Whenever I think of environmentalism, I remember two important maxims: Don't bite the hand that feeds you, and Don't shit where you eat. Because the Earth is both the hand that feeds us and where we eat, environmentalism is simply a lifestyle that attempts to take these maxims to heart. Now, because we aren't always buying cars or changing the light bulbs in our houses, the media attention focused on hybrid vehicles and fluorescent lighting doesn't influence a lifestyles change. Instead of feeling helpless, here are some other ways that you can do your part to love on Mother Earth.

1. Carpool or walk! The next time that you have to go to the store, or to town, or wherever, call a few friends and see if anyone else needs to go as well. Chances are, they do! Every time you carpool instead of driving alone, you cut in half the amount of gas that would be spent if you had each gone separately. Similarly, if it's a nice day, then just grab a friend and walk wherever you're going. If it's too far, it's too far, but there will always be excuses. Human beings are supposed to have 30 minutes of exercise a day anyways. Kill two birds with one stone! You need the exercise, and the Earth will thank you.

2. Don't wash your clothes so often. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to wash t-shirts or pairs of jeans every time you wear them, and wearing clothes a second time is not "gross" or unsanitary (you should probably still wash your underwear after each usage, however). Unless you stained your pants or sweat profusely onto your shirt, it's probably not dirty enough to need washing. Washing machines use approximately 10 gallons of water per load. If you simply folded your shirt or pants and wore them again, once, before washing them, you would cut your washing machine usage almost in half. Not only would this save hundreds of gallons of water in the long run, it would save you tons of money on washing clothes. It's win-win!

3. Limit your water usage. Each minute that you're in the shower uses 2 gallons of water. If you take long showers, then you take long showers, but again there will always be excuses to not do something slightly inconvenient. Likewise, brushing your teeth uses about a gallon of water each time. Get your brush wet, then turn off the faucet. When it's time to rinse, turn the water back on and then off when you're done. When doing dishes, don't leave the water running on your dirty dishes. Get them wet to let them soak or whatever, and then turn off the faucet. It's quite easy once you get into the habit of turning off the faucet once you're done with the water, and it kind of makes sense.

4. Shop at the thrift store. Lots of things can be recycled, including clothes. A city near you surely has some great thrift stores, including some that sell pretty high-end fashion for pretty great prices. Instead of supporting Earth-raping global conglomerates, support recycling by selling or giving your clothes to thrift stores instead of throwing them away, and by buying recycled clothes instead of new ones. This may sound kind of shady, but if you're shopping at Crossroads or Wasteland, they have pretty stringent standards for the stuff that they sell. There's less quality control at the Goodwill. Either way, you'll also know that your purchases don't directly support the sweatshop labor that produces 70% of all the clothes that we buy from major clothing labels! Again, win-win. One more thing to add is that what's even better than shopping at the thrift store is not shopping at all. If your clothes still fit and aren't torn to shreds, why are you buying new clothes? But that's an argument for another post.

5. Buy rechargeable batteries. If you've got flashlights or other small electronics around, you know how frustrating it is to have to try and pry batteries out of your remote control or something because the ones in your device ran out. Simple solution on two fronts - buy rechargeable batteries! Not only are they typically more powerful, and you help save the Earth from the toxic disgusting-ness present in typical batteries that get thrown into our landfills, but the upfront cost of buying the batteries and the charger will pay for itself when you realize that you're never going to need to buy batteries again.

6. Get a green bag or use paper. Or no bag! Many a grocery store these days sells a $1 "green bag," or little canvas shopping bag that you can use while at the store. After you've made your purchases, simply have them put your stuff in the green bag instead of using paper or plastic. Better yet, if all you (and your friends, because you carpooled there) bought was a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger, do you really need a bag? Carry that stuff to your car in your hands! If you do need a bag, use paper instead of plastic. Then, don't throw them away! Paper grocery bags have tons of uses, from wrapping paper, to tote bags, to book covers, to whatever.

7. Stop eating meat. Wait - I thought you said easy ways? Well, this isn't easy at all. Sorry. But it has to be here because no matter what else you do, if you stopped eating factory-farmed meat it would literally be the most helpful thing you could do as an individual for the Earth. The amount of water, grain, and energy that goes into feeding cows, pigs, and chickens is astronomical, and is an incredibly inefficient use of natural resources. That's not to mention the amount of concentrated waste that is produced from factory farms. Even if you changed over to a hybrid, powered your house by solar and wind power, and made your own clothes, factory farming is still the Earth's biggest enemy and your support of it overshadows everything else that you're doing. That being said, vegetarianism or veganism isn't for everyone, and it's a somewhat difficult lifestyle choice. That's why the above are six easy ways to help the environment - we all know that committing ourselves to something extremely important can be neither easy or convenient.

The end. Remember that Mother Earth loves you and it's our responsibility to love her back!

   

On Saturday I went to the Cupertino Flea Market (Every 1st Saturday of the Month in the DeAnza college parking lot!) for the first time in years. I found out why! No, just kidding, but it's not somewhere I'll go again, probably, and here is why: It's been brewing in me for a while, but going to Ghana, I think, really cemented it: I can't any longer rationalize spending money on needless things. Crazy, right?

