Reduce Reuse Recycle...!

Hooray! Tea, please! United Airways is finally starting to get things right! I have always hated ordering tea because they use styrofoam. And to make it even worse they waste a plastic cup to put your stirrer and packet of sugar in. So much waste. I hate it! I always hold onto my plastic cup and my styrofoam cup throughout the flight despite the stewardesses attempts to take it. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And now, United has recyclable Eco-friendly tea cups!! The general population is starting to care, (I hope)!!! Most of us are so disconnected from our waste and our impact on the environment, but I feel like I am face to face with it living in third world countries. Everyone talks about how dirty India is...there is trash EVERYWHERE. They look at it in disgust and I want to shake these people- because in the East we produce far more garbage- we are just rich enough to have someone remove it from our sight. But I assure you- your garbage doesn't just "vanish". Plastic is plastic, whether it's in the US or in Asia...and unfortunately, plastic doesn't do much good for our environment.

It was the Sinhalese/Tamil New Year the other day, so the beach was swarmed by local tourists playing in the sea and enjoying themselves. They left garbage everywhere, which of course ends up in the ocean, in addition to just being an eyesore along the beach. Part of me forgives this laziness, because it's a lack of education. But I notice the same thing happens in the States- and that is completely inexcusable. But moving past the obvious [picking up your shit and putting it in the rubbish bin], I am challenging you to HONESTLY look at your consumption. Are you doing your best to consume just what you need? Are you making your best effort to compost, recycle and reduce general garbage? Do you reach for a plastic water bottle everyday, use a roll of paper towels to clean the kitchen- and speaking of cleaning, are you still that outdated that you are using chemicals to clean?!? There are endless websites that are incredibly informative about homemade, all natural ways to clean your home with ingredients as simple (and as cheap) as vinegar and baking soda. It use to only happen every once and a while- but now, I regularly have to stop myself so I can attempt to wrap my head around the magnificence of this world around me, and of my existence within it. The fact that a flower blooms...that it just knows how to unfold into a flower from a seed. The INTELLIGENCE of the Universe that pulses through all of us. Stop being so jaded and take a moment to appreciate this miracle of being able to wake up every morning and breathe. Every day is as beautiful as you open your eyes and allow it to be. So picking up your fucking garbage, make a commitment to the "practice" of admiring the miraculous beauty around you and within you, and try your hardest to give a shit about where and how your consumption is affecting everything around you. I was made much more aware of how much garbage I create when I was face to face with it in Asia-- it's my job to burn the plastic bottles I used, the plastic bags that I used because I was too lazy to bring my reusable bags....Maybe make a commitment to just one week of tracking your garbage: every receipt, plastic fork, and napkin. And then watch "HOME" on YouTube, and acknowledge the most fascinating miracle that is here and now. Let's preserve it for a bit longer...

Wow. That was my (recyclable Eco-friendly cupped) Tea-fueled tree-hugging rant! In summary: we were gifted a most beautiful planet that provides us with abundance and nourishment, the least that we can do is respect that and keep her clean.

A LOVER WHO WANTS HIS LOVERS NEAR : Rabia

"He is
sweet that way,
trying to coax the world to dance.

Look how the wind holds the trees in its hands
helping them to
sway.

Look how the sky takes the fields and the
oceans
and our bodies in its arms, and moves
all beings toward
His lips.

God must get hungry for us; why is He not also
a lover who wants His lovers
near?

Beauty
is my teacher
helping me to know He
cares for
me."


Cailin Callahan
www.cailincallahan.blogspot.com