Farewell to Del Martin, SF activist for whom the personal and political were no different.

This post has nothing to do with plastic but everything to do with personal activism and the power of each individual to make change in the world, if she or he simply tries.

When I first moved to San Francisco in 1989, I struggled to get by financially and relied on the services of the Lyon & Martin women's clinic for my healthcare. It was a place that operated on a sliding scale and made all women feel safe, regardless of issues of income, race, size, sexuality or gender issues. You know what? They put cute little oven mitts over the metal stirrups to keep our feet from getting cold during those less than pleasant female medical exams.

Eventually, I learned that the clinic was named after two San Francisco pioneers of the gay and lesbian movement, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who had fought all their lives for the rights of women, lesbians, and later seniors. Lyon and Martin were together for nearly 60 years and were the very first gay couple to get married this past June in SF after the California Supreme Court found the state ban on same-sex marriage to be illegal. And it was fitting that they should be first, as they had been part of the legal case that brought about the landmark ruling.

Del Martin passed away today. My friend Red called to tell me the news this morning, and we both cried on the phone. Not so much because of the death. Del was, after all, 87 years old and her health had been failing for some time, but because of the enormity of the impact that she had during her stay on this earth. For Lyon and Martin, there was no difference between what they worked for in the outer world and the personal lives they led. And for me, Del Martin represents the best that each of us can achieve if we believe in the power of our individual daily acts.

In a statement to the press, Phyllis Lyon says:

Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would come when she wouldn't be by my side.... I am so lucky to have known her, loved her and been her partner in all things. I also never imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get married.... I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed.

You don't have to be a member of the gay/lesbian/bi/trans community to feel the beauty of these words and to be inspired by the perseverance of these remarkable women. Whatever your cause, whatever motivates you to act, whatever is important to you in this world, don't be afraid to let your light shine. Each of our actions does matter. Each of us can make a difference. And now, more than ever, we are needed.

Read the full Obituary here for this inspiring woman.
 

 

Fudge and Styrofoam, a confusing combination

So, you guys know how much I love Fudge is My Life fudge sauce from San Francisco, right? I've gushed over it here and here and here. But I buy it only occasionally, one jar at a time, from the grocery store. (It's pretty pricey.) So it was a huge surprise a few days ago when I opened my front door to find a big cardboard box from the Fudge is My Life company sitting on my porch.

I was pretty sure I hadn't ordered it in my sleep. But I had my suspicions about who did send it, considering the mountain of Divine chocolate I had sent him and mom for Father's Day. And I was right. The card inside read, "Happy Bday, Beth. Now both of our sweet tooths are happy! Ray." Ray is my dad, and he had waited all this time to send a birthday gift (my birthday is in January) because I kept saying I didn't need anything... especially not anything new. But really, who doesn't need a case of fudge sauce?

In addition to the note, the case also came with...


Oy! What's a plastic-free fudge-lovin' fish supposed to do? It was too much packaging to mail back to the company. And besides, this company is in San Francisco. I could return it to them myself! So I called the Fudge is MY Life company, and this is where the story gets funny and the issue confusing. The phone was answered by an older woman's simple, "Hello?"

Me: Um... is this the Fudge Is My Life Company?

She: Oh yes, sorry. I thought you were going to be someone else.

Me: Oh. I'm a customer. Have I reached your home?

She: Yes, in fact my office is in my home. How can I help you?

Me: Is this actually Lillian Maremont [the founder of the company and creator of the original recipe back in 1963]?

She: Yes, that's me! [laughing]

Me: Well! [Beth loses it and starts to gush...] I just have to tell you how awesome your fudge sauce is. It's the best I've ever had. I love it so much. I just received a case in the mail from my dad.

She: Oh, do you live in Oakland? I remember your order. I processed it myself.

Me: [Remembering the original purpose of my call...] I do love the fudge sauce, but it came packaged with all these Styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap, and for environmental reasons I don't want to throw it away, so I was wondering if I could bring it back to you to reuse.

