Harping on Junk Mail

Ok, well I really hate to keep going on about the junk mail but I just got through sorting through the mail from the last few days and out of a stack about four inches high, I saved one piece of paper, a reimbursement check stub. That was it! The rest went in the recycle bin. Let's see, a major political party, to which I do not belong, was asking for money. Ummm... you said once you got a majority things would be different, they weren't. Send you money. I don't think so! A big cat rescue facility wrote to tell me about their new enclosure...and ask for money. There was a newspaper stuffed with coupons for places I'll never visit trying to get a bit of my money. A dragon wanted to take over my computer and talk with me while it typed. As long as I sent in just $99.00. Tried that once. The dragon was a lousy typist. I think I might have the disc in a drawer somewhere still. Someday maybe it will help scare some birds in the garden or something. Smithsonian wanted me to renew my subscription early. It's up in October. It stated it was an "urgent request" . My how time flies. Performance Bike, which really is a great store, sent me no less than three thick fliers this last week about their perpetual sale. They do have great prices but have not responded in any way to my request to turn off the paper and just send me e-mails. I don't shop there much anymore. There were a few phony magazines touting some get-rich-quick stocks, vending machines and real estate. Do these things really work? Do some people think these are real magazines and pore over them with breakfast then rush out to buy the recommended stock or flip a house? They smack of phony. Or am I just cynical? They certainly are glossy and expensive no less so they must work.

Well...I probably won't post much more on the junk mail thing. I have probably outdone it already.

This week my car is in the shop. I'm trying to pretend I miss it. I really don't. I think the last time I was thoroughly excited about driving was in high school. After that it just became part of life and lately I just hate driving. Is that part of getting old? No, probably not. I see enough old farts on the road that seem to love driving to the store and back while pretending they still see and hear fine. Anyway, my only transportation right now is an old mini-bus I bought off e-bay from a school district. It gets horrendous MPG but runs fine. I used it when I was remodeling a house because I got tired of hauling cement in my trunk and wondering if the shocks would burst. I've driven it 72 miles in the last four months so you can see it gets lots of use now. I think it gets lonely at the curb and seems to be growing a wonderful green patina around the edges. It is for sale. The first twelve hundred bucks drives it way. It's worth every penny if you need something big and spacious. It still has half the seats remaining.

Well, that is enough of a post for today. I see it is 10:00. That's when the mail comes. I wonder what is in it today. Goody.

Long Time

Well, it has indeed been a long time since I have posted. What a backslider I have become. Shame on me. First it was work then it was other excuses. None of them good. I sort of forgot about weighing my mail and all too. I do seem to be getting just as much as before though. Even though I have called tons of mailers and told them to turn it off. They don't turn it off even when you ask them. I think the system is on auto-pilot and is out of their control. I even posted my name and address with the Direct Mail Marketing Association and paid my few bucks to get off the list. Didn't help yet. I'm still hauling tubs of the stuff to the recycle. The odd thing is that a good percentage of the junk mail are pleas to "help save the earth, animals, air, water, trees, mountains, valleys, people.... Kind of defeating the purpose if you ask me. Why don't they get out in the streets and beg for money if they really want to save the earth. Or how about hauling people out to the woods en masse, and let them see what the beauty of nature is really like...then hit them up for the money to save it. I guess that would use a little fuel at first but it might get people to thinking more than a piece of junk mail printed with soy ink.

I am happy to report though that my automobile fuel bill is still declining rapidly and is now only about 2/3 of what it was before. My goal is to eventually only use flex and rental cars but the wife has not reached my level of fanaticism yet so... This month brings a small vacation though so it will go up a little, but we are staying close to home and not flying so the actual amount of fuel used will be considerably less than other vacations months when you eliminate the jet fuel we would have consumed. We are also committed to making this a relaxing vacation and not drive all over kingdom come to "have fun" like we normally do. I do love a road trip and usually log thousands of miles. Not this time. Only about 400 total for the whole trip, including side ventures. Even the rafting trip we have planned is via bus and the car will just stay parked. I have also mapped out some of the things we want to see and plan to group them together by locale. Most of all I am looking forward to the sun. Bring it on.

I have just started a wonderful book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It is the true story of how they moved from the deserts of New Mexico with it's water that would kill goldfish to live as close to the land as they could. She talks about raising animals for food which does not fit my plant-based lifestyle but any move away from factory farming is a plus. Ultimately my desire is to do much the same without raising livestock. However living in Oregon I don't have to move far to accomplish it. Just need a little more space to put out some small raised gardens. Maybe a small glass enclosure or two for a winter garden.
Well, I hope to get back to posting every day. I haven't given up on my efforts. Have gotten a few dirty looks at the grocery store when I used my cloth produce bags, rather than the see-through plastic bags. Really, is it that much more work to open the bag and look inside? Oh well, I still plan to use them. It has really drastically reduced the amount of plastic I haul to the recycle.

I have been keeping close tabs on the "No Impact Man" project and Colin is now facing many of the grey conundrums that appear whenever you try to reduce your impact in this modern world. It is simply impossible to move to a no impact life in a mid town apartment. The biggest being refrigeration and, when winter returns, heat. Most likely if the temperature hits 100 degrees in August they will be driven from their air-conditionless walk up. We humans are a bit like lizards and need just the right temperature to survive. Other societies that live closer to nature do not insist on living in tight gypsum boxes and therefore don't need to worry about this. We as Americans have our codes and rules that drive us away from each other and into our cubicles. Wait, isn't that the first terror in nearly every sci-fi novel? The isolation?

Perhaps when the last drop of oil runs through the veins of our modern world we all finally all look at each other and look for the natural solutions rather than the technical. It is probably wise to learn now how to live without modernity and pass it on through the generations. Hmm...

