I think one of the major issues with how we are wired up, is the fact that we have an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude for the most part.

I always cringe a little on garbage day.  Yet it feels so good to get that junk out of my sight.

But guess what?  The garbage isn’t magically disappearing.. it’s just being displaced. And made visible elsewhere.  And some companies jump on that ‘opportunity’.  Disposable everything.  Whatever happened to reuse? What happened to fixing things and keeping them going for years and years?  Now it’s buy cheap, throw out, buy another.

My grandma used to sew our socks when they got holes. Think about that mentality. It’s becoming a thing of the past. Companies have done so well marketing fashion changes and buying new, that you likely actually get a picture of a poor dirty old lady, barely getting by, when you think of someone sewing holes up in socks. And yet, it’s just a smarter thing to do. 

I buy a good pair of shoes.. with good leather. I polish them when they begin to wear. Surprisingly, i know a few people who think they need to buy the expensive shoes too, yet they throw them out when they wear. The whole purpose of buying better quality is because they’ll last, with some repair. I even replaced the soles once on a really good pair that lasted a few years.

But hey.. throw things out, and they are forgotten.  Recycling is so incredibly important. I really hope folks are coming up with ways to recycle more and more ‘garbage’.

…

we take risks all the time.. usually you’d think we avoid the major ones. But sometimes I think we’re a little nuts..

for instance..   what if I said you can either risk cancer, or, deal with weeds in your lawn?  Surprisingly, it seems many folks would rather risk cancer then have yellow and white flowers in their lawn.

..or how about putting regular rather then supreme gas in your nice sports car.  Hell no.  We take good care of those engines.  But do you pay as much attention to what you put in your mouth?  Your heart, liver, and all those other organs really weren’t built for half the stuff companies put in food & drinks these days. But hey, most people are fine with the risk to major organs.. But wrong gas is in the car? – then there’s hell to pay.

I guess maybe it simply comes down to how immediate the concequences are. I guess humans need consequences to happen immediately.. else we just can’t take them seriously.

So when it comes to the earth, and the incredibly slowly operating, but fragile eco systems.. We are really out of luck if we can’t find immediate consequences for actions people are taking…