NaNoWriMo - Day 4

My NaNo Day 4

One thing I learned today. If I don't finish my writing in the morning I won't get to it. That means that I have to write some extra tomorrow morning. Today, I had an appointment and had to leave at a certain time. Tomorrow, I have a long list of chores, but will write first.

If you happen to live in San Diego and are participating in the NaNoWriMo Madness, here are some places to meet up with fellow writers and get some support and have fun. None of these work for me this week - but maybe next week I will go. If I do, I post pictures here :)

[Online] Discord Write-In
Monday, Nov 4, 2019, at 7:00 pm on the regional Discord Virtual Write-Ins channel.

[ML-run] Fenton Parkway Starbucks Write-In
Tuesday, Nov 5, 2019, at 5:30 pm

[Wrimo-run] Mira Mesa Souplantation Write-In
Wednesday, Nov 6, 2019, at 11:30 am

[Wrimo-run] UCSD Friday Lunch Write-In
Friday, Nov 8, 2019, at 12:30 pm

[Wrimo-run] Darkstar (UCSD) Write-In
Saturday, Nov 9, 2019, at 1:00 pm

NaNoWriters on Steem

Check out what we are up to at the Freewrite House. This post will be of particular interest to you.

Disclaimer

I am planning to write 50,000 + words this month in the spirit of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. But I am going to ignore the Novel part and write whatever I want to. I am doing a complete stream of consciousness style of writing. It might become a Novel, it might look more like morning pages - basically, word vomit onto the page to empty the brain. Maybe, I get a bunch of good blog posts out of it. I don't know. Feel free to read it - or not. Quality is not ensured! 😂

Today's Topics

plastic in our bodies

depressed by the state of the world (politics and such)

crows stealing more pecans

It is early in the morning and I am sitting here in my monk’s outfit - that is what my husband calls it. He gave me that robe made of some kind of fleece a very long time ago. The zipper holding the thing together broke pretty quickly, but I like things to snuggle into especially when it is cold. Who wants all those airspaces where cold air can get you at an unexpected spot.
A broken zipper is an easy fix in this case. An old shoelace is a perfect belt! It might have been a new extra when it first find its glamorous life around my waist, but by now, it is quite old looking. I must say myself that it has a certain similarity with the brown monks rope held together by a rope made with some natural something. But I love that thing and it has to fall apart before I will let go of it.
As much as I love it, it also gives me a constant reminder that it is not so easy to ride the sustainability train. The robe is made from some microfiber fleece, in other words, it is made from plastic of some kind. Once I am not wearing it anymore, I will do my best to find a way to recycle it. But most people are going to throw it away and it will be in the landfill for many hundreds of years. Actually, as far as I know, it will never biodegrade. It will break down eventually - into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. But still, plastic.
And where does that plastic go?
If you guessed into the rivers and ultimately the ocean and into the soil, you guessed right. But did you guess that it is going to end up in your body? Maybe you knew that already. All of us have plastic in our bodies now, some more than others.
Years ago, I read a book by a person that considers herself part of the health movement. She ate and fed her children mostly organic food and was conscious of her environmental footprint. That means she used biodegradable cleaning agents, organic body care and so on.
It is incredible how many dangerous chemicals people allow into their like. Heck, not just allow - they are paying often lots of money for it and bringing it home with a smile on their faces.
This lady wrote a book and I can’t remember the title or what the book was all about. But what stuck in my mind is this fact. She had her hair and the hair of her children examined and they all had plastic present.
I am not a scientist and am not able to tell you right now how those tests are done and what it all means besides the fact that we carry plastic in our bodies where it does not belong.
Which brings me back to my robe. Even though I am going to wear it and not throw it into the trash and even though I will find a way to repurpose it after it is in tatters, I am still guilty of contributing to the plastic disaster. Every time I am washing any fabric made from plastic, tiny little particles are shed that go into the sewer - or your yard if you have a greywater system - and can be eaten by fish or absorbed by a plant. Then we eat that fish and that plant, and viola, a little bit more of plastic is in our bodies.
Why do we care?
Again, not a scientist here and I haven’t researched this topic lately, but plastic wrecks havoc with hormones in our bodies. And, as we now know, hormones control just about everything. So many women have developed breast cancers that are estrogen driven and plastic in our bodies is cited as a culprit.
And that really deserves a blog post and I will work on that soon - NOTE TO SELF

Here are a couple of things that are upsetting me - well, disturbing my peace of mind. Is that how I want to say that? I don’t know. But the truth is that I have been feeling a certain sense of hopelessness that we are getting it as a society. It kind of started with my fellow citizens electing a president that is a disaster in many ways but for sure for everything and anything that has to do with the environment and social justice-whatever that means to people.
And maybe he didn’t get elected and the election was manipulated. Either scenario is rather depressing.
That is one and I see weird shifts in politics into a direction that is very scary to me. Strong men politics has never shown to be good for the people - for a small elite, yes. For the masses, no.
At the same time, I see more and more and more people struggling to survive. So many are one paycheck away from disaster. But still, the choices are to consume more and more and more. We could get into the slavery of being in debt and the design of creating the illusion that buying more will buy happiness but I can’t take those thoughts early in the morning.
Let’s have a little interlude and talk about the birds. My pecan tree must have been bearing a lot this year since I am watching tons of crows high up in the branches happily harvesting away. I see them fly in different directions with the nut in their mouths to their favorite cracking place. A lot like the roof of my neighbor. The bang the nuts against the tile roof or the chimney until they get a crack in it.
Another favorite method is to fly up high and let them drop on the street. Pecans are rather soft shelled. Macadamias are another matter. Those, they throw on the street and wait for a car to drive over. Then they scoop down to harvest their meal.

Okay, feeling better now. Understand that people want to hide - not think about it

To be continues tomorrow

Results - like fringe group took over the town…

Flagstaff: all clothing plastic

Study done when I was a kid on speed of reaction when even a little non natural fiber was involved

Appreciate the fas drying athletic clothing

Book on pesticides published 50 years ago

Lots of talk now on fast fashion and how it impacts the world - trash , manufacturing, cheap labor

How it came about that we were buying more - manipulation through advertisement

More people are buying less

That happened with fast food when the calories were first posted - then, right back to normal behavior

Shopping bags…

Join us for the daily 5 - Minute Freewrite. Check my profile for a new prompt every day.

I am adding the CC tag to all prompt posts and to most of my other posts as well. You can earn Comment Coins simply by leaving a good comment. No spam please!!!

All images are my own unless otherwise cited.
Graphics made on Canva.

_{Animation By @zord189}

#SoCalSteemit is building and supporting the Steemit community of Southern California. If you are from SoCal and are into creating quality content here on Steemit, we'd love for you to follow us @SoCalSteemit and join our group on Discord!

Join @Actifit, become healthier by being active and earn as you walk. My referral link

Listen to the Sustainable Living Podcast here!

Join us at the Freewrite House for fun and games!!! Weekly drawing for SBI memberships and so much more!!

And get your Freewrite House Swag here