HALLIE EPHRON: I was outside this week doing spring clean-up now that the snow is well an truly gone. It's SO satisfying before the weeds have taken over. And as I was cleaning off the front walk, I was remembering what the first spring rake usually uncovered: a winter's supply of fragrant thawing dog poop. And now, nary a plop! People pick up after their pets. In some ways, at least, we have become more civilized.
Which got me thinking about other things that I woulda done then
but I wouldn't do now.- Wear fur (if I could afford it)
- Smoke a cigarette ('nuff said)
- Eat octopus (they're much too smart)
- Use plastic wrap (trying to minimize plastic waste)
What about you? How are we becoming more civilized, and in what ways less?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Litter! I didn't but people used to throw stuff out of car windows, remember? And now they really don't. And those flimsy plastic bags! They are outlawed around here, and that's a good thing. (Except for the dog-pick up situation.) I am not fond of octopus--they're smart enough to be disgusting.
(Well, fried, maybe, but not the tentacles. Besides it sort of tastes like fried rubber.) I don't use mayonnaise or eat egg yolks very often. I recycle newspapers. (Would it be better not to buy them at all?) No Chilean sea bass. Or ivory anything. And recycling bottles, and returning the deposit ones.And my producer has given up plastic straws. I must say I am not quite there yet.
I have to say this is very thought-provoking!
RHYS BOWEN: Certainly not smoke. I grew up in a household where both parents smoked. I had bronchitis non stop as a child.I think the main thing for me is that we have become sensitive to damaging our planet. No more dark satanic mills.
Also we are conscious of what we put in our food. No red food coloring. No Tang. No Fried Twinkies. And even more important, our kids are growing up aware of pollution, animal cruelty, climate change. And sensitive to the differences in others. All good and hopeful for the future.
LUCY BURDETTE: Oh I'm glad you're feeling hopeful Rhys! We watched the PBS news last week and saw a piece about how Antarctica is melting and huge sea level rise coming which will affect New York, Miami, Boston, and of course my beloved Key West. I hope we haven't waited too long to work on this...As for the
Ditto for squid on the octopus comment, and I really try to minimize pork too. Pigs are so smart and they need to be treated better.
As for what our kids are doing? Feeding their kids sweet potatoes and black beans and spinach smoothies, when we fed them Rice-a-Roni and mac n cheese in a box. Hurray for them!
JENN McKINLAY: I was raised by hippies so everything was from our garden and canned for winter, my mom made her own granola, bread, apple butter, she sewed some of our clothes and shopped thrift long before it was trendy because my parents were big into nature and they were all about reuse reduce recycle so I raised my hooligans to be the same and even got Hub to give up the aerosol
deodorant (FTW!) I admit it, I am very judgy about people who waste natural resources (like $40K worth of teak from the Amazon jungle for their flooring - WTH!!!) building their colossal McMansions right on the beach - nope, not shedding one tear for your stupidity when a hurricane sweeps your conspicuous consumption into the deep. Maybe it'll make a nice home for some really smart octopi. Anyway, I am ecstatic that small houses/mini houses are trending - I feel like people are finally getting it. Hurray!!! [Photo: From Wikimedia Commons]
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am certainly happy to see the changes in
public smoking! And that people seem more inclined to pick up after their dogs. (Except in Paris.) And litter!!! It used to be a huge problem on our Texas highways, and then we had Don't Mess With Texas, starting in 1985, and how things have changed. Now I'm so shocked now when I see someone throw something out of a car. And I think many of us feel more connected with and concerned about the rest of the world, and about how what we do affects it. JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: On the cultural side of "more connected and concerned," I'm going with becoming increasingly aware of how hurtful stereotypes, assumptions and generalities are to the people they're aimed at. All you have to do is look at movies from the 60s, 70s and 80s to be appalled at the stuff that was considered comedy. Every one of those classic Rock Hudson/Dean Martin/ Cary Grant romantic comedies were full of women whose only role was to 1) compete with other women for a man 2) preserve her virginity against attempts that we'd all be describing as coercive nowadays and 3) find bliss as a wife.
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| THE WORST |
We still have way too many "Magical Negroes" and movies where bad things happen to black folks so white people can discover Racism Is Bad (Green Book, I'm looking at you.) But at least we're pointing theses cliches out, which is a step on the road to eradicating them.
HALLIE: I don't know where to be optimistic or despair. What do you think? Is there hope for our fractious, selfish species??
I never understood why people thought it was okay to toss stuff out the car window as they drove down the road; it’s a pleasure to see that, for the most part, folks have gotten over doing that.
ReplyDeleteI remember when cutting the plastic soda can rings apart was a big deal; now we’re recycling, bringing our own [non-plastic] bags to the grocery store, and generally trying to toss less into the landfill.
