Rethinking "Normal" Part 3 - What About All the Trash?

This is Part 3 in this Rethinking "Normal" series to highlight a few of the things I am witnessing (and struggling with) while away from the @gardenofeden, which are very standard practice for many.  I am in hopes of sharing some perspective and raising some awareness on some of the “normal”  things almost everyone is doing as I’m witnessing on this trip away from home.  I have been out in society, or the matrix as I and many others sometimes call it, for several days now, more time than I have spent immersed in this “normal” life than I have in many years.

Even though I have been choosing every day for over a decade to dedicate my time and invest my energy in living the most sustainable life I can imagine at the @gardenofeden (thanks to @quinneaker enacting his vision), I am having the opportunity to see and feel even greater depths of the “normal” powerful trance rampant in today’s society.  

I am in Nashville, Tennessee for my daughter’s wedding.  (Weddings being a subject I may touch on in this series, but not just yet.)  My daughter and I are staying with a couple of her friends in their home during my stay, so not only do I have a place to stay for free, I also have free transportation, free food, free wifi and all the amenities needed for a practical existence--all for which I am extremely grateful!!

However, just by being a part of what is happening out here in the matrix, I am affected greatly.  Though I don’t have to engage it fully, simply being around others who are for the most part not aware of or don’t care about these the subjects I'm going to address, is actually quite difficult, especially in finding balance between what I am aware of, upholding my own values, what I see and how I feel about it, what I want to say and do about it, and what is received from me or resisted in the process of attempting to shine the light on it.

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#3 TRASH AND/OR RECYCLING 

Trash at the @gardenofeden is almost always second hand trash--meaning, that which we consume was either already pre-used, leftover, or donated, instead of going into the landfill straight away.  We don’t purchase things from stores so we aren’t purchasing packaging either that requires a landfill to house for years (or generations) that which is not wanted.  (And of course, is just the tip of the iceberg of other realities that are involved in consumerism.)

Quite the contrast is seen out here in the matrix.  I’ve taken a peek in trash cans in people’s kitchens and bathrooms, in stores, and in the bins on the road set out for trash pickup.  Not to my surprise, many of the trash cans are lined with plastic bags purchased from a store.  Does it really make any sense to go to the store to purchase bags in a box to then take them out of the box, throw out the box, and then throw away the newly purchased bags with the trash in it?  One easy solution:  Use a used plastic bag or a box already being thrown into the trash.

The trash bins at the street are filled with styrofoam cups and containers, to-go boxes, egg shells, food scraps, paper towels, toilet paper, perfectly good gift bags, cans, clothing, toys, baskets, blankets, mirrors, cardboard boxes, lots of plastic bags, luggage, and more!  Many things are being sent to the landfill that are still useable, compostable, or at the least recyclable.

Easy solution: There are tons of places in nearly every city or town to donate viable items where someone could benefit from them instead of simply sending them to the dump.  All we have to do is separate them out and drop them off at someone else’s door.

Easy Solution:  Many of the items thrown in the trash could also be composted--which honestly and obviously most people don’t do, have no use for, or don’t even know when, how or why to make it or use.  The benefits of composting are immense for a garden, but even if only to enhance the soil in your yard or for your houseplants, it's a highly valuable sustainable solution to filling up the landfill.  Giving back to the circle of life helps nature do its own thing, instead of creating and amplifying a detrimental situation that can last for years.

Easy Solution: Many of these other items could at least be recycled--which apparently (according to what I saw in the trash bins) many people are too inconvenienced or uneducated to do, even though the recycling bin and recycling pick-up service is provided….and recycling has been offered to main stream America for more than twenty years.  How much of it is actually recycled once it's picked up by the big trucks is another topic entirely!

An Overall Solution:  It really all comes down to awareness--and CARING--about the environment and life itself.  It saddens me to see how little care there is in this regard.  At least I had hoped the younger generation would take a personal interest and show the older generations the way.  I have no doubt that in some places and with some young people that is the case, though on this trip in this part of the country, that has not been my experience.

How we are interacting with the waste we create shows a lot about who we are.  

What is your relationship with trash?
How much of it do you create?
Do you make a concerted effort to reuse or repurpose?
Do you compost?
Do you recycle?
Do you set an example?
Do you take interest in supporting our home--Mother Earth?
Do you just do it when it’s convenient?
Or do you do it because you hold true to standards of high value?
Have you considered your own carbon footprint?

These are all powerful questions to ask ourselves.
Acknowledging our own participation is the beginning to upgrading existence
for ourselves and the world for generations to come

There are things we all can do daily, if we simply care enough!

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Though I’ve been frustrated this week, as what I witness feels like we are moving in the opposite direction from positive and progressive change, I’ve learned that it doesn’t pay for me to be angry with people for what they don’t know, to expect them to live up to my standards, expect them to understand or even care - or feel that they as one person can make a difference, or expect that even in the knowing of these things that they will change.  We all have a lot of conditioning to let go of.  It starts with awareness and acknowledgement that we are part of the problem, then taking responsibility to be part of the solution.

@quinneaker has been sharing even greater depths of his enlightened perspectives for over a decade, and has created a life at the @gardenofeden where these “normal” scenarios do not exist, which make them even more apparent for me in contrast .  He has unwaveringly held such high standards that he makes it seem easy! 

I’m getting an amazing opportunity on this trip to feel my own awareness, test my own resolve, see where I am weak, rejoice where I am strong, find a way with ease and grace to share perspective without shutting people out so they are unable to hear or get a glimpse, and help change the world for the better, even if I touch only a few people at a time.

I hope you will follow this series and consider your own impact on humanity and our planet, and do what you can do to make this world a better place.  

Rethinking "Normal" Part 1 - A/C
Rethinking "Normal" Part 2 - More Waste of Electricity

Enter the @gardenofeden website to to see how we're doing our part to change the world.

And check out one of our daily Sustainable Feasts in the @gardenofeden too.