Currently, I'm a college student in Colorado. If one was to ask me what I do, I would respond with gnar shreading, rock crushing, trail running, mountain hiking, guitar playing awesomely fun times. But in reality, I spend most of my time in the library, knee deep in books, printouts, or with my computer plugged in. I also frequently find myself eating snacks from wrappers, dragging my dirty clothes into the elevator so I can take them to the washing machine, or in big 16 passenger vans to backpack some swell Colorado 14ers or show Breckenridge whos boss. I also frequently find myself at the supermarket, the drugstore, Walmart or simply the C-Store purchasing things that will not last forever. Although my strong Leave NO Trace ethics refuse to let me buy bottled water or skip over the recycle bin without feeling guilty, I still love to consume and have new things. From clothes, to trail gear, to fancy lotions or even a box of gluten free cookies, I'm always breaking out the debit card or gold card to bring something new into my possession. Even though I always select the more green option, i'm still gathering more stuff. This stuff used a lot of energy to produce, and eventually will find its way to rot in a landfill. Such a sad reality. For my Lived Ethics project, I decided to go bold. I would not spend any money for the next two blocks. But after a little reflection, I realized that would be impossible. First of all, I need to pay for school. Without paying for school this project would be irrelevant and you all could just read the food sustainability blog I created in high school (shameless plug). Then I pondered a bit more, I do need to eat. A hungry and undercaffinated Drewsie is an innificient Drewsie.At this point in my life, i'm not a backyard grower, I cannot create my own food from the soil so I have to get it elsewhere. As I continued down this train of thought more things i'm required to purchase came to mind. What about perscriptions? books for school? or even toothpaste? I quickly realized my rather ambitious goal was a bit far reaching and I would have to tone it down a bit.
So I came up with a new idea, I shall purchase NO GOODS for the next two blocks. I'm defining a good as something I can hold. That means no new flannel, laundry detergent, headphones, outfits for theme parties, or magazines for two blocks. And for the things I cannot get around purchasing (like food and pills), I will strive to purchase things without packaging and take my recycling to new levels. I will also try to use the least amount of fossil fuel burning transportation as possible and make sure what I do need to purchase also goes through the least amount of transportation.
One thing I cannot get around here is my caffeine addiction. My desk is a plethura of plastic iced coffee cups that I save to later re-use as party cups. NO MORE! I say. If I want coffee, (it is not so much a want, more of a need, the way you probably feel about oxygen) I must supply my own reusable cup. As I write this in the library at 10:11 pm on a Sunday evening, there is a paper coffee cup sitting right next to me. When I left my dorm around 7:30 to come to the library to study, I was running fine on my 2:00 pm large iced coffee. But come 9 it was time to replenish the tank. So I reached, as I do on many occasions, for my gold card. And one swipe later my insides are filled with warm, black velvetly, coffee goodness. But my hand is filled with a paper cup and a plastic lid, an unessessary evil. Recycling may prevent the cup and lid from sitting in a landfill, but lots of fossil fuel energy still went into the production of the cup, bringing it to the wonderful and majestic library coffee cart, and then taking it to the recycling plant and turning it into something else. Instead of making the planet suffer through all that effort, I have a magical idea. I shall only use my reusable coffee cup. That means if a craving strikes hard in the library and i'm without my cup, i'm going on the long and lonely journey back to Slocum to procure it.
Coffee cup is a pretty easy solution. Yes, I will find it to be relatively inconvinent and it may make me late for class if i forget my reusable cup, (do you really think I would ever go to class without being properly caffenated? i'm going to invite you to re-read the above paragraph) but at the end of the day, it is something I can do. In all reality, I spent the past few days gathering things I know I will want but will no longer be allowed to purchase during this project, such as soap (which I was about to run out of anyways) and a snazzy new pair of shoes (i'm not going to run out of shoes anytime soon, but my old sandals were hurting my feet). But what about toothpaste? I know I will run out in a few weeks, I'm going to need to purchase some, and I will need to transport myself to the drugstore and buy some in a plastic tube. Or even food, I do my best to shop out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods, but often buying in bulk makes no sense for me. I will go through a normal sized bag of rice in a year, so why would I purchase the bulk container for more money just to let some of the rice go to waste? What about the food I have already paid for on the meal plan that is only served on paper plates? or the fact that I always make a mess and on average need three paper napkins per meal. As I continue to encounter these problems, expect some interesting blog posts. So maybe the guys working behind the salad bar at The Preserve will not put my dinner in a re-usable container and will make me use the paper plate, but I can bring my silverware instead of using a plastic fork. And instead of having my meds ride in a car to school, I can take my bike to the pharmacy. But I cannot get out of 16 passenger van riding because some of it is required for class field trips. As this project continues, I can already for see more problems in the future. My friend has a birthday next week, how am I going to get her a gift? I plan on camping for block break, how am I going to get fuel for my camp stove? Where do I draw the line between want and need as far as purchasing goods goes. Expect some informatively witty articles in the next coming weeks.
