Dissapointments

I heard a great speech by Sheryl Sandberg at 2016 UC Berkeley commencement about how we are wired for coping with loss. And today is one more set back one more disappointment of being on yet another waitlist for Haas. Just introspecting if I am not good enough. If I hadn't worked hard enough. Sandberg's says in her speech that imagine the worse that could happen and that will give you gratitude.

I am grateful for all the things I have in life and the many many times that i have been so lucky and my mind and heart is hungry for more. Is it the hunger to be recognized for getting success or is it gaining more respect from myself and fro people around me.

This journey that I am on today will teach me far more. I am already on this never returning path of wanting to make a difference. Its having the patience and the perception that life has more in store for me.

Today is yet another disappointment, i am sad but i will get up and do better.

Cone vs cup for your ice cream

I know summer is on its way to be over but for all the ice cream lovers think about how fun it is to eat in a cone....you don't need a spoon either...save the paper/plastic cup you will get served in and save the plastic spoon you will eat with...the old fashioned licking will go a long way to save some more of the environment.

http://sfenvironmentkids.org/4Rs/reduce/reduce_reducing.htm

Reducing is Easy!

Since everything comes from nature, one of the best ways we can protect nature is to use less stuff! For instance, every time we use less paper including copy paper, paper cups, paper towels, paper bags and paper napkins, we help save trees and forests. Whenever we use fewer plastic items like bags and bottles, we use less petroleum, or oil. Using less oil can protect places like the rainforest, the desert and the ocean, where petroleum is drilled. And, when we reduce the amount of new electronic items we buy (like cell phones, computers and electronic games) we reduce the amount of minerals, rocks and metals that are mined from under the earth. It takes one ton of raw materials from the earth to make one laptop computer!

Sometimes the best way to reduce using stuff is to not use it at all! For instance, some people choose not to buy water in plastic bottles. Instead, they refill a glass or stainless steel bottle with filtered tap water instead. Despite what many people believe, tap water here in the United States (especially from cities like San Francisco that has an excellent water supply) is often cleaner and safer than water in plastic bottles.

Reducing our use of stuff can be fun too! For example, one way to reduce is to eat ice cream in a cone, not a cup. By ordering ice cream in a cone, you don’t need a paper cup or plastic spoon and you can eat the entire cone—which is made from plants— and leave no waste behind. Cones require less energy and natural resources to produce than the cup and spoon and this is better for nature. Thinking creatively about ways you can use less stuff can be fun—and tasty too!

Where it all began for me and why i don't like plastic

So here it is right from the start..i don't know where it started but mostly from my being here in US and with the whole sustainability move in the Architetcural industry...and part of it taking LEED exam...anywhoes the last memory stems from me starting to recycle items after i got married back in 2006. Ones which i thought were recyclable. But mostly cans and bottles and anything plastic that i wanted to throw. Then i started taking my own cloth bags but not regularly. I think the craziness kicked in mainly when i got pregnant with my daughter Fianna. i did worry about how it would affect my little one. I stopped using perfumes. Stopped nail polish back then. ( i am back to wearing them now and i know I should stop it).

This post would be not complete without the background of what i grew up with. While growing up in India some things that i remember right away was that my mom would always carry a bag with her for bring back grocery and even the green grocers or the dry grocery stores didn't hand out plastic bags back then..infact they were pretty stingy about handing out plastic bags coz it cost them money. The dry grocery store folks use to have little packets made from old newspaper for handing out the grocery and then my mom or dad would put it in their large bag and take it home. No pre packaging...so in short bulk grocery shopping like stores like wholefoods..already a sustainable practice...

There are many such sustainable practices more from the fact to reduce the cost of many things. Maybe i will write another post on sustainable pratices i was raised with.

For now back to US life. Good thing is right from the start I didn't like canned or frozen food coz my mom always made fresh food. So didn't need to worry about the packaging for that. Started shopping local at farmers market and organic in fear of all the pesticides i might consume...when finally Fianna came i knew right from the start i am going to make her part of my green ( sustainable project). I used cloth diapers for her for mostly 80 percent of hte time unti lshe was 14 months and started day care ( They refused to consider cloth diapers due ot hygiene). i always had her on organic fruits and vegetables..mostly for her not to ingest the chemicals...trying not to buy plastic toys and get wooden alternates if i could.

Also after starting to work at Gensler i was introduced our sustainabilty group and we discussed a whole lot of things including sustainable business. Which included starting from our office and how to make it greener. Encouraging use of our own silverware as opposed to disposable ones.

Also i think it was always intuitive for me that since plastic was not a natural product and was a product of so many chemical processing that surely having food in it was not a good idea. Then through various vendor presentations about hte products if they degenrated in the sun and that got me to thinkign that all plastics degenerate and leach out their chemicals with time.

Then of course the book i am reading my Beth Terry "My Plastic Free Life"
It mentions why plastic does not break down when it hits the landfills.
Her explaination really convinced me why. She says that there are gazillion polymers in the world naturally occuring..like tree sap..honey..too many to name...but these polymers have been around for centuries and the microorganism which help break down these have had the practise of doign that for centuries too. But hte man made polymers have been around only for a few years and there are no organism who have evolved to break these down..hence they wil take many mroe centuries to break down..and even more the plastic leacing chemicals will leach from the lanfills in ot hte water tables into our drinking water.

Thsi conversation of mine can extend into pages but for now i covered msotly the begining of my thought. i have a long long way to go and a long way to break my laziness too and logn way to inform eveyone i know that they have a duty for our kids and the future generation for a better environment for all the wild life..bu that will have to be another post.

Weekly tab….

Before I forget I do want to pen down that after this batch of lotion and shampoo gets over I will make my own lotion and shampoo.

I have been regularly taking a cotton napkin to the restroom to wipe my hands after washing my hands and trying not to use the paper towels.

Been diligently carrying my bags to stores and carrying used plastic bags for produce… by far very very minimal new plastic bags….

Need to do something about the takeout orders that I have to ask Bobby to bring home which contains a ton of plastic containers..

Haven’t bought any new plants in plastic containers…but will have to soon until I find out who sell plants in the cardboard mush containers..

Started planting in the plastic containers that I bought plants in…waiting for plants to grow out their roots for me to put the planters up…

Trying to take the stairs up to my office atleast once in a day..need to work on the zero elevator usage…I made one batch of snack for Fifi last week..need to make a new batch this week to reduce her packaged snacks….

Today's difference

I took the stair up and down 5 floors of my office for lunch. Read about greener packaging of products. Went to whole foods to find some green packaged cleaning supplies...very little....posted on facebook " Think about the number of products we buy packaged in all plastic. The packaging makes up for 10% of the carbon footprint of the product. Make a choice for a more sustainable packaging. Use a bar soap as opposed to body wash. Take your own stainless steel bottle or glass as opposed to buying a plastic water bottle.

And if you do buy them plastic packaged please recycle.

http://www.greenerpackage.com/source_reduction/10_tips_sustainable_package_design "

The beginning

After listening to Beth Terry on NPR I realized what I was doing to save environment in my way was not enough. I was already using cloth bags for shopping, refusing plastic bags where I could, recycling, using soap bars....but the podcast inspired me how I could do more to reduce it. On Wednesday the 1st of August 2012 I started a trash bag and filling it with plastics we discard. Taking up the plastic free challenge. I want to sew small cloth bags for storing produce.Today is August 5th and I asked my clothes in the tub to save energy.