Return to Brooklyn

Took a small hiatus from this blog to visit Portland (magical) and my parent's house (cozy). It's my first real day back in Brooklyn, and as I'm still on vacation, I did a little bit of cleaning. I was feeling incredibly frustrated with all of the useless crap we had accumulated in a short while.
"It must be human nature to collect things," I said to Colin. "I keep coming across stuff that I'm wondering why I have it in the first place."
"I can think of many things like that," he agreed.
It doesn't make sense to me that we should have SO MUCH, especially since the two of us think of ourselves as minimalists and work hard to not accumulate items. It must, in fact, involve a lot more concentration and effort to not collect things than we are putting into it. Luckily for us, we have a small apartment with little closet space so we don't have much freedom to become pack rats...
In other news, I took my first bike ride in almost two weeks (!) It was a beautiful day, not too cold or windy, and all the snow from last week had melted. Even though I had gotten slightly out of shape from eating eight too many special treats and sitting around, it was lovely to ride through Brooklyn. Still the best mode of transportation, even in late December!

Mayor Bloomberg Drops Effort to Cut Energy Use

I read an article in the NY Times this morning about how Bloomberg has dropped his effort to cut energy use of property owners throughout the city. I was actually unaware that this proposition was part of his campaign, so I became excited and disappointed all at once. I decided to write a letter to him, expressing my beliefs. What I wrote went something like this...

I believe that by letting property managers off the hook, as it seems you will be doing, is a big mistake. While it may be expensive, we need to send the message to property owners that they must take responsibility for the most efficient management of their buildings. Then once they get new windows, appliances, or whatever their building needs, they will be begin saving money long-term. Whats the point of spending thousands, maybe even millions of dollars towards energy audits that may not lead towards any kind of action taken? I understand that there isnt enough public funds to be loaned out right now, but we must put some of this burden on the property managers. If they can manage a building full of tenants, and collect our large sums of money, they are also capable of making gradual plans to improve their buildings efficiency...

I think it's important to put pressure on the people who make these types of decisions. If the people aren't keeping them in check, they will be running with their own agendas, and who the fuck knows where that will lead us. Not that Bloomberg is suddenly going to change his policies, but we must take the stance that we as individuals DO have power, even if it's one voice among a millions, we must not sit quietly...

Live More Make Less

At the hospital I am interning at, I am eligible to eat $6.50 worth of food from the cafeteria for free. While this is quite a lovely thing for a perpetually pennyless student, I have run into some eco-moral problems. The food is served on styrofoam plates, or more popular, containers. Drinks are served in styrofoam cups, and the fruit salad comes in a plastic container. The thought of going through so much styrofoam and plastic made me cringe-- watching the garbage in the cafeteria fill up with everyone else's waste was bad enough. The first few times I ate in the cafeteria, I ate a salad off a styrofoam plate or got one of the plastic container fruit salads. However, a few weeks ago, I decided it wasn't worth the guilt I was feeling (and yes, I did feel very guilty). From there on out, I have only gotten whole fruits (apples, bananas and oranges) and coffee (in my own cup). I bring my own lunch from the leftovers of our dinners, or make peanut butter and jelly. I've felt a small weight lifted from my chest, and, to be quite honest, the food I bring tastes much, much better.
Sometimes I think about the waste I create each day and feel that there are always ways to make less. Even though we've cut our waste of yogurt containers by making our own yogurt from milk, there is still the milk container to think of. One of the things I would love to be able to purchase regularly is Ronnybrook Farms milk that comes in glass bottles-- only I haven't found a good place to purchase it, yet. Perhaps I will suggest the Park Slope Food Co-op carry it...