She: Oh, well, I guess you could. But I live out the in avenues in San Francisco... kind of far out for you. Why don't you take it to the warehouse company we use in Emeryville? [She gives me the name and address of the warehouse, as well as directions for how to get there.]

Me: Okay, I'll take it to them. Just wondering... have you considered using biodegradable packaging rather than Styrofoam?

She: We would love to, and we have tried the corn-based peanuts. But they're just too expensive for us right now. And I'm not sure any other type would protect the glass jars enough. I just really want to make sure that my fudge arrives in perfect condition for my customers to enjoy.

Me: Well, I hope the price comes down for you so you can switch away from the Styrofoam, and I'll take this material over to the warehouse.

And then I gushed some more about the fudge sauce and told her the story of Axelle's and my taste test and how hers won hands down over King's Cupboard. And she said I made her day. And we both hung up happy, although I was some somewhat conflicted. What a nice lady! Probably someone's grandma. And living in this world doing what she loves and spreading happiness. And Styrofoam. And plastic bubble wrap. Things aren't always as black and white (or brown and white in this case) as they seem, are they?

So I strapped that big box of plastic onto my bike basket...


Oh yes I did! And rode it out to Emeryville, where the warehouse receptionist very graciously accepted it from me and said they would reuse it.

(I LOVE MY NEW BIKE! I can't wait to find out what else I can strap onto it.)

Final analysis: I had a great conversation with a lovely person and made her day. I returned some plastic and Styrofoam to the company without using any extra petroleum to get it there. I learned how to transport big stuff on my bike. And I got a buttload of chocolate fudge sauce. I think I win!

However... I can't open any of the fudge sauce jars until AFTER my vision quest on the 21st, as I'm preparing to fast. And even after, I do think it's too much for me. I think I'll be giving some away to my fudge-loving friends. If you love chocolate as much as I do and live in the Bay Area (or are planning a trip to the Bay Area soon -- and you know who you are) let me know, and I'll save some for you. Seriously. You'll be doing me a favor. Please don't leave me to eat the whole thing and then hate myself afterwards!
 

 

Junk floating in the ocean

By now, most readers of this blog have read about the swirling plastic soup in the North Pacific Gyre and learned about the harm to marine life as well as the bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals that are attracted to these tiny plastic pieces. This coming Sunday, June 1, a couple of intrepid adventurers will sail their own Junk out into the Pacific carrying a large plastic bottle filled with messages from students and individuals across the nation. The bottle of messages will eventually be delivered to state and federal legislators.

The Junk is actually a raft made with 15,000 plastic bottles. The journey is part of an educational effort called Message in a Bottle, and the adventurers are some of the same members of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) who made the trip out to the North Pacific Gyre this past winter and brought back samples of the plastic foating out there.

If you enjoyed following the blog of the Alguita on its voyage this winter, you might want to subscribe to the Junk's blog this time around. And also consider making a donation to support the work of the AMRF and including your own message in the bottle.

I feel very privileged this week to be able to support the campaigns of No Impact Man yesterday and AMRF today because it was through information from these two sources that my own awareness of the problems of plastic came into being and Fake Plastic Fish was born nearly a year ago. We've come so far, and yet there is still so far to go.
 

 

Check out my fancy new "business" card holder (and cards!)

Isn't this just the coolest idea ever? I wish I could take credit for this recycled business card holder, but the kudos go to the geniuses at Acorn Studios, where they have full instructions for making your own! (Can you tell what it is?)

So I displayed my new Fake Plastic Fish cards in their spiffy recycled plastic holder at the monthly gathering of East Bay Green Drinks tonight, where I was invited to come and present the Take Back The Filter campaign. The cards were designed by Ed Colmar of Green Graphics, a green printing and design firm here in Oakland. He's probably going to help me clean up this web site too, maybe in time for its one-year anniversary. Right Ed?

For those who don't know, Green Drinks is a monthly gathering of "people interested in sustainability, including green business, architecture, design, organics, clean energy and other topics." The crowd includes folks involved in green businesses but also representatives of environmental organizations and locals interested in hanging out with other greenies for food and fun. Our monthly Green Drinks happy hour is held at Bobby G's Pizzeria, a certified green restaurant in Berkeley, CA. But there are local Green Drinks groups meeting in cities all over the world. Visit the official Green Drinks web site to find a group near you. It's just fun to hang out for a few hours with other people who share your values.

