Having and Being, Community, and Soap
Apr. 30th, 2007 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenHAVING and BEING
Every now and then I drop in on No Impact Man to see what he and his family are doing. They live in NYC and are doing a one year project of trying out all kinds of environmentally gentler ways of living. Next week they turn off the electricity. The guy, Colin Beavan, is writing a book on this, and I believe there's also a movie in the works (documentary, I'm assuming) -- yes, I know, they'll make money on this, and use resources for the books, etc. Apparently they're going to use something special for the book material, that isn't paper...
Anyway, while I don't always think much of his attempts at humor, he certainly is out to research and try a lot of stuff, so it's interesting to see what may or may not work, especially in a city. And he's very earnest about the effort -- I liked this blog entry on paving over the planet, building community, etc.: Deeper sickness, better cure"
He's good about referencing other people's work and resources as they pertain to his subject matter as well, and expanding on his thoughts on these things, like here:
"Where once, Having was something that complimented our Being, over the past hundred years, we’ve come to act as though our Being is entirely for the purpose of Having. Since the pleasure of Having is so short lived, we must Have more and more in our attempts to be happy. That means consuming more and more of the planet’s resources and pumping more and more toxins into its water, earth and air."
COMMUNITY
Then he goes on to talk about how "among the roots of the planetary eco-crisis is the breakdown of community". If we don't know our neighbors, or anyone in our community, why should we care what happens to them? Why should people passing by your home care if they litter your property with candy wrappers and such, if they don't know you? Mind you, I don't believe in littering at all -- but it's a sign of people's disassociation with their community and with the environments (societal and natural).
I read somewhere last week about how we are being referred more often to as consumers, not as citizens -- basically just a unit of the market, not people who use the market -- tools instead of users of tools... Of course I don't feel that way, but if someone else views me that way, then when that person and I try to communicate, I'm talking to a person and he or she is talking to a concept or archetype or something.... something not real. What an annoying thought :(
Speaking of community, yes,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fitzw and I do know a number of our neighbors. We're not close, but we do chat, say hello, occasionally hang out together. This has led to helping each other with snow clearing and various other things. All good :)
Whenever we manage to make it to Ashfield, we'll already know some people sincefitzw has family there, but we'll have to make a point of getting to know more people there, since it's a smaller place than Holyoke. You never know what will come of those relationships, but it's nice to be able to help others out when you're able, and always a pleasant surprise when someone does something nice for you -- part of what makes life worth living, in my book.
SOAP
I've decided I'll put this in a separate post, after all. Have some research to do first, but I want to get the rest of this posted and off my 'desk'.
Every now and then I drop in on No Impact Man to see what he and his family are doing. They live in NYC and are doing a one year project of trying out all kinds of environmentally gentler ways of living. Next week they turn off the electricity. The guy, Colin Beavan, is writing a book on this, and I believe there's also a movie in the works (documentary, I'm assuming) -- yes, I know, they'll make money on this, and use resources for the books, etc. Apparently they're going to use something special for the book material, that isn't paper...
Anyway, while I don't always think much of his attempts at humor, he certainly is out to research and try a lot of stuff, so it's interesting to see what may or may not work, especially in a city. And he's very earnest about the effort -- I liked this blog entry on paving over the planet, building community, etc.: Deeper sickness, better cure"
He's good about referencing other people's work and resources as they pertain to his subject matter as well, and expanding on his thoughts on these things, like here:
"Where once, Having was something that complimented our Being, over the past hundred years, we’ve come to act as though our Being is entirely for the purpose of Having. Since the pleasure of Having is so short lived, we must Have more and more in our attempts to be happy. That means consuming more and more of the planet’s resources and pumping more and more toxins into its water, earth and air."
COMMUNITY
Then he goes on to talk about how "among the roots of the planetary eco-crisis is the breakdown of community". If we don't know our neighbors, or anyone in our community, why should we care what happens to them? Why should people passing by your home care if they litter your property with candy wrappers and such, if they don't know you? Mind you, I don't believe in littering at all -- but it's a sign of people's disassociation with their community and with the environments (societal and natural).
I read somewhere last week about how we are being referred more often to as consumers, not as citizens -- basically just a unit of the market, not people who use the market -- tools instead of users of tools... Of course I don't feel that way, but if someone else views me that way, then when that person and I try to communicate, I'm talking to a person and he or she is talking to a concept or archetype or something.... something not real. What an annoying thought :(
Speaking of community, yes,
fitzw and I do know a number of our neighbors. We're not close, but we do chat, say hello, occasionally hang out together. This has led to helping each other with snow clearing and various other things. All good :)Whenever we manage to make it to Ashfield, we'll already know some people since
fitzw has family there, but we'll have to make a point of getting to know more people there, since it's a smaller place than Holyoke. You never know what will come of those relationships, but it's nice to be able to help others out when you're able, and always a pleasant surprise when someone does something nice for you -- part of what makes life worth living, in my book.SOAP
I've decided I'll put this in a separate post, after all. Have some research to do first, but I want to get the rest of this posted and off my 'desk'.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-30 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-30 03:34 pm (UTC)"cleaner who comes in four hours a week. Also, Isabella goes to family day care with four other kids, which by the way she loves (we neither wanted nor could afford a nanny). I pay the cleaner roughly the same hourly wage that I earn..."
Seems kind of silly that he pays the cleaner about the same as he makes, so essentially he's choosing to do what he wants to do, and paying for the "privilege". Better than having one and losing money, I suppose. And she has to use whatever cleaning agents he provides. Only time will tell on whether or not they keep the service, but since all the really rich people aren't about to let their full-time staff go, if he can at least influence those people to use cleaner cleaning agents, even that aspect of his living style could be useful. I'd like to see him do something with that -- trying to get the cleaning service to see the wisdom of using better cleaning technology.
I don't have a cleaner, of course. Also don't have a terribly clean house... the dust kittens on the stairs and behind a couple of the doors get a little fierce at times... imagine have 4 hours free per week to clean! They do their own laundry and dishwashing, so I'm guessing the cleaner must do things like wash the floors and bathroom, or something. We vacuum/sweep regularly, but dusting doesn't happen weekly, nor washing the entire kitchen floor.
Well, as I said, they're a work in progress. I personally wouldn't put my life on display the way he has. Being one of many on LJ isn't the same as interviewing for newspapers and tv, thank goodness!
And I don't know as he'll make a huge change/impact on society -- probably not as big as needs to happen. But he is having some impact, and other environmental bloggers are helping and pushing him along, which will likely be a help overall. I think one thing that interests me about this is that it's in a city, which is where most people live.
I would like to see him do more of what one poster suggested, which is talking about what people can do to effect change outside their own space -- talking to his building's management about insulating, energy-saving practices, etc., for instance. If he had any success with that, it could encourage other people to do the same.