We read labels, try to eat healthier, try to be more aware, more responsible, more compassionate . . . all reasons to hope we’re finally on track to getting it right . . . .
I still see people flick cigarette butts out the car window... but then, they're also still smokers. we do all those same things, Joan, but I wish there were a way to do more.
DeleteI would like to think we're getting better and smarter as a species, but I am also firmly of the school that says the world existed long before people and will continue on without us just fine.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I like the move toward no-kill animal shelters. Between vigorous spay/neuter programs, the fact that rescue pets have become trendy, and the spontaneous rise of volunteer rescue groups, even large urban shelters like Dallas have become increasingly focused on finding new homes for stray animals, rather than simply catching them and killing them. People here in Texas are even transporting adoptable animals from here, where shelters still overflow, to places like New England and the Rocky Mountain states, where there aren't enough adoptable rescue pets to meet demand. That speaks to me of kind hearts and awakened attitudes toward our companion animals.
Cheers on this trend Gigi! I have a friend in Ohio who does pet transport every day--you can see his posts on Facebook. It allows me to feel that something's going right!
DeleteAgree about the young folks really getting it right - commuting on bicycles, not eating much meat, recyling. I also think we need to be careful to see beyond the bubbles we might live in. In certain circles/areas, lots of people still smoke, still toss trash on the ground, still use and discard a lot of plastic. I think of the huge trash heaps full of burning plastic bags in West Africa and cringe. Change is gradual.
ReplyDeleteWell, that was pessimistic, wasn't it? I think I haven't had enough coffee to be my usual optimistic self!
Uh oh, don't get me started on the bicyclers. I seem to encounter the kind that think you can see the in the dark, and get pissed when you open your car door to get out when they're coming up alongside you without any headlights, or scream at you to MOVE OVER on bike/walking paths, which only startles you and makes it more likely that they'll run into you. They don't obey traffic signals. I could go on... There's a piece in today's Boston Globe about the motorized scooters that are now for rent on street corners. Sounds completely terrifying, and not a way to make the city more liveable. And in the Times, a piece about the city banning them because the brakes lock, catapaulting the rider over the top.
DeleteThree steps forward...
My DC bike-commuter son would be the one who calls out nicely, "On your left" on the bike path. He lobbies the Maryland legislature for protected bike lanes, wears lights even in daylight, and does obey traffic signals. They're not all baddies, Hallie. Motorized scooters, on the other hand, terrify me. Totally agree.
DeleteHallie, we had a scary enounter with a cyclist. We were turning in to a restaurant, the bike came past no lights, dark clothing. Almost hit him. John yelled that he needed lights. The guy turned after us, cursing loudly and rammed his bike repeatedly into our car.
DeleteI nearly ran down a scooter guy the other day in downtown Dallas. I was in the valet parking lane outside a hotel, and the street traffic was all backed up, waiting for a light to change. As the street traffic began to move, one driver kindly paused to let me pull out into the flow, when along came a guy on a scooter, going about 30 mph along the lane marking line between all the cars. No lights, no helmet or pads, in my blind spot. He's lucky to be alive, and what the heck was he doing on the street instead of the sidewalk anyway?
DeleteWe eat far less meat and far more fish/seafood these days. I stopped smoking long ago and now am actually allergic to it. (I apologize to my children who were subjected to smoke from birth.) We pick up our dogs' poop, using biodegradable plastic bags and take our own reusable ones to the grocery store. Except when I forget. And we recycle everything recyclable. Still I know there is so much more to be done.
ReplyDeleteWe just watched a BBC 4 series on Acorn called "A Stitch in Time." https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09l2qzs
Karen, you'd like this. But the big thing I I took away from it was that clothing, historically, was very valuable, and it was passed on from one person/one generation to the next. Today so many of us regard clothing as disposable, never expecting it to last more than a season or two. The show was quite an eyeopener on our consumerism.
And I only use a straw about once a decade when I have a root beer float.
DeleteI never use straws either... except for smoothies which I only buy at airports/train stations. What's so wrong about *paper straws*, anyway?
DeleteThanks for thinking of me, Ann! That looks like great fun for me, and for all my sewing/fashion friends.
DeleteHallie, I think it's plastic straws that are the culprits. Paper is more or less biodegradable but plastic will outlive cockroaches.
DeleteWe're doing it all, except for the plastic wrap. Need to investigate a substitute. And reduce paper towel consumption.
ReplyDeletePlastic wrap substitutes: reusable containers w/lids; bowls with plates (or pot lids) to cover them; and there's reusable (for about a year, then compost them) beeswax wraps.
DeleteMy dear husband can't live without plastic wrap or paper towels.
DeleteI don't do too badly on the plastic wrap (need to replace my beeswax thingies) and I really, really try not to use so many paper towels. I buy the kind that tear in half sheets and use them until they disintegrate. And how does washing and drying the cloth dish towels (which I do use a lot also) fit into the waste equation?
