ago and by day 2 they were all gone, the contents all into the garbage, and the plastic bins back by the showers…. Even though I had mentioned that this is for recycling… But now a sweet sign has been made (compliments of Lynn! Quite the artist!) so if I reinstate the buckets, perhaps that will help …but maybe we need to add the Swahili words below.

The bottle bricks make me happy too because it’s a great project for kids to work on… collect garbage, and find bottles – which are otherwise littered into ecosystems, fill them up, and bring them to one location – could even incentivise this, perhaps 50 shillings per bottle filled up…. Or something to that effect. . . and any and all earthen structures are rad, and one that directly reduces plastic pollution in our environment…bonus! J

My heart is happy.

Consumers have the last say. Get-a-communicatin'!

Consumers have the POWER! - just as an FYI...not to be the bearer of bad-GMO news BUT... as we all likely suspected, theatre popcorn (at least at the hollywood-type theatres or however one calls them - I guess ALL Cineplex's), is GMO... SO let's all email them and let them know we'd like it to not be GMO..and then eventually we can buy their popcorn again and eat it knowing we're not confusing our body, and participating in an unknown science experiment! Below is the email I received back from them. And, here is her email Kelly.Armstrong@cineplex.com, so you can tell them too! :) Woot! Consumers have the POWER!

//Dear Jocelynn,

Thank you for contacting Cineplex Entertainment. We apologise for the delay in response as we have been experiencing a higher than average volume of contacts.

Unfortunately, our popcorn is not GMO free. The popping oil used contains canola oil which is extracted from genetically modified hybrids of rapeseed.

We apologise for any inconvenience. Your feedback regarding GMO free popcorn is greatly appreciated. We will be sharing your comments with the appropriate department for their review and consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.//

Oh MY-celium. The fascinating world of fungi ..and other such wonderful conciousness provokers.

I've been reading A LOT lately - a plethora of different topics, and yet the funny thing is - they all end up circling back to one and other - granted it's likely because I've selected theses books specifically from the library as they peak my interest and my interest is peaked by similar things... but either way - I love the connections I'm finding...and not just in the books themselves, in the people I meet ....who, for example, will happen to mention something that I then go to read about that very night in my book - I believe that is the universes way of telling me I'm on the right track. To that I say, Thank-You, Universe! ...or Thank You-Niverse?

What I wanted to quickly share is how fascinating fungi are and how much I love Paul Stamets - the magnificient mycologist. This video (included below) never stops giving me shivers - every time I watch it...so, I wanted to share that. But then my brain juices started to flow and so more wonders of the world were shared - I hope you enjoy. :)

Mycelium is earth's natural internet; the nodes of crossing organized by the mycelium conforms to the same mathematical optimization curves that the internet theorists and scientists have developed to optimize the computer internet. Or rather, I guess I should say that the internet conforms to the same optimization curves as the mycelium, since the mycelium came first. Nature has already optimized its networks as we struggle to optimize our computer network. 

- Paul Stamets -

I picked up Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets from the library, just recently, and the first few pages had me hooked (in error I wrote "booked" ...punnily, I maybe should have left it). I also read the interview Derrick Jensen did with him in the book The Truths Among Us; in fact that is why I got the book from the library in the first place - as I saw there was an interview with the wonderful Paul Stamets! I highly recommend both of these "food-for-thought" books.

In addition, in my search at the library I stumbled upon the film 2012: Time for Change; not to be confused by the sensationalized John Cusack movie, 2012, this movie explores the depths of our awareness and the evolution in conciousness. It also touches on Permaculture and surprisingly, a famous actor makes an appearance  and she comments on Permaculture... I won't spoil the surprise as to who is it - you'll just have to watch! A friend showed me that this film is actually available for viewing online here - check it out!! I highly recommend it - and then let me know what you think! Try not to let the trailer run you astray - the movie is very positive focused and solutions oriented and that's why I loved it. There's enough negativity floating around in this world - it's time we move through that pain, and tell a different story, as Joanna Macy would say in her book (co-authored by Chris Johnstone) Active Hope: How to face the mess we're in without going crazy (which I also, highly, reccomend - especially if you're feeling a bit down about our current state of the world).