If anybody is listening, I wish you well.

Scott

Stuff!

Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops. Kurt Vonnegut

Wow, isn' t that true. Wander any garage sale and you will see this is true. Along with the requisite books, exercise equipment and old clothes are the plates emblazoned with cable cars or shot glasses that say "Wyatt Earp" or "Johnny Red" or some such. Each of them was bought so as to bring back memories of those fine moments when we finally escaped the prison of our world and had a little fun. Now its worth twenty-five cents but you'll take a dime if someone offered. Right? Why do we do this?

I have a drawer full of this kind of stuff. Prizes from battery packages, souvenirs, things I am sure will be "collectors items" someday. Yeah right. Am I nuts? Dust collectors is all they are. I even have a drawer with no less than 200 pens in it. You never know when a crowd might show, each needing a pen, so they stay in the drawer waiting for that day. I guess that answers the question about "Am I Nuts?"

I am now following the advice in 30 Days to a Simpler Life by Connie Cox and Chris Evatt and drawer by drawer I have been unburdening my life of these things. Three piles, "Keep", "Toss" and "Give Away". I e-bayed a few things and then bought a few books on how to live simpler. I honestly don't know. I am indoctrinated in consumption. It is going well though and each time I get rid of things I feel just a little lighter and the Goodwill gets a little richer. I don't yet miss any of it and I am trying hard not to replace it with more junk.

THE RESTAURANT

I have also been thinking a great deal about paper recently and since we went out to eat last night at our favorite place "The Laughing Planet Cafe" I was more aware of the amount of paper I was mindlessly consuming. It was dreadful. I ordered a burrito bowl which had no paper wrapper but I found myself, without even thinking, filling up a little paper cup with salsa at the salsa bar then picking up paper napkins and bringing them back to the table. I didn't give it a second thought until I got to the table. It was just a habit of consumption. Worse yet, when I wanted more salsa I didn't return with the same cup. I got a new one! More mindless consumption. OK, so you're saying "Don't beat yourself up, it was one napkin and two little cups." True, but if everyone uses the equivalent how many trees must die for a few minutes of my convenience so it can end up in a landfill somewhere. Millions?

There is a very good book by Wanda Urbanska and Frank Levering called "Nothing is Too Small to Make a Difference". It is this book that began to wake me up to my own consumption habits years ago. I am not as far along as I would like to be but I am taking more diligent efforts now. I highly recommend this book as a starting place for anyone that wants to simplify. Anyway one of the points in the book is that every step we each take individually makes a difference. Regardless of how small. Use one less napkin per day, that is three-hudred and sixty-five this year. Use one less paper salsa cup each week, that is fifty-two this year. It all adds up and makes a difference. Imagine if the whole world adopted this viewpoint.

By the way, if you live or visit Portland Oregon make sure you try "The Laughing Planet Cafe" on Belmont. You won't regret it and five bucks will get you a decent meal.

Well, that is enough of my early Saturday morning ramble. Signing out.

Scott

Mail Woes and Cloth Bags

MAIL WOES

Yesterday and today I received one pound three ounces of junk mail that went directly from my mailbox to the recycle bin. Yikes! One of the pieces actually came in a box with a pen for me to sign a petition. It may have been a good cause but I didn't really look at it. I just disassembled it, took out the pen and threw the rest in the recycle bin. I have begun a daily log of the weight of my junk mail and I will post it here weekly at least. I have called a few of the places that send me mail and have found that if you plan to do this on a regular basis be prepared to be put on hold a lot or be transferred to voice mail. Some will even act miffed that you are taking up their time. But stopping the flood of junk mail is worth the hassle.

OK, before I sound too holier than thou I do have to confess my guilt. I used to own a company that produced co-op ad pieces that went out through bulk mail to thousands of homes and consumed tons of paper and gallons of ink and probably irritated a few people in the process as well. But I was asleep then, I am awake now and I have flogged myself sufficiently to be free of that sin. Now I even print things on my computer to .pdf' files as much as I can and use paper only when absolutely necessary. Saves me a bunch on toner too. And we all know how much they charge for toner.

One thing I did recently is to pay a buck to the Direct Marketing Association for their Preferred Mail Service. Basically what this does is tell them I am sick of junk mail and would gladly pay a buck to get rid of it. Sort of like a spam filter for your snail mail. It takes a few months for the system to kick in and if it works I should see 75% less poundage coming my way. I also went to OptOut Prescreen.com and opted out of all of the "You are pre-approved for a Uranium credit card with a One-Million Dollar Limit" junk mail I get. This one is free to sign up for and lasts for five years unless you mail in a signature on a separate form and then it is permanent. If my efforts are successful I should see a big drop in my junk mail in the next six months. OK, now onto another topic.

CLOTH BAGS

Grocery shopping for me lately has brought on a large bit of guilt too. Since I eat a plant based diet that means I shop mostly in the produce and bulk sections. And what does that mean? It means that I come home from the market with dozens of plastic bags each time I go. I'm not talking about the "paper or plastic" bags at the checkout counter. I mean the flimsy ones you spend five minutes trying to open so you can dump a head of lettuce in. However I have finally discovered an answer. They are called Eco Bags, are made of cloth, have a string tie and are reusable. I found them at ReusableBags.com. I ordered ten of them at $2.25 a piece with about five bucks shipping today and they should be here sometime next week. Once I have a chance to use them I'll post my experiences here. Since I already use reusable bags to bring my groceries home having these should eliminate the plastic all together. Oh, and I should mention when you are at the site don't leave without reading the "Fast Facts" section and looking at the "Photo Gallery". Plastic bags are not just unsightly and a waste of resources, they also kill an enormous amount of wildlife.