Save the Earth... Sterilise yourself
- Thread starter Puckstop31
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:hail::hail::hail:
what it does take though, is an education of some sort.
I LOVE looking in other people's carts...and in doing so, you learn quite a bit about certain "populations". Granted some of this is based on assumptions, but oh well, I am pretty sure they are right.
I have observed low-income groups buying absolute CRAP. All ready made, microwavable meals, doritos, pop, cookies, kraft mac & cheese...all artificial sh*t with *ZERO* nutrient value whatsoever, and by looking at the people, they look sickly, fatigued, and aged.
While they might be buying stuff on sale, they are totally unaware how *expensive* what they are buying is!! Buying fresh fruits and veggies is much cheaper usually (especially if there is a farmers market around), and in the long run, will reduce obesity, medical bills and such.
For instance, I made avocado gazpacho soup the other day...it cost probably $4 total to make. All fresh ingredients, and it lasted for three meals (and I eat huge portions).
But people dont realize that done the right way, eating healthy can actually be cheaper, cause it is harder to do.
what it does take though, is an education of some sort.
I LOVE looking in other people's carts...and in doing so, you learn quite a bit about certain "populations". Granted some of this is based on assumptions, but oh well, I am pretty sure they are right.
I have observed low-income groups buying absolute CRAP. All ready made, microwavable meals, doritos, pop, cookies, kraft mac & cheese...all artificial sh*t with *ZERO* nutrient value whatsoever, and by looking at the people, they look sickly, fatigued, and aged.
While they might be buying stuff on sale, they are totally unaware how *expensive* what they are buying is!! Buying fresh fruits and veggies is much cheaper usually (especially if there is a farmers market around), and in the long run, will reduce obesity, medical bills and such.
For instance, I made avocado gazpacho soup the other day...it cost probably $4 total to make. All fresh ingredients, and it lasted for three meals (and I eat huge portions).
But people dont realize that done the right way, eating healthy can actually be cheaper, cause it is harder to do.
This is true. I attempt to buy as much local as possible, then local organic as possible as well. Unfortunetly, my grocery budget is about $60 and it needs to last for a month and a half, sometimes more, at a time. But I still try to buy with the least amount of extra packaging as possible and I wish to God I could afford to buy more fresh stuff, but the prices on even the commercially produced stuff is beyond my means lately. (The only reason I get to still have internet is because it's the main staple of my business and is a tax write-off).
However, once I do get back on my feet...you bet I'm buying as much fresh produce as possible. It's a dream of mine and I will make it happen, to have 80 acres of land and I will have my own little self-sustaining plot and will only need to buy sugar and flour from the store. If I have kids, it will be for the same reason it used to be...one to carry on the name and then free labor.
One thing that catches me, again just on a purely environmental level, is that we decry this society as the "throwaway generations" when it comes to talking about animals. This does carry on to every other aspect of our lives. I mean look at it...pop bottles, cell phones, computers, dishes, contacts, appliances, furniture...we just chuck it to the curb if we're done with it and call it good. Part of this is because stuff is made so cheaply these days so that it does break more often and require more purchases to replace. But then we also have a giant segment of the population who just wants the newest and the best. This contributes to the waste problem. How do the kids figure into this? They're being raised with the mindset that you can always just go buy another, buy the fad, buy bigger, buy better, etc. The generation that we need to reach the most is also the generation that is going to produce the highest levels of refuse.
However, once I do get back on my feet...you bet I'm buying as much fresh produce as possible. It's a dream of mine and I will make it happen, to have 80 acres of land and I will have my own little self-sustaining plot and will only need to buy sugar and flour from the store. If I have kids, it will be for the same reason it used to be...one to carry on the name and then free labor.
One thing that catches me, again just on a purely environmental level, is that we decry this society as the "throwaway generations" when it comes to talking about animals. This does carry on to every other aspect of our lives. I mean look at it...pop bottles, cell phones, computers, dishes, contacts, appliances, furniture...we just chuck it to the curb if we're done with it and call it good. Part of this is because stuff is made so cheaply these days so that it does break more often and require more purchases to replace. But then we also have a giant segment of the population who just wants the newest and the best. This contributes to the waste problem. How do the kids figure into this? They're being raised with the mindset that you can always just go buy another, buy the fad, buy bigger, buy better, etc. The generation that we need to reach the most is also the generation that is going to produce the highest levels of refuse.