So yeah, I presented the campaign tonight and met some great people, including at least one reader of this blog! I brought my laptop so people could sign the petition online. And one woman even rode home to get her used water filter and bring it back to me!

Okay, gotta find out who won American Idol tonight and then go to bed. Night night.

P.S. I almost forgot! Are any of you female bloggers planning to attend the 2008 Blogher Conference in San Francisco this July? I'm signed up for all three days, and I really, really hope to meet some of you with whom I've only interacted online. How about it, Organic Green locals? (You know who you are.)
 

 

"Take Back The Filter" takes on "Bay to Breakers"!

(Click photo to see larger view.)

Well, I put out the call, and Tanya and Christa volunteered to help me, dressed as a BRITA filter, get across San Francisco. They came over Saturday night, along with my friend Mark who pretty much majored in costumes and makeup in college, to work on costumes and signs and eat pizza. (BTW, we ordered pizza from Rustica on College Ave and requested it be delivered without that little plastic thing in the middle that keeps the lid from sticking to the cheese. And you know what? The lid and cheese did just fine without that little plastic thing.)

Here's a link to the full article on the Take Back The Filter site.

And here's a link to more photos from the day.

Along the way, dese frat guys with some kine beer machine begged me to be da first water filter to do a "full extension." Wow. That sure was tempting. But I was on a mission and politely declined their generous offer.

Gotta run. Gotta finish up my work and get home so Mark and I can put the finishing touches on our Amazing Race application video. Life in the Fake Plastic Fish tank is never boring.
 

 

Dare me to dress like a BRITA filter and walk across SF?

This could be me at this Sunday's SF Bay to Breakers because, you know, I have a Barbie Doll body and a giant BRITA filter cartridge in my living room. It could be me if I can get at least one volunteer to walk the 12K (7.65 miles) with me, hold my water bottle, and pass out flyers to the cheering crowds. I'd love to have a whole team of people walking with us and wearing signs that say "www.takebackthefilter.org." But it will only take one confirmed volunteer to get me to actually do it.

Why can't Terrible Person walk with me? Why, because he is running the Bay to Breakers, attempting to break his personal awesome record time of 56 minutes last year. Michael trained. Beth did not. Michael will be finished in under an hour. Beth will be sweating in a cardboard costume for over two, probably. But there's karaoke at The Mint afterwards. And if that's not incentive enough, I just don't know what is!

Don't everyone offer at once!

Have you all signed the petition? We've got over 4,200 signatures at this point, and people have been mailing us used filter cartridges from all over the country. Organic Consumers Association wrote a great blurb about the campaign in their latest newsletter and another well-known environmental organization is preparing to send a letter to Clorox.

For more updates on the campaign, please check out our news section: http://www.takebackthefilter.org/search/label/news, where you can find out more about the call we got from Clorox shortly after the campaign began.

So can I get a volunteer?

BANANA UPDATE: It's looking like Sunny is probably going to be the winner of the contest to find out the reason for the sticky plastic on the stems of organic bananas. She found a link that says the plastic is there to prevent black mold. Regular bananas are dipped in a fungicide which kills mold, but organic bananas are not. Hence, the plastic. Before I declare her the official winner, though, I'd like some confirmation. So I sent an email to Dole tonight to find out about the plastic on their bananas. We'll see if they confirm what she found out.

(I know a lot of people have said it's so checkers can tell the difference between organic and non, but that just doesn't sound right to me. The organic bananas all have stickers on them that say they're organic.)

Okay, gotta get back to working on my costume!
 

 

Stories@deadgadgets.com wants your dead gadget stories!

Remember this picture of my plastic waste from Week 35? Remember my rant about the HP monitor that couldn't be fixed and how HP makes products that have to be replaced rather than repaired? I ranted here. I ranted on the Californians Against Waste site. I ranted in emails to HP. And then I found out about The Electronics Take Back Coalition (http://www.computertakeback.com).

