Revolution

I'm having coffee with a friend and the two of us have just under an hour to start a revolution. We're a pair of dreamers, she and I, but of the two of us, I think I might be the more grounded one. That is neither a good thing or a bad thing, but a true thing. When I have a dream, I make a plan and work towards its achievement slowly and steadily. When she has a dream, she makes it happen in the most immediate way possible. So we are each taking our own approach to this cause we share.

We are dissatisfied with the way things are in the world around us. With the waste that happens everyday, but also with the way that people dismiss the problems we create. The "I know this is wrong, but I'm just one person and can't really change anything" philosophy. Well, I am done with that. I am done with the excuses that I create that keep me from acting. From acting out.

Because we, as Americans, can afford to, we assume it is our right to waste the resources of this planet. We assume that we have the right to create tons of garbage that is unnatural to the earth and cannot be decomposed and reused. Yes, there are recycling programs, which are the culmination incredible efforts made by millions of people. But what about the things that we don't recycle? And does the ability to recycle really mean that we can continue to consume and create more and more plastics and other materials that are dangerous and damaging to the environment?

I'm not out to make anyone else change their ways. That's not my thing. Of course, I hope that people will decide to try and change for themselves. However, what I am out to do is make a change in myself. And maybe this is my attempt to hold myself more accountable.

I don't use plastic shopping bags anymore. This is a new development for me, something that I have been working up to for a couple of months. I did buy a reusable bag from Target, but also, I am going to try to do without. What that does, for me, is forces me to consider my purchases more carefully. What do I, as a consumer, actually need versus what I have been told or convinced that I need.

I stopped using drinking straws a while ago, but mostly out of a personal preference. I would still, most of the time, tear the paper off the straw and play with the plastic. What waste I created, even by making a conscious decision not to use a straw (for it's intended purpose).

The other thing that I have decided to promise myself is going to be the hardest. I recently moving to Milwaukee. I will be commuting to work, five days a week, for a total of ten hours of driving. In order to offset some of that carbon footprint, I am going to not drive my car the rest of the week. If I don't remember to stop for something on my way from work, I will walk or take the bus or do without. Weekends might be a harder (if not impossible) commitment to make, but maybe I will start with one non-driving weekend a month, when my car will not leave it's nice little parking spot in the alley behind my house on either Saturday or Sunday.

So this is the beginning of my contribution to this revolution. I'm not out to change the world. I'm out to change myself.