Everything is interconnected

28 04 2011

Infinite thrumming web exists on this planet. I like that statement. I really believe that. I believe everything happens for a reason. Of course, we are too small and infinitesimal in our thinking and in our life to really see why things happen. What reason did that little tiny detail exist in the way it does?

So what is the point of talking about it? I mean, we are too small to figure out the meaning anyway, and getting enlightened in today’s day and age, with electronic communication and highways seems a bit far-fetched. Why bother? Why not just focus on being happy, and doing the things that matter, the things that make you happy and that’s all?

My mother knocks on my door occasionally and comes in, and finds me journaling or just staring off into space, thinking. Why are you staring off into space? Are you crying, are you sad, are you depressed? These are her responses to me in that state, called ruminating or meditating. There must be something wrong with you, you are contemplating the questions of the universe. There must be something wrong with you, you are not engaging in consumerism and the real world of achievement and success.

I couldn’t believe the first time she asked me about my mental state, as I spent too much time contemplating the plain, white walls of my tiny bedroom. I thought she must be joking. Shouldn’t she be happy, I am not sitting in front of a TV set watching trash TV? I mean, shouldn’t be a thing of pride, rather than despair? Why are you so different? Why can’t you just meld?

I ask myself the same question – why can’t I just be the same as everyone else? What does my selling my car, trying to be more green, reusing, recycling, and reducing, not shopping for a year, eating less meat, what is all of this going to do? The earth still seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. Nothing seems to be helping. But I feel much better about myself having made those changes. They make me feel better, but are they really doing anything good in the long term? I dont know, but I have a dire feeling the answer is negative.

I went to a training session for my server position – I know, who gets trained as a server, great training. But I realized sitting there for five hours straight, from 930 to 230, that it is absolutely impossible for me to sit for that long anymore. I mean, absolutely impossible. I used to have a desk job, I sat for 9 to 10 hours everyday without a problem. Well, not too much of a problem, I was antsy, and fidgety and thought I was losing my mind, but still, I managed it. Now, though, I need a job in which I am moving around. I cannot do the desk job on a computer thing anymore. I like my physical job, I know I might be thinking at 35, maybe I should do something different, but I am sure I will have a chance to go do something different then.


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Categories : Life, random

Need for nature

22 04 2011

I feel sad today. This kind of sadness is something that emanates from deep inside of me. I think it might be hormones, as my period is just ending, but also, I feel this need to be around nature right now. I want to be around green leafy trees and green warm earth, with birds chirping, mosquitos biting and all the fun stuff associated with a long, hot, summer day.

I am not getting enough nature in my day to day going ons, with my walk to the bus stop being right next to a busy highway and my days spent serving chicken wings to a myriad number of fun, quirky customers. I need more of it, and so now I have taken to watching certain shows on TV, which I know have a lot of green scenery in them. For example, Hawaii 5-0 has beautiful scenes of green from Hawaii, just gorgeousness, it just fills my heart with joy to see all that green in one place. I feel like jumping up for joy, I feel like packing up my bags and going off to Hawaii, without any consequence to the circumstances that I am in right now. Another one that’s good for greenery is CSI: Miami and NCIS: LA. Amazing beautiful scenery, seriously gorgeous. The greens are eye-popping greens and the blues are turquoise-popping blues.

This need for nature is very common, I am guessing among the human beings of today. Our ancestors were used to walking outside and encountering nature on their doorstep. We are so far removed from any vestiges of greenery, especially in the desolate winters of Canada, that we crave the green when the long winters refuse to leave us. Everyday, I stare down the trees in my neighborhoods daring them to sprout some green leaves. Please, I beg them, do it, let me have some green. I already see the grass in the neighborhood sprouting new leaves, sprouting green baby leaves, and I know that spring is coming.

Every year, I think this year I am going to spot the green leaves sprouting on the trees, but every year, I miss it, somehow. This year as well, I made a resolution to spot when the green leaves burst out of the majestic trees around our house, but I am sure they will dupe me yet again, and I will be so happy to see the leaves that I will forgive them that infraction.

At the end, I leave you with the anonymous saying, Every day is Earth Day.


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Categories : Life

Co-housing

5 04 2011

I have been reading this amazing book by David Wann, called Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle. I absolutely loved the book – it has amazing information on how we are affecting the balance on Earth and in Mother Nature and how there are people all over the world, trying to live differently, reducing their carbon footprint, making their living carbon-neutral, in different ways. One of the major things I took out of the book was about Sustainable housing. I consider myself an environmental nut, and I know my family considers me somewhat of a recycling nut. I bring back Styrofoam cups from a restaurant we would go to, to recycle them at home. But I know that the housing that I share with my parents, that is owned by my parents, is highly unsustainable. I tried to do little things like recycle as much as possible, keep the heat down, only use the dryer and washer at night, plant a tree to increase the shade in the area, grow a vegetable garden, but I know there is much more that can be done.

