One of my "favourite things"

So to continue on from my last post, what are some of the things that interest me and would like to write about? Sustainable living is very much at the top of my list. It's been a journey for me starting with my childhood. My mom set the example in recycling everything from the paper on cans to plastic bags. But sustainability has taken on a new meaning for me especially in the last four years or so. I realized that it meant more than taking out my blue box and putting it at the end of my driveway for the recycle guys to pick up. There was the issue of toxic emissions and not just from obvious things such as the cars we drive or the smokestacks of industrials complexes on Annacis Island. There was a bigger issue of consumption - our consumption of energy and the toxic fuels burned to supply us electricity, the consumption of the newest version of the ipod and the consumption of another toaster, another fan, another pair of shoes, all because they weren't made to last or recycled. What about the silent killers? The ones that release toxins even after production when they are nestled inside your house? I'm talking about things like your mattress, your carpet, your computer, all which can offgas small amounts of toxins that will hang around in the air you breath. This is especially a problem with our trendy airtight homes, sealed in plastic. What about the way we harness and utilize our energy? Resources can be depleted and depleted they will become unless we can come up with a way of recycling our energy use as well. And going back to consumption, depending on where you live, not all your recyclables are actually being recycled. In Canada, 73 per cent of waste produced by Canadians ends up in the landfills. That means that every disposable diaper that every mother straps to her baby's bottom, every piece of styrofoam from millions of boxes amongst other forms of packaging, every plastic wrapping from a candy to your meat to your cereal, every broken doll that wasn't worth regifting, it, times the millions, is sitting in an enormous pile of junk - releasing 25 per cent of Canada's methane emissions into our atmosphere and into our lungs. But what can you do? What alternatives are there that don't cause you to go bankrupt because they are organic or higher quality? At this point, not too much. But we are at a crucial time in our history. Now more than ever, we have more access to information via the Internet. We are learning where we have gone wrong and looking for ways to change our habits and our "carbon footprint" so to speak. But its not enough to just sit back and watch the a guy dump our blue box into the recycling truck. It's not even enough to buy the bottle of shampoo that is labeled "green." We have to demand for better options as consumers. We have to sacrifice our comfort and over abundance of luxery at our disposal and decide not to buy another pair of shoes because they aren't shiny like they were the days and weeks after we bought them. Most of all, we need to not wipe off our hands and rest assured that we have done our part by recycling our cans, milk jugs and paper. We need to question where and from how far did our "things" have to travel to get to us? How much fuel was burned to drive them to us? How much energy was used to produce them? Where will they end up after we're finished with them? And most importantly, how much environmental devastation was wreaked in order to make them? And to be expounded on more in another post, who is being jipped of a healthy and happy lifestyle to produce them so that you can buy it for a bargain?

Rusty

I went to university to become a journalist. Five and a half years later, here I am - graduated, living on a small island and about to become a mother. The funny thing is that, two years into my degree, I realized journalism wasn't for me. I mean, I still liked writing, but I was a die-hard out for the scoop, driven and determined to get published. So I decided to minor in public relations. One day when circumstances are more conducive, I plan to work for an organization with goals centering around making the world more sustainable rather than producing a product that will be break in three months and be thrown out. But for now, I want to keep up my writing if only for pleasure. Hence the blogging.

I'm feeling a little rusty - actually quite rusty. I haven't got my thoughts channeled in such a manner that allows me to go on a rant or in depth examination of one of the many subjects that captures my interest these days. The plan is to eventually get past this rusty stage and put to paper the topics that I have spent countless hours talking to people about and researching.

So what are some of these topics that I am so eager to share my thoughts and knowledge about? I'd like to share a bit about my background and the journey of my life the last couple years. But that's another post for another day.