Fresh fruits and veggies are not cheaper. Around here, one package of macaroni and cheese, which feeds 4 children---$1. But apples are almost $2 a pound. Tomatoes, just as bad. And asparagus is $3.99 a pound or higher. It's cheaper to buy ground beef and chicken than it is fresh vegetables. Seriously.
It's not ignorance. Low-income families know that veggies are healther. But when you have $30 to feed four people for a week, you're not going to spend it on radishes.
I'm not low-income, and even I cringe at the cost of fresh veggies nowdays. Most of the veggies we eat are frozen.
It's not ignorance. Low-income families know that veggies are healther. But when you have $30 to feed four people for a week, you're not going to spend it on radishes.
I'm not low-income, and even I cringe at the cost of fresh veggies nowdays. Most of the veggies we eat are frozen.
We have that now Puckstop. Why isn't it making a difference? I recycle, do i believe that my doing so will counter balance the unimaginable waste that hotels and other big business throw out? FAST food, quicktrip drink cups, hog waste ...i don't want to be pessimistic. With all my heart i want to believe that it is enough, my little efforts. I teach my family not to let the water run when they brush their teeth, and all the other bitty non lifechanging efforts we can do. I don't however think it is working. I want everything to be ok. I want Hyia to be able to hold a tiny wee babe that smells like sunshine and heaven in her arms. To know the unbelievable bond of nursing your own baby. WHat i do see is early maturing on her part, a common factor for 7 -9 year olds. Far more common then ever before and it is a direct reaction from the bombarbment of our plastics. I don't know what is to be for them. I want answers and i can't find any. I want to believe and have faith that we are such an incredibly species that we can make this work out right. But i freaking wish we would hurry up and i am not seeing it, anywhere i look. THe oily air that smells of petroleum each morning i take Hy to the busstop doens't make those greencar ads or knowledge that they exist seem very effective. At the guild beer bottles and cans go in the trash, some of us dig them out, rinse them out with our disapearing water and put them in the recycle bin where one member comes on her bicycle and takes them away. THose that throw out there, throw out at home. There are way more of the ones that don't give a dang.
I agree that organically grown food should become the 'norm' instead of a high end market. however...again...grow food without chemicals in your yard...can, freeze....voila! no need for the garbage you get in supermarkets. meat..now that's another story. I personally am thinking of free ranging chickens of my own to insure true quality. they eat simply...and no, it's not an idea for everyone. and STOP buying the trash supermarkets promote...allll the frozen quick foods, all the junk food, stop buying anything you do NOT need. you don't need chips, dips, ice-cream, etc. if everyone shopped properly, that garbage would vanish. if we all started demanding organic food, bet markets would change. but we don't.......
you can easily make your own quality wheat pastas. oh...but that takes a little more time..and THAT is the real problem with people today. Heaven forbid dinner isn't quick. who here bakes bread? nobody...unless you're trying out a fancy bread machine...maybe using a mix?
we have local farm markets around here, and the produce is quality. it doesn't HAVE to have a fancy 'green' 'organic' label. it only needs to be naturally grown to do the job.
all I'm saying is you do not have to be of a certain ecomomic background to eat better..and more cheaply. you do not have to be 'above poverty level' to consider your choices in life. you can have many excuses as to why you don't live it, but money isn't the factor. being 'green' everyday is about living more simply. but reality is.....nobody wants to 'go back there'. and it's not just teens that don't care......they shouldn't anyway. they should be busy being happy kids. it's the general population that refuses to give up all those little techno luxuries that want to cry the blues about the planet. then they go jump into their big ole status symbol gas hogs. so they look good when they pick up the kids at school. cause in this society...status is everything. not the planet. BUT....I still will say I was NEVER filling a VOID when I had my children. I was doing what the human race does. I was loving my babies, relishing my family. selfish? maybe. NATURAL? YES. because we are humans....like it or not. natural instincts...doesn't mean you have to be a slave to what destroys this planet.
