woohoo I am old enough to vote

So I was talking to my friend (hi Erin!) the other day and we were discussing how you cast a vote for certain issues, such as the environment, through purchases and places you make those purchases. Again this is nothing new, but still to me it is blog worthy. My friend had mentioned that there are local shops in the area that donate a token (not sure the value of the token) to local charities if you use your own shopping bag or just decide not to use any bag.  What a great idea.  I am so glad that there are smart people out there, otherwise I would be in a lot of trouble.  Anyway this benefits local charities, awesome, and it benefits the environment, awesome again.  These very simple concepts are what blow my mind.  The costs that are being saved in producing bags are being transferred to a worthy cause and the impact of human consumptopn/production on the environment is being reduced.  So cool.  So lets keep voting.  Buy local, look for shops that have green incentive programs, and remember that your vote does count (that sounds lame, but it is true).  Those votes force the bigger shops to get on board the common sense train, choochoo (wow what was in my coffee this morning?).  If we don't work to keep some shops that are working for us, and the planet, then the whole world will be overrun with walmarts.  And then  we will not be able to tell if we are in Zambia or England or Mexico, because it will all look the same, and who the heck wants that?  Certainly not me.  
Now if I could just get some restaurants on board with the super cool green program, Leftover Love, then we could really start voting.  Maybe the restaurants could have a program similar to the use your own bag program mentioned above.  I really do not care just as long as we do something.  I was actually thinking of doing something crazy, I know me, right crazy, but I can do it everyone once in a while (which really means all the time, but that is my little secret).  Here was my crazy idea, try to get a petition going on facebook, or some other social media place, where you post that you are going to take your own reusable container instead of taking the styrofoam or disposable containers form the restaurants.  Maybe if enough people did it, restaurants might pay a little more attention.  Just a thought. But if you want to post that you will do it, please feel free.  And of course let me know if you do it.  I will be forever in your debt.  OK maybe I should stop talking before I get myself in trouble.  Anyway hope everyone one in the world has a a great Friday.

R E S P E C T

This past Saturday was a dreary rainy day, and I am not sure if that is what sparked my mood and in turn this post.  So just driving along, running some errands with the fam, and I noticed a bunch of construction that is happening.  Nothing new, this is a pretty major construction project in our area.  But what caught me this time seeing the construction was a new batch of trees that the workers had cut down.  Again nothing new, seen this all too many times before.  But for some reason this time it hurt a little bit more.  I think because of the way it looked like the trees had just been tossed into a pile with no regard.  Now don't get me wrong here.  I know I cannot stop this construction project, and that is not my goal.  But these trees had been destroyed for this new stretch of highway but no one was thanking them.  OK where am I going with this?  I had been in a pretty heated, not argument, but debate the other day with a friend (definitely not a family member) about life on Earth.  One side of this debate was about placing value on certain types of living things.  On this side of the debate, humans were valued the most, placed at the top, because of all our emotions, and thought processes, and morals etc.  My side of the debate, which I know I did not get across very well, was that as these thoughtful humans we should know better than placing a value on certain living things, instead we should offer an equal respect to all life.  From the tiny bacteria that do great (and sometimes bad, and the bad ones we should respect even more) things to the trees, and animals (people included).  My point was that without all these things, that some people feel superior to, we would not and could not exist.  All life is interwoven and connected  in some way, and that needs to be respected, if for no other reason than for our own survival.  I am no scientist and I am certainly no philosopher, but I do understand a basic concept, respecting all life is survival.  There is no need to place a value on certain kinds of living things, because every living thing is important, and preserving a respect for life will help us (silly humans) to continue living.  In the book, The Prophet, by Kahil Gibran, there is a short chapter called Eating and Drinking.  In this chapter it says (and I am paraphrasing here) if you must kill to eat, let that be an act of worship and thank the animal, or plant, for what it will provide for you.  I think that applies here to those poor trees, and to all life.  We must thank those trees that were cut down.  Not toss them aside.  We must understand that yes change is going to happen and make changes to our planet.  But what we are taking away we need to respect and be thankful towards.  Those trees (and I would like to add oceans here) are major life supporters for all animals.  Lets understand that we need them and be thoughtful and respectful of those lives, regardless of if they can talk or have morals, and we should thank them when we use them.  Maybe then we can save ourselves.  Maybe then we will know we cannot always take, and understand that sometimes giving is necessary.  It is understanding these simple concepts of lifes' connectedness, and respecting it, in order to save all life.  Stepping down from soap box.  Now go hug a tree and thank your hamburger.  We can talk about a veggie lifestyle another time :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ZGevA4T5E&feature=related

Lots of good reads

http://environmentalbooty.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?promoted=1&xg_source=msg_feat_blogpost

See I knew we could do it!!!