Once in a while, you get into these conversations with people where you start talking, and then you find out their name. Or better yet, you meet a person, hit it off with them, then see them again, start talking, and THEN you remember their name. I think that’s what describes this blog entry.
There’s a hilarious clip of Russell Peters on Youtube that I feel sums up me. Here, I’ll post it:
So that’s me. Except I don’t do that “I had a weird dream you did something” thing where I’m mad at someone in the morning and I don’t get all clingy. But the point is, as the Responsible Consumption Week (RCW) co-chair/co-coordinator this year who spent the last couple of months on this project, I did a lot of thinking when the week and the events were going on. Specifically the Backpack Campaign, which was my baby (and still going on until Friday the 23rd!). This campaign was aimed at encouraging people to bring their own reusable containers and mugs instead of using disposables-at UBC, even though a lot of packaging are compostable, we’re still using resources, and it still takes energy to produce and transport the packaging not only to the destination, but to the waste disposal too. In exchange, we would give our free coffee, sponsored by Ethical Bean, and those who brought their own food container and utensil would show us, then they would be entered to win some fantastic prizes, like items from our vendors at the Responsible Consumption Fair, a Fair Trade soccer ball, and Green Zebra coupon books.
So as I’m walking around, either postering, talking to people about RCW and the Backpack Campaign, I walk past several food vendors, which got me thinking. Do we lose our eco-actions when we grow up? At the beginning, I was going to title this blog entry “Do we lose our eco-consciousness when we grow up?” But that’s not the right term for it, because we grow up, we read more, we learn more, we go to school. Our arsenal of information about the environment increases, although it’s more about the political issues than the biological processes of sustainability, like how to recognize different trees and tell birds apart from each other. But I feel that we do less in our daily lives as adults that contributes to a more sustainable world. Why? Individualistic consumption patterns, perhaps.
It could be the way I was raised, but as a child, throwing away things was never an option-my beautiful mother always made sure that my lunch was packed in reusable containers, and I was expected to bring home any sandwich or ziplock bags I brought my food to school in so we could wash them and reuse them. We very rarely had individual packs for snacks-we always brought in bulk, and it was easier too, because as I grew older, my portion sizes increased, so my parents could accommodate that change in my food portions. To me, this wasn’t a form of sustainability-it was normal, everyday life activities.
I’ll be honest with you-I started eating out a lot more this year because of an increase workload and extracurriculars-I love what I do, but food preparation and eating fell down my priority list. I still brought my food containers, because that’s what I grew up doing, but notably during the Backpack Campaign, when I was paying attention to people’s food containers, I started thinking that as a child, I would’ve never seen this much disposable waste. Is it because our food portions are no longer customized to how much we can eat, that we conform to whatever size is offered by the vendors that this is one of the ways we stop doing things that benefit the environment? What if it’s about fitting into the norms of society, that people don’t want to deviate and tell vendors “Here’s my container/bag. Put it in here please” (Try that-I dare ya!) Convenience? Too much on our plates? Maybe we just have to reorient our priorities then, to include sustainability (which little actions like the Backpack Campaign does not take long to do!). What about walking too? That we grow up, and we stop behaving in sustainable ways, even though we have the financial and age agency to choose so?
Some thoughts!
And now here’s where I begin my introduction: My name is Aly, I’m now in fourth year doing a major in Political Science with a minor in Environment and Society (but not graduating yet! One more year!). Talk to me-don’t be scared off that I might be one tall (for an Asian female) hippie! I like to think from as many perspectives as I can and most of my friends are actually not very environmental at all.