An ad for what?

I know this is a bit off topic but when I read about this I was disgusted. Our class is talking about community and network, social capital yada yada yada. And I'll be the first to admit I'm not very community or social minded. I think there are too many people in the world and that humans should stop breeding (and yes I could have chosen a more politically correct term there) but I still have some integrity and morals. I might (might? Ok I will go as far) even go as far as to say that the recent birth of octuplets by a woman who already has 6 children is socially irresponsible but when I read this article about an ad for the Superbowl promoting having an affair I thought someone crossed the line. This article is about an ad for a dating site that wants to increase membership. Their tactic is to try to picque the interest of people who are bored or feeling unsatisfied in their marriage. Basically it promotes audultry. The justification they give is that physical intimacy is as important as air and food. Whatever. Maybe if we weren't such a disposable, quick-fix society we wouldn't have this problem. The company is livid that CTV won't air the commercial during the Superbowl. I say good for CTV.

Here is an interesting article that says Japan has launched a satellite that can monitor GHG emissions etc. Very cool to have more access to such information now. This "global" venture lead me to think about some comments made by a previous professor about how sustainability and globalilization are somewhat opposite concepts. Perhaps I misunderstood my prof but I have to disagree.

I believe in globalization and the exchange of ideas and technology. I believe in learning about other countries and their customs. I think it is useful for communication and cooperation. I believe in order to understand the processes involved in climate change and try to counteract it the world needs to work together. The launching of this new satellite is one step towards both. It might be a small step but a move in the right direction nonetheless.

Video

I tried to set this video up as a gadget but it won't let me post just one video. So I will just link it here. As you may or may not know I was once an English professor at a uni in Korea. So I know stuff about grammar. More than I care to. Like the last sentence is not really a sentence. Neither was the previous one. One also shouldn't start sentences with conjunctions such as 'and', 'but', or 'or'. (Although transitions like 'also' are OK even though they mean the same as 'and'.) And (oops, my bad) yes I notice when people spell words wrong, use atrocious grammar ('I did good'...no...'I did well') and when my/our professors use bad grammar on their power points after giving us "recommendations" as to how to improve our writing on assignments. The irony. Whatever. We are all human and make mistakes. So what's my point? Oh yeah, my point is the message in this video is really cool. When read backwards it has the opposite meaning of when read forward. It is also insightful and inspirational. Check it out.

I see the irony of my spelling comment and I have gone back to check and correct all my "typos" haha.

My independence

I subscribe to a newsletter from Terrapass. I haven't been able to read it lately because of all the brain bleeding I've experienced. This last one had something that caught my eye. It was a blog about being able to store energy in batteries from renewable resources that are not constant or reliable (wind, solar etc.) I'm really interested in building a home and a life that is off the grid so the idea of "saving [energy] for a rainy day" is really appealing to me. You'd think because of my major I'd want to be off the grid to reduce my footprint in terms of electricity generated from coal (I'm from SK) but that is not really the case.

Actually I am ultra pessimistic and a little paranoid. I watch movies like water world, the day after tomorrow and I am legend and all I can think of is how it COULD happen (potentially) in my lifetime. I have crazy fantasies (not in the good way) of how I will have to defend my land from traveling gangs trying to take my precious resources. I think of simple clean renewable ways to get off the grid and help my family survive when the end of the world comes. I want to be as knowledgeable and as skillful as our pioneer ancestors on how to survive without much of today's technology. I want to be fully independent and grow my own food, grow and grind my own wheat to make flour to bake bread etc., and even learn how to make my own beer or wine (not from a kit.) I want to make my own candles and sew my own clothes. I want to know how to make my own cheese! Wouldn't that be nice...mmm...cheese.

I like to use the word "independent" but this lifestyle also has "sustainability" woven into it.

Click on the link above and check out the article especially the comment section. It's an interesting read.

Saturday morning laundry time

I got up early this morning to do laundry the minute my landlady went out the door for work. I enjoy being the only one up in the morning. The house is still quiet. I get my cup of coffee and sit by an open window breathing in the freshness of the morning. If my day to day life doesn't start until 9 or 10 am I still enjoy this routine. Unfortunately my window has plastic over it to stop excessive heat loss so I am lounging on an arm chair instead.