The Electronics Take Back Coalition is a national coalition of environmental and consumer groups who promote green design and responsible recycling in the consumer electronics industry. They have several strategies, including:

• Promoting legislation to require manufacturers to take back and recycle our old electronics


• Using direct public pressure on manufacturers to offer responsible recycling programs to their customers, and to adopt green design principles.


• Working with institutional purchasers to amplify the demand for green products.


• Promoting recyclers who adhere to responsible electronics recycling practices and exposing the impacts of low-road recycling, including the exporting of e-waste to poor countries around the world.


• They are currently campaigning to get TV companies (www.takebackmytv.com) to offer free TV recycling, as many TVs will become obsolete when HD becomes the standard.

All this is great. It's a good step. But I didn't want to recycle my monitor. I wanted to be able to fix it and keep using it. So I wrote to the Coalition to ask if they are addressing the issue of planned obsolescence of electronics and the inability to repair them rather than recycling, and I got a reponse back from Barbara Kyle, the National Coordinator:

We have focused on the recycling end of the e-waste problem. But we want to do more on promoting reuse, and green design concepts that allow us to hang on to our electronic products longer, and to upgrade them to keep up with advances in technology. So far, the industry has focused on energy as the primary criteria for “green design.” While we don’t disagree that energy use by the product is important, the energy used to create new products is even more significant, and could be reduced if our products simply lasted longer.

We want dead gadget stories!

We would love to receive stories just like the one you documented on your blog, showing clearly how products simply can’t be fixed or upgraded, because of clear choices made by the product designers.

Please send your stories to Stories@deadgadgets.com and include the following information:

1. Make and model


2. Year they bought it. Is it under warranty?


3. Why it’s dead. (Doesn’t turn on, won’t reboot, can’t upgrade it to run certain software, etc)


4. Steps taken to try to fix it, or cost to fix it. (Here’s where your story was incredibly compelling. You didn’t just say your monitor died – you found someone who tried to fix it, identified the part needed, made the call, and then was rebuffed. So asking your readers to fill in this part would be great. Making the call to get an estimate on what it would cost to fix it (vs replace it) is good. But actually getting the company to say they WON'T sell you a replacement part gets to the heart of the issue. So that’s an extra step, but if you could ask them to document this, it will help us tell this story. Feel free to include whom they spoke with at the companies, so there can be no question of misunderstanding.)


5. Picture of the dead gadget. (Be sure we can see the manufacturer name or logo!) For our dead gadget gallery (soon to come).

This request includes broken TELEVISIONS, not just computer-type devices.

Barbara also added that if there are any serious reuse and upgrade geeks out here, she'd love to talk to them in more detail about how they could do a more thorough “study” of this issue, trends they see with different companies, etc.

So if you've suffered similar frustrations to what I have, please, please, please take a minute to send your story to Stories@deadgadgets.com and help persuade companies to take responsbility for the products they release into the world.

OH! And if you're a blogger, please post this request on your blog! Let's make it viral!
 

 

Oakland Bag Ban + Send a note to Zip Car!

Here are my friend Nancy, a poor seagull, and I at the Oakland plastic bag ban press conference on the steps of City Hall this morning. (I've got to do something about my hair soon! I'm starting to look like one of the Partridge Family boys.) It was a beautiful, sunny day: a reprieve from all the rain we've been having.

You can watch ABC 7's disappointing (in my opinion) coverage of the press conference here: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/media?id=5919632. They really seem to focus on the plastics industry's arguments against the ban rather than on promoters' arguments for it. And reusable bags barely get mentioned at all. Oh well.

On the bright side, businesses such as Whole Foods and City Car Share had representatives who spoke in favor of the ban today. Whole Foods, as you've probably already heard, is set to eliminate plastic bags in all of its stores by Earth Day this year.

And City Car Share has begun including reusable bags in all of its cars as a service to members. What a great idea! Unfortunately, I belong to Zipcar, not City Car Share, so I sent them an email suggesting they also provide bags. Here are my email and their prompt response:

Sent: Jan 26, 2008, at 02:31 AM
To: info@zipcar.com
From: Beth Terry
Subject: Reusable bags in ZipCars?