DeleteI recycle everything, and over a year or two period, we've replaced every light bulb in our house with LED. This year, hopefully, a more efficient airconditioner....
I've dramatically reduces paper towels by using rags or old dishtowels for most wiping up/ dusting needs. I'm pretty much down to only using the paper towels to pickup my cat's barf, 'cause, yeah, I'm not shaking that out and then laundering the rag.
DeleteI've been in a more discouraged frame of mind lately. Kind of good to hear so many of you taking the positive position. I do all the things mentioned, but I've done them for a long time, and I sometimes struggle to see where our world is improving any because of them. I will check in later for more comments to continue to move me toward optimism.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I was a child in Alabama in the early 60s. I KNOW the world has improved, even if we still have a looong way to go.
DeleteOh, and I was being reared by a young widow who had to have her father co-sign on her mortgage and charge cards, because women simply couldn't get credit without a man, no matter how sound their finances were. Tell me that's not an improvement!
DeleteWe have composted since 1983, and recycled since the service started in Cincinnati, around 1985. I've used reusable bags since 2001, and reusable water bottles for a little less than that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree with Edith about the bubbles. Some parts of the country are less likely than others to have trash on the roadways. We live on a fairly busy road, on the route from a popular entertainment area (Old Coney, Riverbend, Belterra Racino), and SO many people pitch their trash into the (wooded) front of our property after concerts, etc. And after big events at the bottom of the hill there is usually more than a dumpster worth of trash lying around in the parking and other areas. It's beyond annoying that people think it doesn't matter to dump trash out their windows.
I also think we are less civilized, thanks to two cultural phenomenon: sensational talk show formats, beginning with Jerry Springer's, where individuals air their private grievances to God and everybody. And anonymous social media where people can make outrageous claims, and freely insult people without the physical risk of getting decked or spat upon. That's new for society, and it has scrubbed away a layer of civility that goes all the way to the White House, sadly.
Sad to say, I agree with you, Karen. Less civil, less civilized. Much less.
DeleteI think, as human beings, we are better than we have ever been before while still being wildly imperfect.
ReplyDeleteI bought re-usable stainless steel straws that came with a case for your purse. You can keep three at a time. My dentist recommended it when I cracked a tooth and had to use a straw even for coffee!
Julia, I was just thinking about he movie (and book) Gigi. Which was beloved and iconic--and yeesh!
ReplyDeleteOh, my God, yes! Thank heavens for little girls... shudder.
DeleteRight? And they were grooming Gigi to be a mistress? At least, in the end, she refused. (Spoiler... xoxo)
DeleteYep, that one is distinctly politically incorrect now. Not to mention that Gigi herself created a scandal by insisting on marriage, rather than following the family tradition of being a mistress. All sorts of whack in that plotline. Lovely music, though.
DeleteI read somewhere (the NYTImes) that you have to use a re-usable heavy bag 140 times to make up for the footprint it take takes to make it. There's no solution that's perfect. Back into the bubble I go.
ReplyDeleteMy bags are lightweight, fold to fit in purse or pocket. I've used them hundreds of times each. Even the very light fabric ones are stronger than plastic.
DeleteI'm mostly optimistic because I see my kids and things they are doing differently from what I did as a kid. They "get it" in a way generations before them don't.
ReplyDeleteWe don't use a lot of plastic straws. Only when I do fast food and I don't do that very often. We've been cutting back on red meat - more chicken and fish. I think my brother-in-law is upset, but he doesn't do the cooking. :) Yes, more people clean up after their dogs. Now that we have a dog, The Hubby is pretty adamant that he not be allowed to poop and pee all over people's yards when we walk him (no sidewalks) so he gets steer toward the light posts and the "no man's land" areas. (This is why I'd love to give up plastic bags entirely but...we need poop bags.)
Smoking in public is better. Except...The Hubby is a member of the Eagles and they allow smoking inside the club. They've tried to improve their smoke removal, but they refuse to listen when The Hubby says they lose younger members who don't want to spend an evening in a smoke-filled environment. He figures eventually the hard-core smokers will die off and they'll be able to move to a smoke-free club.
remembering when the first no smoking in restaurants laws went into effect and restaurants worried that they'd lose business... and when smoking sections on planes were in the rows right behind non-smoking.
Deleteremembering when the first no smoking in restaurants laws went into effect and restaurants worried that they'd lose business... and when smoking sections on planes were in the rows right behind non-smoking.
DeleteIt was a huge deal in the UK when they banned public smoking. Pubs were sure they would go out of business. It didn't happen. But it can be a trial to get through all the people smoking outside on the pavement!
