The Cost of Stuff
As readers may have noticed there has been a lively response to the “Story of Stuff”. And life has a way of emphasizing these things, too. So, in sympathy, yesterday we had our water and sewer facilities shut off as the DPW mended a break in the pipes. The men were courteous and friendly, and the work was completed in a very moderate time-span, given the size of the hole they had to dig.
And, dear readers, there are few things that make one appreciate the ordinary miracles of tap water and flushing toilets more than being deprived of these things for a day. Since water is one of the resources in short supply on the planet, and clean water is one of the greatest health benefits some in the third world can hope for, it was good to be reminded of it.
Another reminder of resources and pollution came in a different form a few days earlier. We’ve been thinking of growing some vegetables in our tiny yard. Sensitive to the existence of lead paint chips around these older houses, we had our soil tested. The lead levels are far too high to make vegetables safe to eat, as it turns out. Was it the paint? No, actually, it wasn’t. The soil labs at Amherst reckon that our soil is saturated with the residues of tetraethyl lead that was in car exhaust fumes (before lead was banned) that were then dissolved by rain and which subsequently made its way to our yard to poison it.
I doubt the oil companies will ever be asked to clear that lot up. Home-grown tomatoes, anyone?
on May 30th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Dear Allan,
I have been very interested in your comments about stuff and resources.
I am in the process of simplifying my life by de-cluttering - giving away or recycling the many and various items that I have kept for far too long.
It feels so much better to know someone will actually use my extra pots, pans , books, toys, furniture etc. And I am making more space in my life figuratively and literally.
Got to run now though- I am babysitting for little Mary this week. And she needs cloth diapers with lots and lots of water for washing up. At least I know her diapers will not contribute to the landfill problems!
When I have 20 minutes to spare I’ll watch the stuff video
Nana Jean
on May 30th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Dear Jean,
Thank you so much for your preceptive comments. De-cluttering is a topic very close to my heart.
I think that when we de-clutter we not only get rid of stuff (and it feels so good to know that someone else may be able to use it!) - we do something else. We send a message to our own Unconscious that we are not going to be weighed down with things, that we are freeing ourselves. In fact, as you point out, we are making both physical and mental space in our lives, and when we create mental space we allow more creativity to come in. And more love, too. I am sure you are discovering exactly that with little Mary!
Right now I have four bags of stuff in the hall-way waiting to be picked up by Big Brothers and Sisters. All good stuff - all of it deserves another home.
As ever, Allan
on May 30th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Dear Allan, and Jean,
De-cluttering…yes, so good to do, and so hard sometimes…I am trying to organize my apartment, which has somehow (when I wasn’t looking, of course) gotten way out of hand, and part of that means trying to get rid of things. Difficult for someone who is always sure that in the future sometime I may need that…whatever it is…. I keep trying to remind myself of clearing out to let something new in, something that may not be a “thing” at all, and then running into the challenge of letting go of the tangible for the intangible. But I am hoping that what you say is true, that clearing out will increase creativity…I could use it right now!
What Jean says about diapers reminds me also of one of the challenges that we begin to run into in thinking about resource use, and the balancing act involved. I was just talking to a friend who is a mom the other day about diapers; moving in soon to the house where I live is a family with a 2 yr old and a baby on the way. We are in a drought out here in CA, and water rationing has begun though it isn’t even summer yet. So does a family who cares about the environment use disposables, and add to landfills, or cloth, and use scarce water (and pollute through the use of bleach, which many of the cloth diaper washing services use)? Actually, I think I recall seeing at the Green Festival some kind of diaper that’s partially flushable, so maybe there are other options. Anyway, the point is just that with many of these issues around stuff and resources it is not always so clear cut what we “should” do. We just have to weigh the options to the best of our knowledge and make our choices with good intentions, and hope it all comes out in the wash. (So to speak.) And continue to learn as much as we can so we can make better choices…
on May 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Dear Julie,
Yes - there are no rules for any of this that don’t immediately run into an exception, like the one you point out about diapers. If there is ‘an answer’ it might be that we have to use resources thoughtfully and sometimes we have to make a decision that is the lesser of two evils for us, specifically, at that time. For some the diapers question might boil down (pun unavoidable) to this - disposables often have non-recyclable plastics in them. Washables certainly can be cleaned in non toxic detergents and then air dried, if one has the space, and the water can be treated in cleansing plants. But it all depends (pun intended) upon what facilities one’s city has, how much time one has, etc etc.
And at the same time we have the bigger issues of the factories that make such products, some of which are indeed very messy processes….
Mindfulness is the first step.
Allan