Dear Zipcar:

I just read that City Car Share is now including reusable shopping bags in each of its cars to encourage members to bring their own bags while shopping rathering than using disposable paper or plastic bags. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.citycarshare.org/newsletters/2007-10/

As a Zipcar member, I would truly appreciate if Zipcar could follow suit and provide a couple of reusable cloth bags in each of its cars.

Reusable bags are not expensive and imprinted with the Zipcar logo, would be a great advertising tool for the company. And providing the bags would be a real service to your members, helping to alleviate the problem of folks forgetting to bring their bags to the store with them.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this suggestion.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Terry
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com

---

From: "Zipcar Member Services" info@zipcar.com
Subject: Re: Reusable bags in ZipCars?
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:43:37 GMT

Dear Elizabeth,

Thanks for writing. That is a great idea Elizabeth. Although we cannot act on every suggestion immediately, perhaps you will see this same feature in our vehicles soon.

As you said, it would be convenient for those members that are doing errands and shopping and it also helps the environment as well. Please let us know if you have any other ideas Elizabeth.

Regards,
Sluaghan
Zipcar Member Services

members visit www.zipcar.com/help
or nonmembers www.zipcar.com/how

PS. Members are also able to submit web inquiries from the "Help" page
via the "Contact Us" screen http://www.zipcar.com/help/contact

---

If you're a Zipcar member, please use the above links to send a quick email requesting they stock reusable bags in their cars for members to use while grocery shopping. And if you're a City Car Share member, why not send City Car Share a letter thanking them for providing the service?
 

 

Extra! Extra! Locals needed at Oakland City Hall on Monday!

If you live in the SF Bay Area and have some time free Monday morning, your presence is requested on the steps of Oakland City Hall OR Hearing Room 1, on the first floor of City Hall in case of rain.

Please come with your reusable canvas bags in hand to show support for Oakland's plastic bag ban, which is being challenged in court by the plastics industry. I will be there with MY canvas bags in hand. It's great for us as individuals to voluntarily bring our own bags to the store with us. But we also need strong measures from our governments to eliminate the threat to the environment entirely.

PRESS RELEASE FROM:

---

Office of Councilmembers Nancy Nadel, District 3 and Jean Quan, District 4

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2008

CONTACT:
Marisa Arrona, (510) 238-7031
Policy Aide to Councilmember Nadel
ArronaM@oaklandnet.com

OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL ASSERTS PLASTIC BAG BAN IS RIGHT FOR OAKLAND AND RIGHT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

OAKLAND, CA — City Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (District 3) and Jean Quan (District 4) will hold a press conference Monday, January 28, 2008, at 10 am, at City Hall to affirm the City of Oakland’s commitment to reducing pollution, oil-consumption, blight, and global warming through its ban on single-use plastic bags.

On Tuesday, January 29, 2008, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch will consider the plastic bag industry’s lawsuit to stop the City’s ordinance banning the use of non-biodegradable carryout plastic bags at retail establishments in Oakland.

“The tide is turning internationally against the plastic bag glut in our environment, and Oakland will not be intimidated against doing our part to switch to reusable bags,” said Councilmember Nancy Nadel.

The plastic bag industry’s lawsuit claims that the City did not consider potential environmental impacts of banning plastic bags. However, the City determined that not only will a large scale reduction of plastic bags improve the environment, but there is no evidence that the plastic bag ban will harm the environment – and thus the plastic bag ban is exempt from environmental review.

The plastic bag ban was scheduled to go into effect on January 18, 2008, although the City has delayed enforcement pending a resolution of the lawsuit in the trial court.

“We’re hoping for the best decision from the Court, but regardless of the decision on Tuesday, we pledge to join a quarter of the world’s population that has already banned plastic bags,” said Councilmember Jean Quan, who co-authored the ordinance with Councilmember Nadel.

Oakland’s ordinance, passed on July 17, 2007, contains four elements:

• It bans the use of non-biodegradable plastic carry-out bags provided at the point of sale at retail establishments in Oakland that gross one million dollars or more.


