Thursday, September 11, 2008

Time and Consumables

Briefly, I have to dump a recurring thought here.

I walk into the kitchenette, dispense a cup of water into a paper cup, drink, and toss the paper cup into the trash.

How very American!

However, oftentimes, I take a little mental time travel related to our consumable lifestyle.

Imagine for a moment, that the cup is made of paper, the paper was made of a tree, the tree was in a forest for decades before it was harvested.

So with a flick of the wrist, I fulfilled the purpose of all that time and energy. Water to lips. Drink. Discard. Move on.

Would we be better off if we ease ourselves away from such a consumable lifestyle?

I know that I should, but only intermittently do I carry a ceramic mug to drink water. And I should extend this to using a metal spoon that I wash after I eat oatmeal at work.

The silver lining to the upturn of fuel prices is that we all have to think more and more about this and not simply take a mental time travel from time to time as an intellectual exercise.

Imagine how much more efficient our world would be if we each make a small effort in this area.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hmmmm.....you are at home using paper cups........ Don't you have a favorite cup that you would rather drink from? I got a great one from Finn Fest this year. I use it for my morning coffee and then water in the afternoon. You should find a good one and use that.... leave the paper cups for company in the bathroom or something..... or picnics...... Have you set up any tents in the dark lately?? LOL

Tim Somero said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Chris!

I should be more proud of the tent setup than I am, huh?

I wish that Labor Day weekend was longer than it was.

Unknown said...

Yes you should be proud.... or are you shy and not used to being teased?

I remember my mom talking that spring and fall services used to be for a whole week.... wouldn't that be fun? I suppose that they had to have church before planting season and then after....no time in between.... I know my mom's birthday is on the 4th of July...she said that they didn't alway even remember it because they were so busy with haying. She said that sometimes all she would get was a happy birthday Eleanor...while they were walking out of the field....that was just how it was on a dairy farm.

p.a.henderson55@gmail.com said...

I agree that sometimes we don’t think about the waste we generate. However there are places for these things in the world. We have a rider friend waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Because he needs to avoid bacteria until the transplant he must eat all his meals from paper plates using plastic utensils.

Unknown said...

Wow! I hope your friend gets his transplant soon. That would be so hard to have to wait. When he does get his transplant I am sure it will be a treat to eat with real plates and utinsels again!