In the Meantime …
I woke too early with the weight of 1,000 year old melting glaciers on my mind, after watching last night’s Extreme Ice, a PBS NOVA program on the time lapse documentation of glacial changes around the world. Last year, after learning about the non-biodegradable plastic island bigger than the state of Texas floating around in the Pacific, I was haunted for weeks with the image. Meanwhile, I’m going to clean my kitchen. It’s something simple I can control.
Photo: Icebergs calved from Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier, which are currently sending 11 miles of ice into the ocean each year. Photo is from Nationalgeographic.com.
February 17th, 2010 1:45 pm
good plan. containable small controllable things help sanity. I like wiping down all the baseboards. counting syllables or words in poems is a kind of prayer bead counting substitute that is calming.
I can’t conscience buying any plastic one use bottles anymore. on occasions I do. keeping a reusable water bottle hygienic seems to baffle me. how to stay hydrated when away from home. tricky world we’ve made for ourselves here.
February 17th, 2010 3:18 pm
I know exactly what you mean. Powerlessness feels pretty aweful. Sometimes, I reduce myself to a particle. Just one among an infinite number of particles. Random, anonymous, alive but without purpose. It helps me detach and relax for a little while. The world is a big, big place.
February 17th, 2010 4:01 pm
And sometimes it seems that the world is divided into polarities that push against each other and that little opening at the bottom of the glacier photo sort of offers me a glimpse of hope.
February 17th, 2010 5:58 pm
It is ALL completely overwhelmong and impossble! Between the problems of the environment and the political climate that seems to be getting worse by the hour, etc., etc., etc….I can’t even stand to think about cleaning my Kitchen! I just want to watch some movie that will take me away from the myruad of problems I have no possible way of solving but STILL depress and worry the hell out of me….OY VEY!
February 17th, 2010 8:17 pm
Pearl: A bottle brush and dish soap will take care of any concerns regarding reusable water bottles. But, despite what was briefly reported in the media, you really need not worry because, unless your water bottle has been exposed to unusual conditions, your immune system has already produced antibodies to whatever bacteria might be in the bottle. Drink, rehydrate, relax and enjoy!
February 17th, 2010 9:33 pm
Maybe Pearl was thinking about the BPA that can leech out of plastic bottles and be injested. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151156.php.
February 19th, 2010 2:56 pm
Wow.
Detour
February 19th, 2010 9:40 pm
Colleen: I assumed that Pearl was not referring to plastic water bottles since she wrote, “reusable water bottles.” Upon re-reading her post, she did, prior to her mention of reusable water bottles, say that she occasionally purchased plastic water bottles. No one should ever drink from plastic bottles. BPA is a very detrimental contaminant that is (and has been) affecting people without their knowledge for years. It is a serious threat to health and fertility. For the past few years, the media has made the populace aware of the effects of BPA. Now the FDA needs to ban it ASAP!
February 19th, 2010 10:06 pm
I used to reuse my plastic bottles all the time. It was a way to justify having them at all. I’ve been limiting the use of plastic for drinking as much as I can but still have tupperware like containers for the kitchen.
February 20th, 2010 11:27 am
I meant the two things. one use bottles — BPA and other concerns of source plastics with outcomes unknown I and the amount of garbage made.
second thing, the reusable bottles of any material and how they need extra care. I can’t toss them in the dishwasher like any other drinking vessel. it ends up just sitting in the back of the fridge and I wait for happening across drinking fountain
February 23rd, 2010 12:06 pm
I remember reading that BPA is also in the epoxy lining of metal cans, but this article in today’s Washington Post indicates how ubiquitous it is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022204830.html?nav=hcmodule