• It encourages affected retail establishments to offer incentives to customers to use reusable bags.


• It allows the use of single-use paper bags, but stipulates that they must contain recycled content.


• Although it does not encourage or discourage their use, the Ordinance allows the use of biodegradable plastic bags.

A growing list of countries and foreign cities from Bangladesh to Zanzibar have already banned plastic bags, including China, Denmark, Ireland, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore, Melbourne, and a number of East African countries. Recently, San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags and a growing number of other U.S. cities are now considering similar legislation. Just last week, Whole Foods, Inc., announced that it is phasing out the use of plastic bags in all of its stores nationwide by Earth Day, April 22, 2008. City Car Share, which helps reduce air pollution and gasoline consumption by reducing the number of cars on the road through car sharing in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, now provides reusable bags for grocery shopping in all of its cars.

---

I'd love to see you there!
 

 

Take back the Brita filter campaign?

04/14/2008 Update: If you've reached this page because you want to know how to recycle Brita filter cartridges in North America, please visit http://www.takebackthefilter.org for more information about the campaign to urge Clorox (owner of Brita in North America) to develop a take-back recycling program for these cartridges!

I use Google Analytics to show me where Fake Plastic Fish's traffic comes from, and sometimes it's fun to look at the Search terms people have used to find this blog. Going through the list tonight, I found these 81 different related combinations. It's a long list. Feel free to scroll down fast.

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Wow. These are all actual queries typed by people into a Search Engine. Many of them were used by multiple people. But they don't represent all the people in North America trying to find out if their water filter cartridges can be recycled. No. These are ONLY the people who also happened to click on the Fake Plastic Fish link that came up on the search list. How many other people are out there trying to find out how to recycle their water filter cartridges and coming up empty-handed?

The point of this exercise is that I'm trying to gauge how much interest there would be in a campaign to urge Clorox, the company that owns the North American division (including Canada) of Brita, to develop a recycling program for the cartridges.

First, a few facts for those unfamiliar with this issue:

• The Brita company was founded in Germany in 1966.


• In 1992, Brita introduced the first recycling program for filter cartridges. The cartridges are processed at Brita's plant in Germany, where the components are dismantled and reused. Read more about the Brita recycling process here.


• In 2000, the entire North American division of the company was sold to the Clorox Corporation, headquartered in Oakland, CA. (FYI: I incorrectly stated in a previous post that this sale took place in 1988 based on an entry in Wikipedia. Won't be getting info from that source again.)


• Now, while the cartridges from the European company are still collected and recycled, the Brita cartridges from the U.S. and Canada are not. In June of 2007, I sent an email to Brita customer service asking why the American cartridges are not recycled when they are in Europe, and I received an unsatisfactory reply. So I wrote a follow-up email, and received another unsatisfactory reply, stating that the filter cartridges in the U.S. use a different technology than the European ones, but giving no other details.


• In December of 2007, Clorox purchased Burt's Bees in an attempt to enter the "green" market. In a press release in October 2007, Clorox Chairman and CEO Donald R. Knauss states, "With this transaction, we're entering into a new strategic phase for our company, enabling us to expand further into the natural/sustainable business platform. The Burt's Bees® brand is well-anchored in sustainability and health and wellness, and we believe it will benefit from natural and "green" tailwinds. It's in an economically attractive category with a margin structure that will be highly accretive to Clorox. Combined with our new Green Works™ line of natural cleaning products, and Brita® water-filtration products, we can leverage Burt's Bees' extensive capabilities and credibility to build a robust, higher-growth platform for Clorox."

My plea to Clorox is this: If you'd truly like to help the planet by entering the "green" marketplace, you could first begin by "greening" the products you already produce. Providing a take-back recycling program for your water filter cartridges would be a great step, especially considering that the model technology already exisits!

So why am I focusing on Brita rather than other water filter companies? First of all Brita has the #1 market share of pour-through filter cartridges in the U.S. and Canada. It's the #1 faucet-mount filter in Canada and the #2 faucet-mount filter in the U.S. (I don't know who is #1. This information comes from page 14 of Clorox's 2007 Annual Report.)

