Why Aren't We Talking About This...Seriously!??

"There is a disturbing theory about the human species that has begun to take on an alarming level of reality. It seems that the behavior of the human race is displaying uncanny parallels to the behavior of pathogenic, or disease-causing, organisms." - Humanure Handbook

Dear Mr. President,

I understand that, with all due respect sir, politicians don't talk about the most important things, really. As I've said to you before, I understand the changes that will help us the most must begin within our small communities through important dialogues that inspire us to reflect on our own lives and then take direct actions within our own households.

I am still consistently surprised, however, at how little those in my own community are willing to dive into these conversations for any length of time in order to be inspired to look at their own lives more closely. I can only imagine we believe we don't have time or that the language is not powerful or meaningful enough or that people don't really believe we must change our habits faster. Maybe we think we have more time than we do. I'm not sure the reasons but I find it rather unnerving.

Before we lived together, Matthew spent some time in the Peace Corps. in Africa. When he returned and we began living together, I noticed how careful he was to recycle things. I was pretty good about it but not like him and sometimes I would get so frustrated always trying to decipher which container went where and often noticing my own irritation with amount of garbage just the two of us would make on a daily basis.

I have always been concerned and wondered where it all went but I didn't spend too much time actually thinking about it because I felt I had no real control and the truth was I didn't have to think about it, because each week, even if I was bothered by how much trash I made, it still magically disappeared and I could start the process over with our large empty trash bins...week after week being hauled off to where?

Sometimes, when I was lazy/annoyed and threw something in the garbage that could be recycled, I noticed he'd go into the garbage, clean it and put it where it belonged. I would get impatient with his vigilance and I also felt guilty I wasn't as conscientious.

I asked myself why I wasn't more consistent with my recycling. I figured out that I was confused about what was actually happening with the recycling? I was rather confused about the garbage, in general. Where was it all going? I often felt at a loss and would just stop separating out the recycling from the landfill items. Either way, I felt overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of garbage we would make from day to day.

As I became irritated one day with the recycling container, I asked Mati about his experience in Africa. What did they do with their garbage? He explained to me why he'd become more aware of his own consumption and what, specifically, he decided to consume. It was because in his African community, there were no public services to haul away the garbage. If a soda was consumed, the can went on the ground. The communities were essentially the landfills.

If each person took just a few minutes to really reflect on this, we might find ourselves with very different idea of what it means to "go green". If each of us reflected on this idea seriously, we might recognize that recycling is not answer. The answer lies in a stronger, more inspired, much more powerful action. - If we could just take the time.

Imagine that in your neighborhood, the garbage that each person makes in each household stays in your neighborhood. Nobody comes regularly to take away your trash.... If your family has a package of chicken, 3 cans of corn and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight, what will you do with that package from the chicken? The cans? The potato scraps. If you each drink a can of soda? The cans? Paper towels? Napkins? Boxes? Multiply that by the number of people in your neighborhood. What will you all do with your mess? Bury it in your back yard? If you were responsible for your own garbage every single day, what would you change? What would you do differently? You can see that you would be faced with a very different reality and you might consider acting and consuming in a very different way.

I listened closely to the Italian's story and tried to imagine what it was like there.
I discovered that what I really wanted was not have to recycle at all. I wanted to not make the trash in the first place.

I know our hearts are in the right place. We do want our kids to inherit a lush planet. We think we're doing our part. I mean I watch people and we're all are very good about recycling. I see it all around me. Kitchens are equipped with 3 different trash cans. We put the appropriate bins out on the street on the appropriate days where the appropriate truck comes and hauls an unfathomable amount of empty containers away to a place where its divided up...blah blah blah...We've done our part? We continue to consume a limitless quantity of resources happily knowing that at least we recycle?

No. This is not enough. The idea is to not make the garbage at all. Or as little as possible. The idea is to not have to recycle because we're inspired to take more drastic measures. We commit to consuming less. Much less. So much less that we don't need 3 garbage cans in our kitchens. So much less that we don't have to recycle much because we've committed to buying products that aren't packaged in containers.

Individual juice boxes, cracker boxes, soda cans, shampoo bottles, cosmetic containers, individuals yogurt containers, glass bottles of condiments, paper plates, plastic forks, paper towels, napkins, cups, laundry detergent bottles, packaging packaging packaging cute little boxes inside boxes wrapped in bubble wrap, diapers, q-tips, pizza boxes, frozen food containers, meat packaging, newspapers, magazines, gift wrapping, cereal boxes...etc.. the list goes on and on.

The amount of garbage an individual makes in a day is truly mind boggling and much of that is recyclable. We feel okay about consuming because the packages of products we use can be put into the recycle bin?

More drastic measures. More inspired action. Real progress needs real change.

I, propose this, to you and your family, Mr. President, as well as those in my small community. Consider the trash you and your family make this week. What would you do with that garbage if the garbage men never came to get it and you were responsible for it? Next, try, for one week, to not buy anything in packages. Try for one week, to make as little trash and recycling as you can and tell us how it went. Tell us how you felt. Speak to us. Can you hear us?

Respectfully,
Ruth and Matthew

Dear Mr. President,

So I was thinking, sir, that probably passing new legislation limiting credit card companies from taking advantage of consumers is a step in the right direction.

But I was also thinking it would be a good idea to have a different conversation amongst ourselves around credit and debt and how we, the people, handle ourselves within the tricky and movable landscape of consumerism.

See, we were thinking we should take more drastic measures amongst ourselves in order to push things along a healthier path for ourselves and our futures. We were thinking this dialogue should begin within our small communities, where real change is born.