you can easily make your own quality wheat pastas. oh...but that takes a little more time..and THAT is the real problem with people today. Heaven forbid dinner isn't quick. who here bakes bread? nobody...unless you're trying out a fancy bread machine...maybe using a mix?
we have local farm markets around here, and the produce is quality. it doesn't HAVE to have a fancy 'green' 'organic' label. it only needs to be naturally grown to do the job.
all I'm saying is you do not have to be of a certain ecomomic background to eat better..and more cheaply. you do not have to be 'above poverty level' to consider your choices in life. you can have many excuses as to why you don't live it, but money isn't the factor. being 'green' everyday is about living more simply. but reality is.....nobody wants to 'go back there'. and it's not just teens that don't care......they shouldn't anyway. they should be busy being happy kids. it's the general population that refuses to give up all those little techno luxuries that want to cry the blues about the planet. then they go jump into their big ole status symbol gas hogs. so they look good when they pick up the kids at school. cause in this society...status is everything. not the planet. BUT....I still will say I was NEVER filling a VOID when I had my children. I was doing what the human race does. I was loving my babies, relishing my family. selfish? maybe. NATURAL? YES. because we are humans....like it or not. natural instincts...doesn't mean you have to be a slave to what destroys this planet.
THose big houses with their chem treated postage size yards won't grow enough food or livestock to support one person. Besides that around here one neighbor took some chemical out on his lawn and sprayed it. EVERYTHING DIED and not a seed of a dandylion took hold in his backyard for an entire SEASON! THe next spring he planted grass seed. THis seems to be a common practice. I have clover, and day flowers, and wild strawberries. I pull the plantain and dandylions and mulch. Will my backyard of eco soundness counteract the acres and acres of opposite practice? I can't imagine all those people in apartments and cities suddenly growing enough food (let alone getting off their lazy arses to do it) a reality. 10 years is going to make a big difference in everything. My house sits on an underground water way.
I don't see birds the way i use to. EVery day i fill out whatever petitions come across my e-mail to whatever senator about whatever animal, planet protest i find believable. But i doubt it does any good. The United STates has sent our most polluting manufacturing to other countries to pollute their homeland instead of ours. I heard a long program on that from some legal person in India, ambassdor or the like. I am afraid the only thing that will work to save our arses is a huge honest look at the emensity of the problem, and a serious amount of self sacrifice (and i don't mean to get a gun and blow ourselves away)...what i mean is to give up a great deal of our "happiness". ANd i don't know if humanity will do that...there not doing it now. WHich leads to what we are really best at and that is passing the buck and putting it off, and leaving it to someone else. THat will be the children of today. THat was my whole point of a big effort on this thread. THe more children we bring into today the more children will have to share an overcrowded, soiled, diseased world. Maybe i it is a done deal and today's happiness is all that matters, to us. But what will matter to them? I hate pain, i have known hunger, i sure as heck know illness. I don't think it is any fun at all and if what i fear is true, my life is the lap of luxery to what could happen in the future. I don't want to do that to the very person i know i will love above and beyond all else.
IT is so hard for my grown children to try to get on their feet in the work market right now. My best friend cannot get health insurance and she will die early of the hep c she has had since her husband died of ausplastic anemia 19 years ago. IT didn't use to be like that for the people around me when i was growing up. I didn't think about these things when i wanted my babies. Jim, my so that died, wanted to go back to the 50's. IT wasnt' all screwed up then, and i don't blame him abit. When the recycle bins came out he said i am not going to mess with that i won't be around..blah blah we actually had a pretty good arguement about it. and i said HOW SELFISH OF YOU...i am sure your grandchildren will thank you for it. WE can pat ourselves on the back for our little homefront efforts, but that isnt' what is doing the worst damage. HOW do we curve the lust for more and more of everything?