I liked the idea of Co-housing that David Wann advocates for in the book. It is an interesting way of living. I especially like it because it brings back the feeling of community into the world. It feels like you have your own space, your own house to get back into when you need privacy, but that you are living in a joint family, where everyone living around you is a family member or a friend. You actually know the people who live around you, communicate with them, eat with them, play sports with them. You share resources with them, they help you out when you need a hand. There are so many ways Co-housing is better than the way suburbs are built nowadays. I could give a thousand examples in which if we only knew our neighbors well enough, we would have saved a few dollars and a lot of time. For example, yesterday my car battery died. I called CAA. If I knew any of our neighbors, we could have asked them to jump start our car.  If we lived in co-housing, we wouldn’t need to ask, everyone would be there around us, asking us questions, asking if they could help, helping without being asked. We spent $50 for a jumpstart, when we could have just made stronger bonds with our neighbors in a co-housing community.

In addition, suburbs break down the balance in nature that is around them. They use up too much of the land to build the sprawling neighborhoods with no access to proper transit, cut down trees that have been around for hundreds of years, and use up a lot of resources to build and to maintain. Our heating and cooling costs for this huge house are astronomical. We cringe every time we have to pay the bills. It is a source of pride to my parents to live in a mansion like this, coming from where they were born, in the slums of India. But of course, it is not sustainable at all.

I would like to propose something. I am going to live in a co-housing setting in Canada. I used to always think I would like to live in downtown Toronto. That seemed really cool to me. Living next to all the happenings. And I might still do that while I am in my clubbing years, but after that, I believe I will find a nice co-housing setting to live in. I was researching some options and I found there are loads of co-housing in British Columbia, but very few in Ontario.

One that I found was GreenSong. Another one that I liked was Eden Mills, where the village is going carbon neutral. Check both of these out and let me know what you think.


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Categories : Green, Life

Being fit and green (and the joy of Payday!)

15 07 2009

Why does payday bring such a surge of joy through your system? I was thinking about it, and I bet to myself that getting money in any way must increase the endorphin levels in your body. I tried to research that on google, to see if its true, but weirdly enough, I found no articles on it. There must be someone researching that out there.

Anyway, I was reading this post on Zen Habits, on Three Simple Changes to Get Fit and Green at the same time and I totally agreed with the three things he mentioned. Those three things are human powered transportation (bike to work), vegetarianism ( or reduce amount of meat eaten) and consume less ( buy less stuff).

I would add a few more things that I have been doing in order to be green and help out my finances as well as the earth.

1. I don’t drink sodas of any kind. I just drink smoothies that I make at home ( Watermelon-mint smoothies are my favourite. Get the recipe here). This helps out in the way that there are no harmful chemicals or useless sugars entering my body. In addition, there aren’t any bottles, plastic or glass, that are entering the landfills and adding to the waste.

2. In addition to the above, I do not ever buy bottled water. I have my own stainless steel or plastic Nalgene bottle that I carry around with me everywhere. I fill it up at water fountains, at my home, at other people’s homes, and everywhere else. When I was in Rome, I filled up this waterbottle at the little water fountains they had everywhere. I believe I haven’t bought a plastic bottle in the last year and a half.

3. I also bring my own mug if I ever happen to drink tea at a cafe. I usually really dont drink coffee/tea outside, but if I know I’m going to, I bring my reusable mug, which brings me a nice discount as well at certain cafes.

4. If I do go shopping, I always carry my own reusable bags, and I never take a plastic bag that the store offers. I would rather carry the item in my hands, than use the plastic bag, that will be thrown into landfills and clog up our oceans.

5. I recycle as many items as I can. And I am trying to get a Bokashi bucket for our house, so that all of our organic waste can be turned into life-giving compost.

6. I absolutely abhor styrofoam. It is the worst thing you can ever buy for your house and for the earth. It is not recyclable, it remains on the planet for an incredibly long time and it is toxic to animals as they swallow it and it blocks their digestive tracts. Read about it here. 

Finally, I think reading more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch really hits home how much garbage we are really throwing out there. As the Green Living Tips website says below, there is a lot of waste going into oceans that could really be reduced.  

“According to GreenPeace, over 20 billion pounds of plastic ends up in the ocean – each year. Plastics are particularly nasty in an aquatic environment; aside from being toxic, they don’t biodegrade, but just break into increasingly smaller pieces that are dispersed widely. These particles can clog the gills of fish and filter feeders.”

I think everyone can do their little part in improving the earth and reducing the amount of garbage they produce.

Its especially the disconnect between us and nature that causes us not to care about the Earth. We only see our garbage being taken away by garbage trucks, but we do not see where it goes. We only see our waste being flushed away and taken away by pipes, but we do not see what happens to it after. Same thing with our foods, we see the piece of drumstick on our plate, but we do not see how it came to be on that plate. This causes us to be disconnected from everything that we eat, wear, and do. This is especially true for the younger generation who have never been on a farm, and never really been around nature. They are the ones that are really disconnected, and they aren’t around enough of nature, for it to truly connect for them. It would be great if we taught the kids of today where their foods and clothes come from, so they understand the consequences of waste and overconsumption. I especially love David Suzuki’s book The Sacred Balance on this topic. It is definitely a must-read!


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Categories : Life


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