For the last year or so it seems that it’s been popular for bloggers to offer challenges. At least the bloggers that I tend to read. Participating in a challenge works really well for me, psychologically. It’s a good way for me to get motivated to do something I’ve been wanting to do anyway. I often feel bad when I decline to join a challenge, even if it’s clearly unrealistic for me or even if it’s something that doesn’t even interest me! There’s just something about being challenged… maybe that’s how young boys feel when they ‘double dare’ each other to do something?
I’ve joined several challenges recently — some that last a year, some that last a month, and one that will last 3 months (Diva Cup Challenge). I’ve explained in earlier posts, at least a little bit, the Riot for Austerity and the Growing Challenge and the Independence Days Challenge. I realized I better explain the others. Michelle at Green Bean Dreams came up with the “Be A Bookworm” Challenge for May. We participants each read one or more books in May that were ecologically oriented, or about learning to live simply or be more self-reliant. This challenge has now continued on into June — maybe it will just be an ongoing thing — lots of us are always reading a book or two! Crunchy Chicken has been trying to encourage women to stop using disposable menstrual products for a long time now. She’s a particular supporter of the Diva Cup. Recently she held a drawing where the winners would get free Diva Cups. But the catch was, anyone who entered the contest had to agree to use the Diva Cup for the next three months, whether they won the drawing or not! Now Chile has offered the Quit Now Challenge to give up an addiction for a month, in the name of increasing self-reliance and with the idea that eventually, lots of the things we are addicted to won’t be available any more, and it will be a lot less stressful to quit those addictions now, than to do it in a time of turmoil.
Each of these challenges has a “button” I’ve posted over on the right-hand side of the page. (However, some of them seem to disappear regularly and only sometimes can I figure out how to get them back, so if you can’t see them all, that’s why).
Anyway, here are my updates for the challenges I haven’t been otherwise reporting on:
Diva Cup challenge: I bought one, but it arrived too late for me to use it in May. Once the time comes in June and I get a chance to try it, I’ll report how it goes!
Be A Bookworm Challenge: In May I finished reading The Forager’s Harvest, which I started in April, and then I read two other books: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and Plenty. Here are my reviews of these books:
The Forager’s Harvest, by Samuel Thayer. I didn’t read all the plant descriptions, only the ones I was familiar with or that I thought would be found in my area. However, the introduction is so powerful that it’s worth getting the book (at least from the library) just to read those few pages. He describes foraging for food in terms of its history – that is, the cultural path that has gone from foraging as the only option (originally) to the current time where not only do most people not forage for food, but it’s actually acquired a negative reputation: “only poor people forage” is the implication now. He also describes in rather blunt language what he thinks is wrong with other edible plant books, and which ones he thinks are worth having as references. He’s pretty persuasive in that area as well. Definitely worth a peruse!
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. They are talking about shifting manufacturing to be sustainable, ecologically. They emphasize the importance of manufactured items being designed to be deconstructable at the end of their lives, and the resulting pieces being used again and again, indefinitely. They divide all components of manufactured items into two categories: biological nutrients and technological nutrients. Biological nutrients are organic materials (animal, vegetable, mineral, water, etc). When they are not contaminated with technological nutrients, biological nutrients can be safely composted (ie discarded), returning their nutrients to the soil and becoming food for some other species in the ecosystem. Technological nutrients are processed metals or chemicals, toxins, fossil fuels, etc. When not contaminated with biological nutrients, technological nutrients can be retrieved at the end of a manufactured item’s life and re-used at an equally “high” level in another manufacturing process. In order to be able to 100% safely compost biological nutrients and 100% re-use technological nutrients, manufactured items must be made with this cyclical future in mind, and designed so that the biological and the technological can be completely separated. They also talk a bit, favorably, about shifting to a service economy, where the manufacturer maintains ownership of an item, and contracts with the customer for the service only. This is an idea that’s been tossed around for a few years now — for example, instead of buying a refrigerator (which you then have to discard at the end of its life, putting not only volume and toxins into the landfill, but “discarding” valuable materials that the fridge was made of, that now need to be mined/processed again to make more for the next fridge), you might instead buy “refrigeration services”. The company selling you this service will install a refrigerator in your home, but they maintain ownership of the machine. You are paying for the service the machine is providing. When the machine dies, the manufacturer will remove/replace the fridge, and it will be in their economic interest to retrieve and re-use the components of the fridge (metal, plastic, coolant, insulation, etc), instead of just taking it to the dump. I can see the benefits of this approach, but it’s not without its problems too. What they are describing in Cradle to Cradle makes complete sense to me in concept, but I did feel a sense of sadness as I read, in that I think it’s too late for the paths they are suggesting. I just don’t think we have the economic robustness or the resources available to shift/rebuild the infrastructure in the way that would be necessary to follow their route. One last note: the book is printed using the principles they espouse – the ‘paper’ it’s printed on is actually a form of plastic, that can be fully re-used at the end of its life as a book. A side benefit is that it’s waterproof! As someone who does much of her reading in the bathtub, I can tell you that I felt reassured by that, in case I dropped the book in the water (which I didn’t). :) On the downside, though, the book was heavy for its size, and bound in a way that made it hard to hold open with one hand. I suppose in the long run that’s a minor detail. This book was not a fast read, it’s a bit dense, but not overwhelmingly so. I heartily recommend it.
Plenty, by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon: Finished it tonight. Thanks again to Michelle at Green Bean Dreams and Katrina at Kale for Sale for their generous drawing in which I won this book! I won’t review this book since others have (posted on GreenBean’s site), but I really enjoyed it! I’ll be offering it directly to a few friends, then when they are done with it, I’ll be donating it to my local library so others can enjoy it.
For June, I’m hoping to read “Farewell, My Subaru” if I can get it from the library in time. Whatever book I choose, I’ll mention it here. I’m also still in the middle of Michael Pollan’s “Second Nature” and I will for sure finish that in June.
Quit Now Addiction Challenge: Okay, for the month of June, I have three areas where I will alter my behavior to quit an addiction. First, I will limit my internet usage to four hours a day. I know that probably sounds like a lot, but I’ve been spending well more than that online recently, so that would be a healthy step back. The exception, of course, is when I’m using the internet to do paid work. I also have to remember that I don’t watch tv, I don’t generally use the phone — internet is where I get my news and entertainment, where I stay in touch with friends and even family. I think four hours should be enough to continue the things I think are actually valuable, but it will limit the mindless part of my online time and force me to plan my time better. Second, I will not drink anything carbonated. I don’t drink regular soda, but I do have a fondness for Crystal Geyser juice squeeze (grapefruit flavor), and instead of having it occasionally as a treat like I used to, I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking it more often lately. Third, I will not have any snack chips in June. Again, I used to eat none of those, but over the past year or two I’ve started eating rice chips, tortilla chips, even potato chips now and then. They’re not all horrible nutrition-wise (in particular rice chips aren’t so bad), but I’ve let my consumption go from occasional to frequent, and I want to get away from that. I’ll start by not having any in June.
So, if you’re in the mood for a challenge, follow the links to some of these sites and sign up! Or, offer your own challenge!
