A lot of people have been asking why we've decided to try to eat only foods available within a 100-mile radius. Well, there are several reasons, but this website does a better job of explaining than I could do.
Several people have also asked why we're trying to cut down on our packaging and our use of plastics. Three things recently grabbed my attention and raised my awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives and how terrible it is for the environment. The first was this article, called "Plastic Ocean." Please be warned, there are some distubing pictures on that website.
The second grabber was this fact, quoted from the Plastic Ocean article: "Except for the small amount that's been incinerated - and it's a very small amount - every bit of plastic ever made still exists."
That plastic Shed House bag I received back in 1982 when I bought my first pair of white Levis painter pants - it's still floating around in a landfill somewhere. You remember the plastic tub that our cottage cheese came in, back in 1969? It's at the bottom of the ocean, contributing to the level of pollution in our waters. Then add to that one container, all other plastic containers ever created - and try to find a place to put them when we throw them away. Where does it go? "Away" is still somewhere.
And lastly, if you want to see what American Mass Consumption looks like, visit Chris Jordan's website and you can see what "away" looks like. Would you want this in your backyard? Well, guess what. It's already there.
From Chris Jordan's site:
"Exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the Grand Canyon, I find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.
The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.
As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake. "
This is why we (Pipers) feel as though we have to try. If nothing else, we've increased the level of awareness and are making a solid attempt to lighten our impact on the earth. It may not be much - but it's more than we were doing before, and I like to think that every little bit helps.