Deep Ecology

Barbie Thumbelina and Token Enviro-Consciousness

Yesterday DH and I took a little trip into town minus the boys, we stopped in at a toy shop briefly (horrid horrid place full of plasticrap), and I noticed that the Barbie Thumbelina toys were making a token effort at being eco-friendly by having "fully recyclable cardboard packaging". Which got me wondering whether Thumbelina was some kind of eco-story. So I hired it out, and it seems it is. I admit to only having watched half an hour of it so far though.

While so far there are some good messages in the film for kids about the shallowness of consumer culture and the need to preserve nature, I find this to be at extreme odds with the amount of merchandising that is available for the film. I think what we really need to be teaching our kids is that token efforts for the environment are not going to cut it. Aside from slowing population growth, drastically reducing consumption is the single most important thing we can do for the environment. It's by not buying that plastic Thumbelina doll that we are helping the environment, not by recycling her cardboard packaging.

I understand that when kids view those gorgeous Disney images they desire to "possess" them in some way. But maybe by encouraging our kids to draw or create in other ways the objects of their desire, ie. draw Thumbelina or make a Thumbelina doll of their own (with our help even), then they can feel that they have fully "possessed" Thumbelina without the need to buy a plastic doll. Remember, Thumbelina existed long before Disney got hold of her.

Going to one of those big toy shops leaves me feeling very sick inside. All that plastic. We are trading the beauty of our planet for that. That ugliness. And cheapness. And uselessness.

I no longer buy plastic toys for children's birthday presents. If there is nothing I can make them, I will buy them something non-plastic, like a book. No more junky plastic toys destined to end in landfill after only a month.

I realise now I have stepped way outside the margins of mainstream society.
I hate twitter
And the new ipods (it's all those apps, or should that be crApps, it's like it's designed so we never have to spend a single moment actually being present for our lives.)

Ok, end of rant :)

Be Out There

Green Hour is a great website I have been visiting for the past year or so now. It is created by the National Wildlife Fun and it aims to get kids outside in the green stuff for an hour a day.

It is a US site, so a lot of the activities are seasonally out of sync for us here in the Southern Hemisphere. There is an extensive archive, so I just look through that for activity ideas.

Even when I don't end up doing any of the activities suggested, it's a great reminder to prioritise outside time for the kids. I think fostering a child's connection with nature is one of the most important things we can do for the future of the planet. If kids don't have that personal connection with and love for the wild places of our planet it is unlikely they will want to protect them in future years.

We do 'Green Hour' every afternoon when DS 7 gets home from school.

Env-irony

Last week I woke to this scene of devastation. My gorgeous tomato plants had been decimated by the evil possum. I tried sprinkling the leaves with tabasco sauce, and although I heard a lot of possum noise that night, more branches had still been eaten. I didn't trust the that the possum would learn quickly enough that the tomatoes are HOT, before they'd all been destroyed. Plus the tabasco seemed to burn the foliage where it had been sprinkled. And it seemed kind of mean... So in an effort to prevent the possum destroying my entire crop (he has already ruined half) I went and bought a plastic bird net from Bunnings (precut, about $6). Yes, in my effort to be kind to the environment by growing my own I have ended up buying a plastic product. How frustrating. It does seem to do the trick though. Just as an aside, the Amish Paste I planted have been terribly disappointing, the Principe Borghese are doing really well and the mixed cherry tomatoes, well... they seem to be the possum's faves. I don't think they'll recover.

Earth Hour 2009

8:30pm local time, Saturday 28th March 2009.

Mark your calendars. Make a date to turn out the lights.

Get romantic, get some rest, or get out and celebrate at your local earth hour event.

The goal of this years earth hour is to have one billion supporters world wide. Hasn't it come a long way since the first earth hour in 2007? And how awesome is it that this global phenomenon is something that started here in Australia. Makes you proud to be an Aussie, yeah?

Check out this inspiring trailer from WWF, or go to the Earth Hour website for more info.