Thursday, June 21, 2012

Solstice

Summer begins.  Solstice from the Latin Sol for Sun,  sistere for stands still.  The longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.  Winter begins down below, the shortest day of the year.


The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development begins today in Rio de Janeiro. Among several topics they will be discussing are climate change and ocean conservancy. This conference is also referred to as Earth Summit.


Warning: the following is a rant



These conferences have been going on for decades, but what effect have they actually had on the well being of this planet and daily lifestyle changes? Acidification of the oceans continues to increase, every hour more than 2.4 million pounds of plastic trash is dumped into the ocean (in an earlier post I said daily, but I rechecked my resource).  People are still rolling flatbed carts out of big box stores filled with enough product to open a small shop of their own, to be hauled home in a vehicle the size of a covered wagon. Consuming is the national past-time.  How much of these purchases are packaged and then further wrapped in plastic? Where are all those rolls of toilet paper and cases of spaghetti sauce being stored? Is it truly economical to turn a home into a warehouse?  As garages are used to store excess stuff one of the most expensive investments (for most people) the automobile is left out in the driveway or the street to suffer the effects of exposure to sun and weather.  How is that being frugal?  I, so far, have not come across anyone who shops at one of these temples of economy who is shopping in a collective fashion, i.e., on behalf of themselves and a group of friends and/or neighbors. This would be understandable; a co-operative.  I'm sure some groups must be doing this.


We also need to continuously be aware of where the things we buy are coming from. Are we sustaining our local economy, our neighbors, ourselves?  


Make a small change: stop buying small bottles of water by the caseload. Use a re-useable bottle (preferably glass). If you must buy bottled water use bigger bottles to refill from.


In bocca al lupo. m & v

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