I've been thinking about several things lately and one item in particular has been increasingly aggravating to me. People all over the world are starving but the solution is simple. Americans alone, create roughly 4.39 pounds of trash per day and I would venture to say that most of it is food or recyclable products.
I'm not proposing that we ship garbage all over the world. What I'm proposing is that my fellow Americans start recycling more often. I count myself lucky that I work for a company who sends emails to their employees instead of posting fliers everywhere and has recyclable bins in every work space to try and reduce pollution.
I don't consider myself to be an environmentalist. I'm rather cynical, analytical and could care less about whether or not the world implodes on itself. Honestly, I'm just tired of the whining and complaining and seeing commercials constantly for the Christian Children's Fund and other services that claim to donate things directly to the children. Food for thought: how much do they pay for each one of those advertisements and what's their overhead for the CEO's?
I support free trade businesses. I recycle as much as I can. I commute to work via bus and/or bike. I have my own vegetable and fruit garden in my backyard. It's simple things that can go a long way. If say, 100 people in the city of Tacoma alone, started recycling every can, bottle, piece of paper, etc. and had their own small garden or a community garden, think of how much produce and meat could be sold to places overseas.
Start shopping at a local farmer's market. It might be a little more expensive but it's worth it. It's healthier, it's locally grown, it's an opportunity for you to start interacting with your community and get to know the people around you. Technology is a great thing. Too much of it, is not. People have stopped wearing watches because their cell phones tell them what time it is. Our lives revolve around what TV show is on, unless you have TiVo, in which case I would venture to say that you stock pile shows and spend hours watching what you missed.
What ever happened to sitting down with your loved ones and talking? I know some might take this as a bad example but look at life in the 50's and before. Put aside the fact that women couldn't vote, people didn't have rights and everything else. Ask your grandparents how life was. Most of them would probably say that they did a lot of things with their family and friends. The world is so driven by money now, most people don't even look at people passing them by anymore and smiling. It's a simple thing but no one does it.
There was a man who went around the world hugging people and it made a huge impact for a few months. Everyone's forgotten about it now. What was Columbine? Few people remember. Columbia space shuttle crash? Forgotten. Challenger crash? Same thing. Virginia Tech? It didn't affect you, so why bother remembering it? These were all incredibly major events in the nation but now it's like they never happened. When things like that happen, you see people on TV or read in the paper that claim it's made them realize how precious life is and how much they take things for granted.
For example, Vietnam. They had cameras over there. They showed people being shot and all the other gory things that we don't see with the war we're currently fighting. How can people remember something if it doesn't affect them? We aren't learning from our mistakes, we're just making the same ones over and over again.
Step up to the plate people. Find something that you're passionate about. World hunger, our economy, pollution, the war, gay marriage, HIV/AIDS, poverty; anything. Read about things that might not affect you right now but could possibly someday. It doesn't matter what side you're on, just do something about it. Sign up for a walk, pass around petitions, give people fliers, write a local government office and find out what you can do.
Look at Prop. 8 in California. Wanda Sykes opened up about her sexuality to the public after Prop. 8 was passed. People who had never held up a protest sign in their life, went out to the streets and did what they thought was right. Jack Black, John C. Reilly and Margaret Cho did a play about Prop. 8 that can be found on the web. They got empowered.
Blacks fought for their right to vote, and intergration and freedom. Women fought for the right to vote, the right to have the same laws as a man, the right to have a choice with their body. Gays and lesbians have been fighting for years to have the right to marry someone whom they love dearly. What ever happened to seperation of church and state? Isn't that the reason why America was supposed to be better than England? Isn't that why the pilgrims came here in the first place? To have the freedoms that they couldn't have over there.
If you've read this far, thank you.