EDIT: A quote I just read in the book Natures Operating Instructions, emulates this need to change quite nicely "The challenge we face is not ultimately a technical one. The real pivot will be the story we tell ourselves, the narrative by which we make sense of the world, and that guides our lives. We need a new creation story"

Our stories change even when we look at biological evolution and what we've come to understand as "survival of the fittest". I was given this example in my Permaculture Design Certificate course (which I'm still in the process of taking and LOVING it).... we looked at the situation of predator and prey...

The "old world" (this will be the "negative world, for sake of understanding) would have us believe that the world is harsh and competitive, that we must kill or be killed, and that when a lion eats a gazelle, it is a loss for the gazelle community; and a sad one at that.

However, that SAME story can be flipped right upside down (right-side up? ;)), to the "New World" (positive world - and in fact, this is heavily science based as well, and part of biology and ecological systems) this new story tells us that in fact, that lion is doing the gazelle community a service (now, how do I say this without offending anyone)....the gazelle that was eaten was, likely weaker - be it from sickness, or age - would have had it's family wanting to help it along the way and not wanting to simply abandon it, but it makes the community weaker and takes resources away from the young who really need all the resources they can get (you can only be as strong as your weakest link - so to speak)- so the lion, in fact, is doing a respectful service to the gazelle community. It's all about how you frame it. Life can be scares, or abundant - I choose to focus on the latter - and it's not merely heresy.

I mean - it's the circle of life and a lot of us likely learned this as kids watching The Lion King,  but somewhere along the way, we got our stories mixed up....life isn't "nasty, brutish, and short" as Thomas Hobbes once speculated - life is magnificent, absolutely, positively mag-ni-fi-cient!

EDIT: The same night I wrote this blog, I sat down to read a bit before bed in  Natures Operating Instruction by Kenny Ausubel, and I find the exact comment about how we interpreted Darwin wrong - the universe interactions are uncanny! "Over a century ago, industrial robber barons hijacked Darwin's story of the evolutionary tree of life. They distorted Darwin's theory of natural selection into a parable of "survival of the fittest". They lionized "nature red in tooth and claw" and a violent, amoral struggle for existence where might makes right, and the ruthless pursuit of self-interest automatically results in the greatest good for the whole. Though they were true believers, their social Darwinism was expedient political cover with which to justify economic monopoly and endemic social injustice. It was also bad science" Ausubel goes on to say, and puts it more eloquently, at that, when he says "What Darwin was actually saying was that the fittest are those best adapted to existing conditions at a particular historical moment in a specific environmental context (he was primarily addressing the relationship between food supply and population size" - BAM! ..."In other words, mutual aid is also the law of the jungle" Interdepdence and symbiosis - these are the lessons we must learn from nature.

Just look around you! You are on a living, breathing, life-giving, planet, that is suspended in a vast, largely unknown, universe, you are on "Spaceship Earth" and it's pretty spectacular. Don't you agree?

You have been given a gift. You are able to exist in life and engage in meaningful relationships with friends and lovers; you are able to laugh, and cry; you are able to smell the sweet scents of spring in the air, and the cool crispness in the air after a fresh rain. You are able to understand emotions, and you are able to choose how you feel about anything that comes your way.

These are all things that life has granted us - let's get out there and explore! Touch some soil! Remember that we're so intricately connected to nature, to each other, to the natural world. Indeed, that is all we are, all we could ever hope to be, all we ever need to be- let's embrace that, and use it to our advantage. Let us look to nature for answers - indeed, she is the only one who has them all!

As Paul Stamets said in the above mentioned Truths Among Us book "[n]ature knows more than we think, in fact it knows more than we can think" and he goes on to say "[i]f we are born of nature, and if we are intelligent, how can you possible think other than that nature is intelligent?" 

Look at this company - they've got the right idea, mimicking nature - The Lilly Impeller. Nature has all the tools to success we will ever need, and we are only just beginning to discover these tools - what an exciting time to be in existence.

