I may not subscribe to the cultish way of life known by millions as The Secret, but there is something to be said about putting your intentions out in the universe and feeling like someone is listening. That idea did, in a way, play into some of the things that happened this week. Others might call it coincidence, but because I’d like to believe that life isn’t entirely a series of random happenstance with no greater purpose, here are some things that I (may or may not have) willed to happen last week.
- While I tried to influence a completely zero waste holiday party at work, I was not in charge of picking the caterer, and the one selected came complete with plastic plates and plastic forks individually wrapped in more plastic. A colleague and I teamed up to provide compostable napkins and cups, and brought compost bags that she took home with her for curbside pickup. I made signs so everyone knew what to put where, and for the most part people followed suit. When we got to the end of the week and there were still leftovers, she brought home what wasn’t going to be consumed.
I don’t know if people appreciated or even cared about the availability of compost at the party, but I hope the fact that it was an option for the first time at least planted the seed for some. Then, today, I went to the office bathroom, and the garbage cans had brand new stickers that said they are for paper towels for compost only. I know this has been in the works for a while, but the fact that they appeared less than a week after our first office compost effort was pretty … interesting?
2. I wrote a letter to the editor of my neighborhood newspaper, and it was published in last week’s issue. It was about avoiding Amazon and unnecessary packaging and minimizing gift-giving in general as a means of reducing your impact on the planet.
The founder of my local zero waste group, who I’ve gotten to know over the past year or so, read it and messaged me, asking if I’d like to be on the group’s steering committee. There’s nothing set in stone yet, but the fact that she saw my letter and asked shows that I am heading in the right direction and becoming viewed more and more as an expert in this arena.
There was a third thing that happened last week that is too premature to share, but hopefully I will be able to share it soon. In the meantime, even though this challenge is done, I will continue to put my climate action out in the open, and wait and see how the universe responds in return.
Climate 52 