Columnists
Do you hear that ticking?
At my age I can’t help but do the “countdown”. I don’t want to, but if I’ve got too much idle time in my life, I think about how much time until the planet becomes uninhabitable. I bet you thought I was talking about how long until I kick the bucket. Well, in a weird sort of way the timeframe is almost the same. We are well and truly at a crossroads. We are well and truly at the moments away from the point of no return. We are well and truly past the point of a do-over. This is great stuff to write about after such a glorious long weekend, right? Right-o.
Waiting for our elected officials to be the answer to our rapidly changing climate is something we need to put on the back of our solarpowered burners. But who knows, there may be a time when one level government actually pisses instead of getting off the pot. Whatever, each one of us need to be the driving force for change, starting with our own private lives. We don’t have the luxury of sitting back and hoping others will make those changes happen. We—you and I—are the force for the change that needs to be affected. We are in control of our own countdown clock. Having had many, many discussions with youngest COM (child of mine), she and I have decided to get cracking in our personal lives. The problem (and there’s always a problem) is where to start. I can’t, in good conscience, open up the cupboard of plastic containers and toss every one of them out simply because plastic is bad. However, I must firmly commit to not, deliberately, bring home another plastic storage container. From this point on it has to be reusable glass jars, preferably with glass lids or something similar. On the bright side, instead of guessing what’s in the opaque plastic container in the fridge, I’ll be able to see what’s separated, festering, creating new life and dying in clear glass. Like a science experiment— biology, I think. “That’s not blue cheese, but it might be leftover lamb curry.” When I was a kid, most moms were waxed paper kinda gals. Waxed paper wasn’t expensive and it seemed to do the job. And then the plastics industry woke up to a new opportunity to make money and plastic wrap and plastic containers insinuated themselves into our lives. I’m not sure if I’m ready to embrace waxed paper, but youngest COM assures me, in the strongest possible way, I will be making waxed wraps with her when she’s in town later this month. Can’t wait—and if you know me, you know “can’t wait” is code for “damn, I don’t want to but I probably will”.
There are so many things I have changed in my life (please read “our lives”) this year. LOML and I travel with our own coffee mugs, reusable cutlery and insulated bags. Neither of us uses disposable diapers— yet. I’d say that’s a bonus, unless the day dawns when one of us needs them and the other gets out the scrub board and a bar of laundry soap. I can see a day when LOML and I might bid “adieu” to paper towels and facial tissues (embroidered hankies could make a comeback at our handmade festive event). Somehow, though, I doubt we’ll look for a substitute for toilet paper. I’ve opted out of disposable razors, so it looks like I’ll be saving money on socks this winter. I now use shampoo and conditioner bars and the plastic bottles of shower gels that littered our shower have been replaced with bars of soap. All of the cleansing bars are purchased fairly locally and are not prewrapped in plastics. One day, LOML and I hope the only bin we’ll put to the curb will be the compost bin, and even then we could probably do more gardening and use our compostables at home. I try to make a lot of our household cleaners with everyday ingredients. As much as I possibly can, I avoid most products that are packaged in plastic containers. When I have no choice, I make sure to send the producer an email to let them know I want compostable or recyclable/non-plastic packaging. I’m sure they love getting my emails. Who doesn’t like to hear from me?
I’m scared, and there hasn’t been much that frightened me in the past. We should all be afraid because the countdown is on. You and I are the last word with regard to how much time is left on the clock.
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