Besides the patchwork clothes, the hemp jewelery and all of my organic endeavors...another reason some people label me a "hippy" is that I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Probably not a good thing, but sometimes my brain goes places I don't expect.
On that note, I thought about a possible "conspiracy" the other night. I had a couple of choices on how to spend that evening.
1. Watch TV - there were a couple of interesting/amusing programs on and I could have used a good laugh after a rough day.
2. Bake muffins for the week's breakfast, organize a bit to determine exactly what else I need (truly NEED) around what's in the pantry so I don't overbuy/consume.
I'm not saying I couldn't do both, but for me at least, a couple of shows often turns into a couple of hours and before I know it its time for bed....but what's so great about choice #2?
Baking would allow me to use up what's already in the pantry and fridge which would otherwise spoil. The added benefit is I have a healthy homemade breakfast all week without having to buy any packaged cereal or other convenience food.
Planning for the week also helps me to buy much less than I normally would for the week, consuming less resources in the long run.
Now I know the purpose of TV and commercials is mainly to make money and get us to buy more stuff. But could it be that in addition to wanting us to buy the shiny cars and body sprays, they would also prefer us to be distracted from more simple tasks so that we thus need to go out and buy more things in order to save time wasted in front of the Boob Tube? That certainly does make them more money when advertising frozen dinners and fast food chains...coincidence?
Fast living = expensive living, both financially and environmentally. We zip along in our car instead of walking, we discard something that could be fixed in favor of buying new to save time, do the drive-through rather than have a homemade meal, buy produce rather than grow some of our own.
Life these days demands a faster pace. Even in my academic work, with on-line publishing and grant applications, everyone expects more results, faster, cram more into your days and weekends to keep up with our competitors at other universities. Certainly the same is true in other professions. However on top of these increased time demands, many (I am guilty of this too) spend a lot of the free time they do have catching up on their favorite shows, the latest news about the hot star at the moment, ect. Again, we all need our ways to relax but it all leads to more expensive and not-so-green living. And to be honest, I got a lot more satisfaction and relaxation from my freshly baked apple-cinnamon muffins and not being so rushed for a quick bite every morning, and peace of mine from being organize, then from the few laughs I get from some of the shows I watch.
Don't misunderstand me - life is full of distractions, of course I am here playing on the internet instead of doing other things....but what if we all slowed down just a little? What if instead of watching that hour long show, or *gasp* blogging, or reading the latest tabloid we took an hour or so for a bit of planning, making something from scratch, learnign a new useful skill, repairing a broken item rather than running out to the store?
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3 comments:
Hi. I can't remember how I found your blog, but I'm delurking now to say, these are good thoughts! I often find myself thinking I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do in order to live a little more "green". But then I look at how I use my time, and if I would just make better choices, I could fit everything in (and still have a little left over for the distractions!).
So, you have inspired me to turn the computer off for now. Instead of sitting here I'm going to go and cut up some fruit so it doesn't sit in the fridge going bad; wash some salad greens so they're ready to go for the rest of the week; and bake some banana bread, so I too have breakfast for the week. Thank you!
I just found your blog. I have been trying to simplify too and you have inspired me.
Our local Goodwill just burned and they are looking for donations. Will there ever be a better time to "unload" all my junk so that others might use it?
I agree with your view about TV too. My co-workers spend a great deal of time talking about what they watched or what they are going to watch. They all think that I am strange because I have not seen any of the shows they watch.
Marie
Recently I've been taping whatever shows I want to watch during the week and catching up at the weekend. This is partially because there are some things on at times it doesn't suit me to watch them. I probably record about four hours or so of television each week. But it's also because when I do sit down to watch I save some time because I can simply fast forward through all the ads. And I also find that I am less likely to actually watch everything anyway - sometimes I'll have heard someone else talking about that particular episode and so don't need to bother. Or, I will turn it on but just listen in the background while I'm cooking in the kitchen. I also buy a television guide every week so that I can simply have a quick read through the articles. That way I can keep up to date with the few soaps I used to watch all the time and so not feel excluded from any conversations in work, for example. But I'm not spending an hour and a half every evening watching the soaps (Emmerdale at 7, Coronation Street at 7.30, Eastenders at 8 - used to share a house with a girl who watched everything every day and it's too easy to do nothing else!)
Doing this, I find I am also seeing more "serious" television than before as I go through the tv guide at the beginning of the week to set the video to tape the things I like (ER, Lost, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip for example) but since I'm paying more attention to the listings I notice other documentaries etc. which sound interesting and can tape them as well.
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