We may have swayed a little off course but hey, we can get right back on - nature is there to help us thrive,and she will guide us if we let her. Will we let her show us the way?

Nature does not have unemployment or waste - we don't have to either. Just because our current system does not exhibit these characteristics, does not mean we won't get there...we're just learning, we're a young species -  these things take time - nature has had billions of years of trial and error - we've had but a blip - "[m]ulticellular organisms like us are one very late-blooming tip on a single branch of the tree of life. It's a tree we know little about- (Ausubel)" but we're learning, and we have the resources to learn - let's get on it! :)

Ultimately, it's time we not only tell and share, but live, the new story - that, indeed, isn't very new at all - it's been with us the whole time, we've just been swayed a touch - and that's ok, as long as we recognize it, we're doing good. It's time we bring into our hearts into the equation, and connect that story within our hearts, and within, both, our distant, and not-so-distant  neighbours' hearts - we are all connected ,we are all in this together.

I feel the quote from Louis Rodriguez (again in Truths Among Us) resonates well with what I'm trying to get across:

//The word respect  comes from the Latin word respectus, which means "to see again". It's a beautiful concept. We have to see each other again. ...no one is different from us, a thread connects us all - the more we look, the thicker that thread becomes; sometimes it may be invisible but it's there. We've got to make it more visible. There is no such thing as a separate reality. What we do here affects people over there// - Louis Rodriguez-

We have the power to choose ... let's choose the positive way. As, I believe, Bill Mollison says "We can be just as much positive as we are negative" ... and well, we've done the negative thing for quite some time now - don't you think we're about due for a change? Oui!? I think so..in fact, I know so!

Namaste world - you are a lovely place and I'm filled with gratitude to be in existence.

I leave you with a few more of my favourite quotes from the Truths Among Us book (thank you, Derrick,  please let me know if you would like me to remove these as I do not want to be infringing on your copyrite, I merely want to share the knowledge and insight that you have managed to capture in your wonderfully written book - which I encourage everyone to have a read through!) :)

It's as if we think that all of nature is unintelligent except for us. Well, the earth has intelligence and purpose and fates all of her own. And those are really the primary fates. It is up to us to be in alignment with those purposes, not to go against them, nor to sit back and pretend . You have to give back. You have to participate in those Fates. Because they are your Fates as well.  The fates are good. And they attract us because that attraction is attracting us to our purpose, and toward the good.  If we could just remember the ancient philosophical principal, that good attracts, we could realize that these creation myths are attracting us for the future, calling upon us to take up our responsibilities, to bring that creation into being. Because creation is ongoing and collective, and we participate in it - Jane Caputi -

We're not just one organism. We are composites, Every species out there has a label that we've put on it to create a language so that we can communicate the identities of what we see as the phenotypes in nature. So that we can look at a tree and say, it's a Douglas fir. I am a composite of microbes that are unified with one voice. And so I guess you could say that I am the elected voice of a microbial community. This is the way of life on our plant. It is based on these complex symbiotic relationships - Paul Stamets -

These forces of light and life or inexorable and ever present, but we struggle so hard to ignore them and maintain status quo. Much of the civilization in which we live is the result of a refusal to see, or to listen: to the imagination, to our fellow beings, to the woundedness we all feel, which could change the world if we just acknowledged it. It's as if we've created this whole deafening way of living just to make sure that we can't hear this thing that can be so quiet, as quiet as a butterfly. Our defense industries, goodies factories, light speed lifestyle, and media oversaturation are all arrayed to cover up this gentle, quite sound. But all in the din and clatter of the world, can never down it out. It is always there, as close as our own breath - Marc Ian Barasch -

Contain It - Reuse Styles

EDIT: an awesome video made by Grant Baldwin (from Clean Bin Project) - The Soap Dispensary

Love this: The Soap Dispensary - they have a number of products that you can bring your own containers and re-fill. Seriously, awesome! I've been waiting for a place like this.

I use the Dr. Bronners Castille soap and that's one of the items they have! I can see I will be making many a good trips here. I may never have to buy a plastic bottle again!