DeleteI forgot to mention - cars! I learned to drive on an '86 Chevy Caprice Classic wagon "land cruiser" that got maybe 15mpg. On a good day. Last summer I handed down my 2010 Prius to The Girl; it still gets over 40mpg. My new car was a plug-in hybrid that runs on either electric or the gas-electric hybrid engine. Currently enjoying 72mpg. I only fill my tank every other month.
Delete(Yes, I understand some people are concerned with the manufacture of these cars and what will happen to the batteries, but I'm pretty sure the car companies have a recycle plan, at least Toyota does).
I remember seeing plastic bags in Italy in the early ‘70s. We thought the Europeans were so progressive because they were saving trees by not using paper. It’s funny how attitudes come full circle. If you knew our grandsons you’d understand why Annette ruled out the stainless steel straws. Instead she bought reusable plastic. At least they can be recycled when the time comes. Speaking of child safety, remember the canvas car seats that only hooked over the back of the seat with no anchors? Plus, they had a “steering wheel.” It’s a wonder we survived.
ReplyDeleteI remember Mom parking my younger siblings in that car seat. I wonder what she did with us older two?
DeleteI'd forgotten those car seats, Ang! And we let kids just sit unbelted in the FRONT.
DeleteSome of us managed to grow up when there were no car seats at all, lol!
DeleteIf you were one of several kids, the "bad one" sat in front, between Mom and Dad. All unsecured, of course. I was describing this to my children and their takeaway was, "If you misbehave, you get the Death Seat." Well, yes, kinda.
DeleteThe "seat belt" was Mommy driving and throwing her arm out to the right across the kids in the front seat while she hit the brakes and said, "Stopping!"
DeleteNo seatbelts in my first car--a 1966 Renault 8. But it did have vanity mirrors in the sun visors because the French understand what's essential.
DeleteI shop at Publix which provides containers to recycle plastic bags. They also sell cloth shopping bags at a very low cost. We have changed our diet to mostly plant based. I eat red meat once a month. This house has recycled and rationed water since the first Earth Day (1970). I try to wear only cotton garments. Do I sound like an aging hippie?
ReplyDeleteI am with Gigi in thinking life and the planet will continue orbiting w/o homo sapiens.. Perhaps after a geologic age there would be humani illustratum that would do much better. Good topic.
It's great to be careful of what you use and evaluate whether you need it. If you don't need a straw don't use one. However please keep in mind that some people physically require straws. Disabled and people with other injuries/conditions do sometimes have a real need for them and you will not always be able to know if you're looking at someone who needs one versus someone who just wants to use one. There are many invisible conditions. Or someone who is using one in an effort to avoid aggravating a neck injury because they have something else to do that day which will aggravate it and they need to stay at a pain level that permits them to do that thing (or just wants to avoid hitting a certain pain level). Personally I horde straws when I'm given them and reuse them when I can but I'm not going to avoid drinking something on a bad day because a straw is required.
ReplyDeleteHow do you clean a straw? Just asking...
DeleteI well remember the spring thaw surprises when we lived up north. Bleah. I wish my state would ban plastic bags. I see them blowing around everywhere. Some of you may hate Walmart, but they have a big box set up in front of the doors to take all plastic bags for recycling. I feel like Andy Rooney here. Why is it people will pick up after their dogs and then leave the poop bag sitting on the sidewalk or yard? That is littering and extremely annoying. I have murderous thoughts everytime I see that!
ReplyDeleteToday I went to my local STAR market (I'm respecting the picket lines at my beloved Stop & Shop... there the recycle-bags bin is right at the front door) and had to ask where the recycle bin for bags was. It was waaaaaay off in the corner of the store behind (literally) the florist. But it was there. Every large supermarket in my area has recycling for plastic bags. And STAPLES takes all manner of old electronics for recycling (printers, computers, cell phones...)
DeleteAnd take your dead lightbulbs (the ones with mercury in them) to Home Depot for recycling. THE ONE THING THAT I have not been able to figure out how to recycle: styrofoam.
DeleteHallie, thanks for the reminder that there are some ways that people are more civilized. The daily news is so depressing that it's good to get a little perspective. And I have such pride in my daughter and son-in-law and the way they are raising my granddaughter. They are the future, if we can just get through the present.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young child, we didn't have a car but my dad was able to use trucks from work. In the pickup it was me in the middle, and my brother on Mom's lap. The panel truck only had a driver's seat so the rest of us sat on the spare tire.
ReplyDeleteI skip using straws but do use plastic bags for garbage and to give things to friends. The store recycles the others. I don't feel guilty for eating pork or beef because the farmers have enough trouble staying solvent. They aren't going to feed and take care of the animals for nothing. A thousand pounds of steer or pig doesn't make a great pet. Keeping land as pasture or free range also helps wild animals and plants. Much better than more housing developments or malls.