Tales from My Not-so-Green Life

It might be that No One is Too Small to Make a Difference.

I say that corporations are too big not to make a difference. They must be held accountable for their role in global warming.

My life on the other hand is Not-so-Green.

I order food to be delivered that comes in plastic containers. This isn’t good. Not for the planet and not for me either. Since hot plastic leaches chemicals into food.

What is the solution?

I plan instead of ordering dinner to be delivered to have soup when I have no energy to cook.

I think it comes down to making trade-offs. You can excel in one Green area and come up short in another Green area.

My aim is to find a suitable plastic container I can take with me to the deli counter to have the staff use and reuse the same container.

Instead of buying food that comes in a new container each time.

This tactic was talked about in a book a woman wrote about achieving zero waste. If I remember right the book was titled The Zero Waste Home.

The goal as I see it is to consume less–less electricity less gas and oil less of anything that is wasteful.

My electric bill statement has skyrocketed in the time of the pandemic. Plus New York City has had a record number of heatwaves this summer.

The air conditioner has been going at all hours in my apartment. That’s not-so-green. Only I can’t be in direct heat for longer than 10 minutes. I’m at greater risk for heat stroke.

I will search on the Container Store website for a reusable plastic container.

I expect the deli counter staff to look at me screw-eyed when I ask them to use my plastic container not theirs.

The Trash is for Tossers woman allegedly reduced her yearly waste to only one mason jar of trash.

That’s phenomenal–is it realistic for most of us?

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg was only 16 when she published the book shown above. She is the face of climate change protesters. 6 Million individuals have joined her in school-striking for zero carbon emissions by 2030.

I don’t like to single people out this way. However I think what should be written about Thunberg is that she was diagnosed with Asperger’s.

In her own words in the book she writes that her disability isn’t a medical condition–it’s a gift.

She credits the Asperger’s as giving her the black-and-white thinking required to tackle the global warming issue.

In 1997 three years before I moved to my beloved Brooklyn I sold my last car to a mechanic for $400.

I didn’t want to incur the higher cost of auto insurance in Brooklyn. Nor did I want to spend an hour every day driving around looking for a parking spot. And I didn’t want to need to pay for costly car repairs.

In fact the prime reason I sold my car was that I didn’t want to be dependent on foreign oil.

In 1997 when I sold my car no one talked about global warming. I was in the vanguard in moving to a neighborhood where there were retail shops and food markets within walking distance.

I was a Visionary in giving up my car and deciding to walk everywhere.

Greta Thunberg nowhere in her book talks about the root cause of global warming:

How city planners prioritized building roads and highways so that people could travel by car when they had to get somewhere.

Not only that often the highways built in effect separated well-off neighborhoods from poor communities. Reinforcing inequality.

In New York City taking the bus and subway is a way to reduce your carbon footprint.

In the coming blog entry I want to talk with a twist about going Green.

I’m impressed with the Generation Z leaders who are out there striving to make a difference.

Finding Joy

The magazine above was hanging out on the rack untouched.

Curious I flipped through the pages. The recipes enticed me to buy the book. It also has positive feature articles.

I’ll take what can give me joy in this time when the COVID-19 outbreak hasn’t ended.

Anxiety and depression have been on the rise.

Covering my face and walking outdoors in sunny weather is going to be my M.O. when my mood tanks.

To hell with the science non-believers.

Yes–I’ll be going outside.

I won’t allow others to steal my sunshine.

It doesn’t cost a dime to take a walk.

Sunlight is free for everyone.

While we still have this glorious green earth I say: enjoy it.

Take a magazine like Sweet July out for a trip to park or avenue.

Sit on a bench and read to get empowered.

I’ll end here by saying that Women’s Health magazine features diverse voices and writers now.

Skip over its advertisements for food products and focus on the workouts.

I’ve been buying and reading magazines ever since the 1980s.

In New York City Hotaling’s and other stores sold hundreds of U.S. and international magazines.

