This is the video that inspired me to start this blog. Van Jones discusses how things are connected in ways we might not necessarily realize but, once we do, we have a responsibility and opportunity to make positive changes.
It's about the choices most of us have, and the lack of choices of the poor. It's about how the choices we make affect people, in ways good and bad. It's about living with intention and compassion.
This particular TEDxTalk is largely about plastic use, and the "idea of disposability;" that we actually "don't have disposable resources, we don't have disposable species, and we don't have disposable people either. We don't have a throw away planet and we don't have throw away children...And as we all begin to come back to that basic understanding, new opportunities for action begin to emerge."
It is opportunity that this blog is all about.
Enjoy! :)
Wow. Quite a few very good points that I haven't specifically thought about before. I'm definitely one of those "blue bucket" heroes in the office.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Asia, we are aware of the way many countries dispose of things. We complain about air quality around factories, but that seems like small potatoes when you watch people burn waste that could have been composted, or reused, or refused, or...
Disposability is at the heart of just about every convenience.
Excellent talk!
It's not just the way these other countries dispose if things; it's how we take an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to disposables and recycling.
ReplyDeleteI will at some point in the future post The Story of Bottled Water and The Story of Stuff, but the first is very apropos here, especially at about the 4 minute mark when she discusses where our bottles often go for recycling... not to a recycle center as we believe, but to India where they will be "downcycled."
Hoping comments allow embedding!
http://vimeo.com/10441794
nope no embedding, and the link doesn't show as a link.. grrr.. well, we all know how to copy and paste! So copy and past this:
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/10441794
Good stuff
Michael Tobis has one of my favorite blogs to visit. He is a (retired, I believe) scientist with a tremendous amount of knowledge on AGW as well as a mostly positive, let's do something, kind of attitude. He also tends to clearly lay the problems out in a way that is helpful to me. I consider this a must-read http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2011/01/post-growth-progress.html
ReplyDeleteAwesome Nick! I really enjoyed his latest blog. Thank you. I'm now one of his followers :)
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