The purpose for my going (for some reason) was to find a receiver and some speakers because I have a turntable and a couple albums but I don't have the required electronics to make them work. So I was walking around and actually, maybe I will keep going to the flea market, for used books, at least, because I found a Steinbeck anthology and I'd lost my copy of East of Eden and it's nice to have a copy, and it was only $2.00 so that was cool. But I found this lady with a nice turntable and it reminded me why I was there, and she had a bunch of good Beatles records and stuff, but she didn't have a receiver. And this other guy there said that some other dude on the other side of the flea market was selling like a whole set. And I went and found him, and he was!

He was selling a very decent quality receiver and these large, really nice speakers, all for only $40.00. And I had the money in my pocket (actually $38.00 because I bought that book, but I'm sure I could have bargained him down to $30. Anyways I (literally) paced back and forth for 20 minutes trying to decide whether I should buy it. I thought of all the hours of entertainment it'd provide me. I tried calling Lisa so that she could talk me out of it, too. And it was a great price and it's a great investment and I really want to move away from digital music and try to enjoy some records. I don't know. It's the way I'm going. Most records released nowadays come with a free digital copy of the CD anyway. You know? I have no CD player so there's no point to buy CDs. And plus if I really like stuff, having a record player encourages me to actually pay for music, which, believe me, is quite hard when you have free access to every CD ever made (this great place I found called "The Internet").

Anyways I didn't buy it, and it bothers me how hard that decision was to make. I obviously don't need it. I need $40 more worth of food or gas or something. Or to give to the next homeless lady named Jennifer in Berkeley who tells me she need me to help her buy some crackers and juice so she can eat because she hasn't eaten in days and then she goes and buys $25 worth of groceries. Haha. Well, at least she got to eat that night.

But, I mean, say I had just bought a receiver and speakers, and was broke. Then she wouldn't have eaten that night. You know what I'm saying?

That's how my mind works these days. It's so frustrating; like every American I've been conditioned to define myself by my purchases. Isn't that what capitalism is all about? I feel like I'm out of the loop, like, maybe... I'm in this country but not of this country. Haha. Or something. Right? Of course I'm not complaining, and I hope I'm not bragging. It's such a good burden to have. I also can't claim originality (of course, I mean Jesus was doing it way before me) but more directly this one girl Lisa's been living this way for years, it seems.

Speaking of Lisa, I am currently living in Tempe, AZ. It's been an average of 106 degrees every day here. Yes, you read that right. What the heck! I'm working outside, too; painting houses. It's a cool job (well not literally, at all, not even close, I mean, hottest thing ever, let me reiterate: HOT) but the heat is f'ing oppressive, as Hanna might say.

Yeah, so basically last week I got back from Africa and then I decided I'd move to Tempe (where Lisa is currently living and working). I went on craigslist and found a job and a place to stay. The job turned out better than I could have ever imagined (I set my own hours, I make decent money, I'm working outdoors and doing labor and that is basically exactly what I wanted, it's temporary work and I can leave whenever I want which means I can either go back to CA when Lisa does or I can stay a bit longer and keep working) and the room too (It's much cheaper than I thought, it's a pristine room in an apartment three miles from Lisa's house, it has a pool and ice-cold AC, the other tenant is amazing and she didn't require a deposit and she has wireless internet, and I don't pay for utilities, and there was a bed in the room already, and she said I can stay as long as I like and I don't have to sign on the lease or anything). I was kind floored after I moved in, and got the call that I got the job, with how smoothly this whole transition has gone.

Literally in three days I went from making the decision to actually living and going to work in Tempe (I interviewed yesterday and had my first day of work today). When I got here, I lifted my Nalgene bottle (oh, how much are these a necessity? More than you could ever imagine) and said, "Here's to spontaneity!"

Sometimes it's crazy what works out if you just go for it. I remember listening to this one Erwin McManus sermon (it was in his book too) about how most churches tell us "No," but Jesus was all about saying "Go!" But here's the lesson: spontaneity is not the same thing as recklessness. I spent a lot of time thinking about pros and cons of moving (Lisa and I literally made a list of pros and cons), I made sure to secure two job interviews before coming, I found four different sublets before I came, etc. But when you get an idea and it looks like it's the right thing to do, don't let it flounder in the congress sub-committee of your subconscious. Lobby that idea like mad to the executive (your heart) and the voting floor (your brain). Think it through (thoroughly but not overlong) and then make it happen.

Gosh, that was a terrible analogy. It tells you how much I remember from my American Government class (I did get an A, though...) Like, who is the executive? Speaker of the House? Majority Whip? Someone in congress with decision-making power. I don't remember who that's supposed to be. And where and when does actual voting occur? Voting floor sounded pretty official. I don't know.

Anyways, I've had far too many "Life is Beautiful, I love living, I love breathing; God, if you exist, thank you for making and blessing me" moments in the last few months than I remember in a long, long while. Kinda makes me want to believe that they're everywhere if you look for them, you know?

I'm off to go check out the pool. At my apartment... in Tempe, AZ. What the heck!

I'm back. I think the most startling thing is how easy it has been to transition back to American life... I sort of hoped I'd have culture shock, that I'd adjusted to the African simplicity or whatever or to taking cold showers or just something. No dice. I do have to say that when I looked in my closet I was appalled at how many (how much?) clothes I still have. Another purge is coming, I suppose.

I decided what my summer project will be, and I'll share it with you, my faithful readers. I'm going to resurrect the never-really-alive ghanareads.wordpress.com and actually do an entry for every single day I was in Ghana. That's about 40 days. We'll see if I stick to it this time...