Second, the recycling infrastructure exists within the European branch of the company already.

And third, Clorox is obviously making a bid to appeal to environmentally-conscious consumers at this time. It would be nice for them to put their money where their mouth is.

So, with this information, I'd like to take a little poll here to find out how much interest there would be in putting energy into such a campaign.

RESIDENTS OF NORTH AMERICA ONLY PLEASE.

 

Tales of an on-again off-again activist

Last month, in my Green Sangha meeting, we were discussing how hard it can be to have compassion for people who just don't seem to care about the planet and how easy it can be to feel self-righteous. I piped up and said that I don't really understand how people change, how they go from not noticing or caring about waste and environmental degradation to waking up and realizing what effect their actions have. I don't understand because up until June of this year, I myself was one of those people who bought and threw away hundreds of plastic water bottles, chose plastic bags over paper (and doubled them on purpose), and stocked up on frozen foods in their cute little plastic containers. And then something happened, I had a realization, and suddenly I couldn't go back.

The thing is, I'm not really sure just what that something was. I've tried to remember my first "aha!" moment, what it felt like, where I was. I think I may have been in the shower when it happened, but I'm not even sure about that. All I can come up with are a series of fortunate events that happened to coincide. Still, I do want to try to figure it out because I believe that if we can each remember how it felt before we gained our own awareness of nature and our connection to the earth, we can find a way to approach other people from a place of common understanding rather than confrontation.

So here goes. First, let me backtrack a bit. I grew up in a liberal Democratic Mormon family. Sound like a contradiction? It kind of is. My dad was probably one of the very few Democrats in our church, one of the only members who voted for Jimmy Carter, and who in his youth had bucked the conservative views of his own family in favor of labor unions and civil rights. Still, the Mormon church did instill certain conservative values in my parents, standards I chafed at as a teenager. Once I was out of college and on my own, I yearned to do something radical, become an activist, fight the power!

I scanned the Washington Post classifieds for jobs under "Activist." I really didn't care what kind of activist job I got, as long as it was left-leaning and would piss some people off. So in the summer of 1987, I got a job as a canvasser (read "fundraiser") for Clean Water Action, only because it was the first interview I went on and they offered me a job on the spot. (I didn't realize then that pretty much everyone who interviewed for a job as a canvasser got hired on the spot!) I could have just as easily worked for Sane Freeze (now known as Peace Action) or Public Citizen or Greenpeace or MaryPIRG. The issue was not as important as the identity I had chosen for myself.

Still, I did learn a lot about environmental issues that year. I remember trying to get my parents to recycle and to eat tofu (something my dad never lets me live down) even then. I even remember becoming infuriated when Tampax came out with plastic applicators as an alternative to cardboard and urging others in my organization to write letters of protest. I remember hearing about PVC and Styrofoam and Dioxins and incinerator emissions. That was 20 years ago, and we're still dealing with these issues!

My stint as a cavasser for Clean Water Action lasted a whole year and a half. That's ages in canvassing organizations where the turnover is fast and furious. Knocking on doors and asking for money is hard work, especially when most of those doors get slammed in your face. Maybe it was actually the Mormon culture of missionary work in which I was raised that kept me going as long as I did. Finally, after meeting a few people from San Francisco and visiting The City a couple of times, I decided I'd had enough of DC canvassing and moved to California. I canvassed for The California League of Conservation Voters for a few months before giving up and moving on to more exciting things.

So how did I lose my budding awareness of environmental issues? Why did I stop caring? For one thing, I got caught up in a whole host of other issues: feminism, gender politics, GLBT rights, AIDS activism (which was the hot topic in SF at that time.) I tried on all kinds of hats and identities, as most of us do in our twenties, and somehow, after being poor and idealistic for too long, I got burned out and took a job as an accountant for a wine company. I went to accounting school. I moved to the suburbs for a year and learned that shopping malls were fun. When I moved back to The City, I'd pretty much forgotten about environmental issues altogether.