Those magazine shops have been long gone. Shuttered like all the other mom-and-pop stores that were casualties of rising rents.

Today I submit that by parking yourself on a bench and reading a magazine you can go far.

You can go anywhere.

Living Lively

Hey–I love that blue eyeshadow! A simple line that says it all.

I’m a 55-year old Generation X girl who bought the book shown above. Even though it caters to the Generation Z crowd.

Individuals of all ages and stages of life could benefit from reading this motivational guide.

The book was right up my alley with its 7 Points of Power:

Wellness

World perspective

Media and societal influences

Thoughts and mindset

Education

Relationships

Creativity and community

Haile Thomas has Jamaican immigrant parents who instilled in her that she was a person of worth that should have self-esteem.

Thomas earned her success through hard work, determination, an unflappable set of values, and the love of her family.

I found this book on Amazon and bought it from my local independent bookseller.

I’m all for self-improvement.

Anything that can give me a mood boost in a healthy way I’ll take right now.

As soon as this book arrives I plan to make one of the healthful snack recipes.

Keep the faith folks. Good people like Haile Thomas are helping make good things happen for the rest of us.

Having Hope

Hope is called for.

I bought this coaster with the mini-easel from a street vendor in

Manhattan.

I’m an optimist.

You must be an optimist, or you won’t survive what you’re going through.

I’ve been living indoors for five months. It has taken a toll as I’m a gregarious person.

Today I go outside to my job again. There I need to cover my face for 6 hours.

Yesterday’s outfit:

Beet-color tee shirt with magenta pants and black shoes. An orange bandanna covering my nose and mouth.

Out on the street I’m the only one wearing a bandanna. The colorful bandannas get washed once a week. I wear a different one every day.

It’s far better than clogging a landfill with single-use disposable masks.

As I venture outside again I’m not always confident that there’s anything to hope for.

Yet hope I have because it’s summer. The sun is shining. The heat is here.

It’s how I see things: I believe in humanity. Even still—I believe in humanity.

I would like to write in the blog about my insight and observations as this season moves along.

I would like to see change. For myself. For others. And for my country.

New Ad-Free Blog

At long last I’ve removed the advertisements from this blog that WordPress inserts into every free account.

I’ve paid to remove the ads and create a URL for the blog.

Years ago I read the Kim Gordon memoir Girl in a Band. She was the bassist and vocalist for Sonic Youth while the band performed.

They are my favorite band of all time. Dating from when I played them on the radio when I was a disc jockey in the 1980s.

To get readers to go out and buy Gordon’s memoir I want to quote from the book.

Kim Gordon wrote:

“I believe the radical is more interesting when it appears ordinary and benign on the outside.”

Reading that sentence and thinking about this for a long time I was inspired to want to publish a second memoir.

In keeping with the title Girl in a Band I thought about talking in the new book about what it’s like to be a Girl on the Left.

A person asked me if the title Left of the Dial referred to politics.

It refers to doing your own thing–my literary agent understood the theme was “Enjoy your quirkiness.”

In the last week I have been thinking about this some more. And thinking about it again: how I always wanted to live an artist’s life in the city.

It can be a challenge when as a woman you rebel the role you’re expected to play:

Suburban breeder with two kids two dogs a Land Rover and white picket fence house with a porch.

Though hey if you want to raise a family and bake brownies for your kids that’s okay too.

I’m fascinated by everyone’s personality.

There’s a reference in my memoir to where I’m riding the subway and wondering about the inner lives of my fellow straphangers–the other riders.

Those of us who are ordinary and benign–I say watch out for us!

Postcard from the Ledge

The postcard shown above I took off a ledge in a bookstore.

It’s a reminder to me and a warning to challenge the status quo.

Living through the pandemic [the outbreak hasn’t gone away] I find myself pulled away from conforming.

I resist conforming to societal rules and norms.

What changed?

In my Republican neighborhood most of the people walking down the street have open faces. They don’t cover their face with a mask or bandanna.

Seeing this brazen contempt for respecting the health of others got me thinking: Who should I want to or try to impress at this point in my life?