For the past couple of years, Matthew and I kept a small post on our front door that we would see each time we left the house. It read:

"Eliminate debt consciousness, good sleep, good nutrition and good exercise - Against a toxic culture"

Matthew and I discussed and came to the agreement that, on the most basic level, these things; eliminating debt, good rest, good wholesome, organic foods and wine : ) and moving our bodies regularly, would satisfy us.


We've committed to eliminating credit cards and any other kind of debt for that matter completely from our lives in pursuit of Benjamen Franklin's idea of the "philosopher's stone" or spending less than one earns.

Because neither one of us have been able to work within the credit card system successfully or peacefully, we've chosen to try another way. Because neither of us, Matthew or myself have a deep understanding of how we would manage large debts like home and car loans, we've decided to try another way.

When we spend money that we don't have in our hands always speculating that our future earnings will pay off the debt, we continue to perpetuate a cycle of gambling behavior. And this is what we hope to eliminate completely from our lives.

It's been a reckoning, this idea to live debt free. If we want things, we pay cash for them. We don't buy with credit and we don't pay later. If we don't have the money, we don't buy it. If we haven't planned in advance for it, we don't get it. Paying with cash forces us to be thoughtful about what we buy.

I trace my own "poverty consciousness" behavior all the way back to receiving my first credit card. I remember applying for that particular card when I was a sophomore in college - 1987. I walked up to a table and filled out some paperwork and a week later received a card in the mail with a $1000 limit on it.

Now, I understood, logically that I had to pay my balance each month. I understood it was BEST to pay it off each month. I knew I didn't HAVE $1000 in cash, but it certainly felt like it while the card burned a hole in my wallet on Friday nights as I lightheartedly offered it up to buy rounds for my friends at the bar.

And so my relationship with money began. And I've had credit cards ever since. I'd buy 3 pairs of shoes, no problem - on the card. I'd go to fabulous lunches - on the card. Everybody has them - everybody uses them. I assume that everybody manages them better than I do. I don't know for sure. What I understand clearly now, is there is no place in my life for credit cards.

The psychology of credit is tricky because each individual credit card purchase feels manageable until one day, the cards are just maxed out and the strange sinking feelings begin. It took a very long time to come to terms with the idea that credit cards, regardless of the amount of money I was making, encouraged me to live outside my means. They seem to be designed to do that. When I have cash in my wallet, I spend very differently - with more presence.

So recently, we took back our power around credit cards. We closed them. And we're paying them off, which hasn't been easy.

We no longer use credit cards for anything. And that is changing everything.


What this means for us, Mr. President, is that we only spend what we earn. We're learning to announce our dreams and collaborate and plan long in advance for trips, vacations, future big ticket items, supplies etc. Then we begin saving for those expenses. It's slow and it takes discipline and it helps to keep us connected to each other in the process.

We've stripped most all excesses from our lives, becoming aware of what we most care about and need. And as it turns out, once free from certain ingrained ideas about the American dream, we're finding out how very little we need to feel most satisfied and even luxurious.

When was the last time you took out cash and paid for everything you bought with it? I know a couple of people who do this and it creates a very different reality around what you buy and your relationship to "things" in general. Consuming becomes a more thoughtful process. And this is where we are.


I propose this to you, Mr. President and to my community. Use cash for a month. Not the credit card. Not the bank debit card either. For one month. And tell us how it goes.

Respectfully,
Ruth and Matthew

Dear Mr. President,

My husband and I don’t have children but our brothers and sisters do and many of our friends do – or are about to. We have been increasingly worried about the state of our …well the state of everything. And by we, I mean Matthew, Mati, the Italian, Matidoll, my husband and co-author of this letter writing campaign. He’s rather knowledgeable about history, literature and politics but you’d probably enjoy talking sports too. My voice is more feminine and filled with important sentiment and good instincts. The two balance nicely, I think you’ll find.

We decided on this letter writing campaign in search of a more powerful dialogue. We decided on this letter writing campaign to share with you, the hopeful undertakings of extraordinary people and the good sound science for an improved world, to ask the difficult questions and with the possibility of having our own hopeful voices heard. And maybe you’ll never lay eyes on this. It may be necessary only to know that it’s to you we write regularly since after all, it’s you who is in the business of change.

I suspect my voice and Matthew’s represent many who go unheard and our voices are also on behalf of those who have no voice at all because they are children. They are the children of our brothers and sisters, your children and theirs, who will inherit our mess if we don’t do more, faster.

My intention is not to complain or to find blame. My intention is to live differently and share it with you. My intention is to write to you, ask questions when there’s nobody else to ask and show you the example of others who are heroes and heroines for hope since, respectfully, your schedule is way too busy to meet with them anytime soon in order to ask them yourself, about their brilliant ideas and helpful work in the world.

We intend to let you know that there are some who understand the magnitude of individual responsibility. There are some who appreciate the urgency of making more dramatic changes in order to evolve at the rate we need to if we are to improve the state of the planet our children are to inherit. There are some who exchange worry for hope and then move into the action of saving the world they are in love with.

We, the people, should be having no other conversation than how it is that we are going to make things better and fast. We should be speaking frantically, with urgency about what we are going to, each of us, individually, do to save our planet. We are irresponsible to talk about anything else. We are remiss to make it to the dinner table each night without having tried to figure out how we, each of us, can do more. We should be talking to each other every day as if the survival of our planet depended on every choice we make throughout our days.

So we have made time for this, Mr. President. We have made time to talk to you– to share our own adventure with you in taking personal and most importantly, drastic responsibility. We hope you will hear our benevolent intentions. We hope you will hear our softer voices, feel our lion heartbeats. We hope you know that we take our responsibility seriously. We plan to be good stewards of the land. We plan to take care of the earth and each other.

And so now, let’s get down to the real business of change – Big powerful profound healthy change.

We’ll keep you posted (pun intended : )

Respectful Regards,

Ruth and Matthew