What I fail to understand about my fellow man is that so many believe the world was put here for them alone; and they must take all that they can squeeze out for themselves, regardless that someone or something else might be deprived in the process. Greed is clearly not one of humankind’s better qualities. Most people; however, are simply ignorant about the nature of life and the way things work. Even those who spout verses from their bibles have not come to understand that you must give in order to receive. I have never read the bible and I have no desire to do so, but I am pretty sure it states this simple fact somewhere within its endless chapters.
During my recent trip to Denver, I stayed in a hotel room that was more like a tiny apartment. I was quite surprised to see that the little kitchenette not only had the typical refrigerator and microwave; it also had a stocked kitchen (dishes, utensils, etc.) a full sized dishwasher, and a kitchen sink with a disposal. There was even a small receptacle for recycles. It is not uncommon for public places to provide special bins for recycling these days, but the problem is that few of them reveal clear directions about what should go where. When I lived in Virginia, they took some plastics, but the caps were supposed to be removed and thrown in the trash. When I first began recycling in the early 1970’s, I was required to wash out cans, remove the label, and smash them before taking them to the recycle center. Here in Wyoming they do not accept glass. Instead of leaving this most important issue up to different states, recycling should be a nationally mandated effort with the same protocols everywhere. Fines should be put in place for those who do not comply. Disposals everywhere need to be replaced with a viable means for composting the enormous amount of food that goes into them. These large hotel chains need to think outside the box and rather than providing things that serve only their profit margin, they need to provide ways in which people can give back to life itself.
Springtime is a frustrating time for me in some ways, especially in this town of mostly seniors, who do things the way they have always been doing them for decades, and the way they were done by their relatives before them. A garden, to most of these old timers, is a flat area of land that they rototill every spring. They often grow the same crops year after year in the same long, straight rows. When the soil becomes depleted, degraded, and lifeless from loss of nutrients, they simply add more of the green, chemically derived fertilizers; and if insect infestation and/or disease has been a problem, they douse the soil with pesticides and herbicides. Year after year they continue to take from the earth and give nothing back. The kitchen scraps that they routinely put down their disposal or toss into the garbage, never get put back into the soil, to replenish it. When I try to explain to these people the wisdom behind my hügelkultur beds, and companion planting, and crop rotation, they do not want to hear it. They are resistant to change; preferring to cling to their old ways, turning a blind eye to the many signs Earth has shown us of her pain. While I fail to understand their attitudes, I can use this blog to vent my futile aggravation. I know these words will fall on many deaf ears, so I strive to be an example. Let them see with their own eyes – when my garden thrives!