I don't see birds the way i use to. EVery day i fill out whatever petitions come across my e-mail to whatever senator about whatever animal, planet protest i find believable. But i doubt it does any good. The United STates has sent our most polluting manufacturing to other countries to pollute their homeland instead of ours. I heard a long program on that from some legal person in India, ambassdor or the like. I am afraid the only thing that will work to save our arses is a huge honest look at the emensity of the problem, and a serious amount of self sacrifice (and i don't mean to get a gun and blow ourselves away
)...what i mean is to give up a great deal of our "happiness". ANd i don't know if humanity will do that...there not doing it now. WHich leads to what we are really best at and that is passing the buck and putting it off, and leaving it to someone else. THat will be the children of today. THat was my whole point of a big effort on this thread. THe more children we bring into today the more children will have to share an overcrowded, soiled, diseased world. Maybe i it is a done deal and today's happiness is all that matters, to us. But what will matter to them? I hate pain, i have known hunger, i sure as heck know illness. I don't think it is any fun at all and if what i fear is true, my life is the lap of luxery to what could happen in the future. I don't want to do that to the very person i know i will love above and beyond all else.IT is so hard for my grown children to try to get on their feet in the work market right now. My best friend cannot get health insurance and she will die early of the hep c she has had since her husband died of ausplastic anemia 19 years ago. IT didn't use to be like that for the people around me when i was growing up. I didn't think about these things when i wanted my babies. Jim, my so that died, wanted to go back to the 50's. IT wasnt' all screwed up then, and i don't blame him abit. When the recycle bins came out he said i am not going to mess with that i won't be around..blah blah we actually had a pretty good arguement about it. and i said HOW SELFISH OF YOU...i am sure your grandchildren will thank you for it. WE can pat ourselves on the back for our little homefront efforts, but that isnt' what is doing the worst damage. HOW do we curve the lust for more and more of everything?
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ok, true, kinda. I wish I had price comparisons, cause yeah, fruits and veggies do cost more, however, thats not all people eat. If you are eating other inexpensive things that can be bought in bulk (dried beans that you need to soak, quinoa, etc), then not only are you healthier, but you will also eat LESS. People who tend to eat crap food also eat more, cause their bodies are craving nutrients.
A high quality meal leaves you fuller longer, so you eat less overall.
I am just amazed to see people who are low income, yet are very overweight. Doesn't make sense, does it?
Ignorance is what causes people to buy Special K cereal, and other absolute garbage foods that *claim* that they are healthy. Or to try to eliminate fats from their diet because they thing consuming fat is what makes them fat.
Also there are other things that can be done to cut costs...like debi said, GROWING your own veggies eliminates costs. You can also make your own yogurt which is cheaper and healthier than buying it.
A high quality meal leaves you fuller longer, so you eat less overall.
I am just amazed to see people who are low income, yet are very overweight. Doesn't make sense, does it?
Ignorance is what causes people to buy Special K cereal, and other absolute garbage foods that *claim* that they are healthy. Or to try to eliminate fats from their diet because they thing consuming fat is what makes them fat.
Also there are other things that can be done to cut costs...like debi said, GROWING your own veggies eliminates costs. You can also make your own yogurt which is cheaper and healthier than buying it.
What do you mean by "that"? Some of my clients are big manufacturing places. One makes truck frames, another produces flavoring products... They spend a LOT of money to keep up with environmental regulations. Now, those regulations are not a bad thing, but why not make it an incentive, rather than a cost burden? That is what I am talking about.
easy excuse. there are weekends, and it isn't that time consuming. how about steaming fresh veggies, then freezing? make a puree...freeze in a baggie...add to a 'fast' weekday meal. I freeze corn on the cob by dropping into boiling water...then ice water...dry...freeze. not to mention many other veggies. takes very little time. don't have a freezer? well then that is one of the good investments in life.
well...whatever is funny about weekends is ok with me. LOL maybe you never have a moment off from work. bummer. then I would say it takes moments in the evenings, but I guess you don't want to hear that either. see...my point.......most people cry that it's toooooo difficult. yet cry about the planet. oh well.............