Back to laundry. The settings on the machine were for hot water and a full load. I wonder what was in the machine before me. The detergent I see in the laundry room are name brand ones that are not concentrated. There is also a multitude of liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheet packages lined up too. It just screams chemicals chemicals chemicals. (I use an "environmentally friendly", concentrated brand that has no phosphates or harsh chemicals in it. I don't use the dryer when possible and when I do I take my chances with static cling.) I never used to be this way. I needed an education first and to be honest I could probably do more in terms of lowering my laundry footprint. I have started and I guess that is what counts. I have heard there are these little floating plastic things you can put into your machine in leiu of soap and they work to get your clothes just as clean. Although I suppose you'd need some kind of detergent if you are trying to get some kind of organic-oily stains out. Time and education will provide an answer to that mystery.

We have been learning about ways and tools on how to approach behavioral change (and most specifically changes to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.) I am reading a book Fostering Sustainable Behavior by Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith and its premise is about how to go about making change. I am finding this book useful as an insight into why I haven't stuck through with plans I made and ideas I have had. For example; instead of speculating on how laundry "balls" work why haven't I purchased some and figured it out yet? I am also starting to see why people do what they do and I am judging them less harshly. (btw...I'll be the first to admit that I am a very judgemental person. I usually just keep my thoughts to myself. I can expect that is why I am a bit of a loner and can't deal with teenagers and bimbos... But don't get me wrong. Just because I think some people are idiots doesn't mean I don't like some of them. *grin* ) OK. What's my point? Right. Using the tools the book provides perhaps I can educate my landlady on the perils of her laundry room and get her to be more eco-friendly.

That will be a challenge. I will definitely have to approach it in a benefit/cost way. Money talks. She didn't put up plastic on the windows until she got her energy bill even though I had been telling her that a draft was prevalent for a few months. My next challenge: getting her to see the savings associated with using cold water instead of hot or warm, demonstrating that concentrated formulas really do work as well as regular formula detergents and lastly, hanging to dry is a gooood (and doable) thing (even in the winter.)

My list also includes:

• low flow shower/sink heads
• composting
• getting my roommate to fill the sink to wash dishes (and to use soap and not just her fingers and exorbitant amounts of water)
• training my landlady's cats to use the toilet and not cat litter
• convincing my landlady that it is OK to leave her toilet lid up so that her cats can use the toilet
• getting my roommate to hang her clothes to dry
• finding out my roommate's last name (that is more for my own social capital gain.)
  

Community of one (two if you count my cat.)

So this week's class was about community, social capital and sustainability indicators (...another time, other blog.) I was asked to do an on line survey about me in my community and I got about half way through when I decided to erase it all and stop. I felt I wasn't able to answer the questions accurately or correctly, which is strange because there really are no wrong ways to answer a survey. What I mean is although technically I belong to several communities including the physical neighborhood I live in, I do not feel like a member of a community. I lack social capital.

By circumstance I have become a loner. Oddly enough I am OK with that. After living abroad in countries that don't speak English much for more than 7 years I am finding it a bit difficult to assimilate back into Canadian living. I turn up my music when I can overhear (and understand) teenagers talking about their "overwhelming" problems (and a lot of women my age talking like teenagers...like...ya know...like...OMG!) I don't care to join a gym or club. I rarely go out with my classmates. I loathe being in a group of strangers. I don't even know my roommate's last name. Sometimes we go a whole week without speaking to or seeing each other. I have been perfectly content to trudge a path from home to school back home again day after day. (Although it would be nice to relax when I get home instead of being so boggled down with homework that even if I had friends in this city I'd never be able to see them anyway.) So maybe I will work on becoming more wealthy in terms of social capital...maybe...

In the meantime I will shut myself in my room with my adorable bug and do homework until my brain bleeds. By the way...the latter is really not a choice.

Welcome to my blog

Once a week so so I will be blogging about topics related to a Sustainability and Community class that I am involved with and about select current and environmental issues that pertain to sustainability and community.