I go outside wearing a red or black bandanna like a gunslinger in the Old Wild West. I walk in the middle of the street to avoid the people who haven’t covered their faces.

Seeing open-faced yahoos put people’s health at risk–as if the COVID-19 outbreak is no real threat–was the catalyst for my resistance to accepting the status quo in society.

Over 100,000 people have died from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Wearing a mask is a sign of respect.

It eludes me what part of “I respect you and you respect me” the bare-faced folk don’t get.

I will end here by telling readers:

Resist living for self-interest and personal gain at the expense of others.

Resist following the trend of “everyone out for themselves.”

Dare to have compassion.

Having compassion might not be in fashion.

Yet I submit the alternative is no option.

Key of Life

Alicia Keys in her July 2020 InStyle interview echoes what I’ve always thought.

In Keys own words:

“You know, we do a really good job of judging each other and assuming who people are when we don’t even know them. To me, the most important thing we can do right now is take a second to see and appreciate each other as we are.”

Two years ago I titled a blog entry See Who We Are. I wrote then: see who I am not who you think I am.

It’s a fact: Alicia Keys skipped two grades and won a full scholarship to Columbia University.

“See Who We Are” is the title of an X rock band song from three decades ago. I played this song on my radio show back then.

What’s on the surface really has no ability to predict the content of a person’s character.

In the next blog entry I’m going to talk about what I’ve learned living through four months of the pandemic.

Dressing Your Truth

I want to talk about a system that I was skeptical about until I read about it in detail.

The personal stylist I talked with referred to the fact that I must be a Type 4 in the Dressing Your Truth system.

Would it be possible not to buy things on impulse that wind up shoved in the closet and unworn?

This I wondered about. How could a person’s facial features and body movement determine the clothes they should wear?

It seemed astounding and then I was astonished. So I bought the Style Kit for $59. There’s a private Facebook page for each of the four types. The women on the Facebook pages are encouraging and wonderful toward each other.

This might seem frivolous. Yet I’m all for anything that can give a person joy and hope in the time of the pandemic and beyond.

On the Style Kit envelope this message sums it up:

“The greatest thing you can do today is be your true self. When you are confident about who you are, opportunities open. When you live authentically, you inspire others to do the same.”

Optimism is called for. Change must happen if you ask me. I believe today is the day that change is possible.

In the next blog entry I’m going to quote Alicia Keys from her July 2020 InStyle interview.

She echoes what I’ve written in here before: see who a person is not who you think they are.

I find Dressing Your Truth and the corresponding book It’s Just My Nature! to be a fascinating study of what makes people tick.

Dressing Your Truth website.

Spring Cleaning in July

I was having an email conversation about the protests with another person. She understood that the root of injustice predates Floyd. She feels it’s a factor of the strictly capitalist American society.

I thought about this:

Buying a ton of stuff feeds into our capitalism-on-steroids where companies exist for pure profit on the backs of an underclass.

Going through a burst of spring cleaning got me thinking. This week I started tossing shoes sweaters and pocketbooks into a bag to donate to the Salvation Army.

It felt wasteful to have bought a tweed beret I wore only once and two sweaters that remained on a shelf unworn for 9 years.

For those of us who carry credit card debt because we buy too much stuff this is a different kind of burden.

Laboring hard at a job to pay The Man–the Billionaire who owns the company–depletes your life energy.

Going forward I’ve decided to set an upper dollar limit for each item I buy like a pocketbook. I won’t go over that limit.

In my burst of spring cleaning I got rid of the stuff that weighed me down. A trash bag lies on my bedroom floor ready to be taken out.

The idea that “Maybe I’ll wear this some day” is the biggest myth going.

These unused items didn’t “spark joy” like Marie Kondo attests things should in order to keep them.

Revelations flew into my head as I filled the trash bag. This was only the start of a great big clean-out.

De-cluttering I can vouch for is often the gateway to making new changes in your life:

Out with the old. In with new people, places, and experiences.