And what I'm realizing as I write this is that our environment, our world, our planet, was just an issue to me at that time. It was a cause. A fight. An identity to wear until something more intriguing came along. And canvassing for an organization, I have to say, can suck the spirit right out of you. In fact, as I was browsing the web tonight, I came across a review of a book entitled, Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America, by Dana R. Fisher, which is pretty damning of the whole canvassing model. And I have to admit that some of the statements in the article really resonate with me. The scripts; the dollar quotas; the pressure to "get the money and move on" when you'd rather have a genuine conversation with someone; and the disillusionment of discovering that while part of your job description is public education and activism, fundraising is the only part that determines whether or not you get to keep your job. Perhaps the burnout I suffered from canvassing contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for environmental concerns. I kind of stopped giving a crap.

Okay, so fast forward twenty years. I'm married, no children (by choice), working only three days per week. I've got a lot of extra time on my hands and nothing to do with it. I've tried to fill it with one obsession after another: gardening, knitting, movies, books, web design and flash animation, music, and the last one was running. I kept up the running for about a year, completing a marathon on my birthday this past January and continuing to run after that.

And then in June, I had a hysterectomy.

Somehow, I attribute my sudden awakening to that operation. For one thing, I was stuck in the house recuperating for a few weeks and couldn't run or do much of anything besides listen and think. Here I was, 42-years old, and while I'd decided years ago that I wasn't going to have children, that decision was suddenly a fact. This body never will produce a child. I'm not going to commit the one creative act that women have done worldwide for millenia. So, if not a child, what will I create instead?

It was during this time that I heard an interview with Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man, on NPR. He and his family are striving to live for one year with zero negative environmental impact. His story intrigued me, so I visited his site, where I was led to that of EnviroWoman, a Canadian woman who'd decided to live plastic-free for a year. And it was from her site that I stumbled upon the article, "Plastic Ocean," and its devastating photo of a dead albatross filled with pieces of plastic. That image is now burned into my brain. I can't pass by plastic bottle caps on the street without thinking about it and picking them up. A few days later, Fake Plastic Fish was born.

And because of the effect that photo had on me, I can't understand how anyone can view it without being permanently affected.

And yet I can.

Because until that particular day, I must have seen hundreds of terrible environmental images and simply ignored them or chose not to see. I watched An Inconvenient Truth and was moved by the cartoons of polar bears swimming to death but not enough to do anything about it except change a few lightbulbs and e-mail my city councilwoman. Blame it on hormones or existential angst or random chance; factors came together the day that I saw that photo, such that its power touched me on a profound level. In a way that I believe (I hope) will never go away.

So, that's my story. I'm not saying that we have to wait for each person to have their personal epiphany in order to change the world. The environmental mess we're in won't wait that long. We need to take action sooner than later. And we do need environmental organizations working on the big political and legal issues in order for change to occur fast enough for our planet to continue to be friendly to humans and other living creatures. But having compassion, being able to see bits of ourselves in others' reluctance to act, might help us to communicate with each other in ways that are productive rather than antagonistic. And whether or not we solve all of our environmental problems before it's too late, we ourselves will be able to live in a more peaceful world while we still have it.

So what are your stories of ecological enlightenment? Clif shared his in a beautiful and thoughtful comment on the post, Rethinking Plastics, last week. I encourage you to read it and then to share your story here. We can all use some inspiration!
 

 

Why I don't talk about global warming

Nearly every "green" blog and web site these days focuses on global warming. And it seems like many of them focus on it to the exclusion of all other environmental issues. In fact, a few days ago, I read something that made me feel really sad. Alan Morton wrote in an article on the blog, Big Green Challenge:

George Marshall of COIN wrote a provocative piece about whether re-using plastic bags and other small actions are helpful when it comes to doing something meaningful about climate change.

See Guardian and his blog.

Now he is right to point out that re-using bags has a very small effect on overall carbon use. He acknowledges that there may be other benefits – a few turtles won’t die as a result of confusing plastic bags in the sea for jellyfish.

So can we consign the idea of re-using bags and similar “simple tips” to the recycling bin? And chastise the Government and anyone else who promote them for diverting us from the serious business of responding effectively to climate change.

Or is there more to it?