How? i know effort is being made by some, but does it equal out what we send to other countries? IT's still our backyard in the long reach of things. HOW does everyone get on board? I am not disagreeing with you. I applaud the progress, even Walmarts (shudder) green policy now. DO you believe in your heart that the few businesses that do, will be enough to slow the destruction down? IT's wonderful that some attempts are being made. BUt if you sit down and look hard at everything around you, compare it to as little as 10 years ago, it doesn't seem to be enough. I wish i could find that site back, i will see if i saved it in my documents. It went through land, water, air, well written, and the research was incredible. THere were sources from all over the world. I honestly do not believe we can support another 3 billion people without alot of what we have unraveling.
200 years ago we did grow our own food. NOw there isn't enough land around for each family to have a cow a pig, a hen house, a small crop to feed them, and a vegetable garden. Vegetable gardens are great, but they are not enough. As it is now we have to cram our meat bearing animals on top of each other and the fuel used to transport the products into the city....it just isn't a solution for us all to grow our own vegetables. It won't fix the bigger problem of waste and disposal. AS a society we are over fed, over medicated, and becoming less and less self reliant with each generation. BECAUSE we love our children and we want better for them, we need to look at the whole, and make it a part of our decisions including child bearing. I guess if you think the here and now is all that matters to the babies that will deal with this in the very near future, then you can be guilt free and justified in your arguements. I just can't feel that way, i think we have fubared to the extreme, and i have no idea what to do for my grandchildren or if there is any hope at all. Itake their education very seriously, i try to give them the skills i think they will need including natural education, awareness of the plantlife around them, and ecology concerns. I feed them alot of yogurt I learn about things that i never payed attention to in the past, vitimins sleep...and i try to teach them they really don't want that little piece of plastic that comes in a happy meal, and family time doesn't mean sitting in front of the tv. I love them and tell them each day how lucky i am to have them in my life. And inside i worry for their future. I think being honest is a step in the right direction however. Lets at least stop the denial that everything is hunky dory and the power of the people will fix it all for us. It is the power of the people that created this mess. I am not saying we should stop our efforts of recycling and using our resources responsibly either. WE have to do everything in our power to do everything we can. And then all that is left is to pray that things will right themselves.SOmehow..
200 years ago we did grow our own food. NOw there isn't enough land around for each family to have a cow a pig, a hen house, a small crop to feed them, and a vegetable garden. Vegetable gardens are great, but they are not enough. As it is now we have to cram our meat bearing animals on top of each other and the fuel used to transport the products into the city....it just isn't a solution for us all to grow our own vegetables. It won't fix the bigger problem of waste and disposal. AS a society we are over fed, over medicated, and becoming less and less self reliant with each generation. BECAUSE we love our children and we want better for them, we need to look at the whole, and make it a part of our decisions including child bearing. I guess if you think the here and now is all that matters to the babies that will deal with this in the very near future, then you can be guilt free and justified in your arguements. I just can't feel that way, i think we have fubared to the extreme, and i have no idea what to do for my grandchildren or if there is any hope at all. Itake their education very seriously, i try to give them the skills i think they will need including natural education, awareness of the plantlife around them, and ecology concerns. I feed them alot of yogurt
I learn about things that i never payed attention to in the past, vitimins sleep...and i try to teach them they really don't want that little piece of plastic that comes in a happy meal, and family time doesn't mean sitting in front of the tv. I love them and tell them each day how lucky i am to have them in my life. And inside i worry for their future. I think being honest is a step in the right direction however. Lets at least stop the denial that everything is hunky dory and the power of the people will fix it all for us. It is the power of the people that created this mess. I am not saying we should stop our efforts of recycling and using our resources responsibly either. WE have to do everything in our power to do everything we can. And then all that is left is to pray that things will right themselves.SOmehow..
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agreed.
average US family watches what, like 6 hrs of TV per day??? Usu. that # is increased with lower income fams too. People THINK they don't have time. Sorry, but while I am sure there are *some* exceptions, overall, most people KILL soooooo much time on the internet/watching TV/doing other completely unproductive things.
Making jams, veggies, etc, can be turned into family activities too.
average US family watches what, like 6 hrs of TV per day??? Usu. that # is increased with lower income fams too. People THINK they don't have time. Sorry, but while I am sure there are *some* exceptions, overall, most people KILL soooooo much time on the internet/watching TV/doing other completely unproductive things.
Making jams, veggies, etc, can be turned into family activities too.