Earth Day and stuff

Earth Day and our stuff

“You accululate all the Stuff. And it takes over the house. You need a second house-one for the Stuff and one to live in…”
George Carlin, Stuff
Youtube.com/watch ?v=mvg N5gCulac

I got no respect. One time, my immature wife came home, and I was taking a bath. She came in and sunk my rubber boats..”
Rodney Dangerfield

Chelsea Handler pleading with her father, at 8 yrs. old, for a Cabbage Patch doll:
“Dad, there are thousands of types of Patch dolls. I don’t want a blonde or anyone with brown eyes. Green eyes. They have ones with two dimples, but I just want one dimple. The ones with two dimples look too fake, and the ones without dimples look like Chucky. This is a very precise assignment. Please do not screw this up. Under no circumstances are you to come home with a redhead..”
Chelsea Handler, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, p.28
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On this Earth Day, it is important to focus on Stuff…all the Stuff we have, and all we really don’t need.
Annie Leonard’s video The Story of Stuff has been seen by millions. Her companion book of the same name is a good read.
Her position is strait forward: “Our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health. We need a new vision for change..”

We, in the US, have 5% of the world’s population, but use 30% of the world’s resources; and produce 30% of its’ waste.
We have too much stuff; and too much of it is toxic.
Just take water, as one example.
By 2025, 2/3rds of us in the US will face a water scarcity.
As we morph from a grey stuff consumer to a green environmentalist, think about showers vs. baths.
A typical 8 minute shower uses 17 gallons of water. A bath uses 45 gallons.
Take a shower, shorten it 5 minutes; use a low-flow showerhead; and turn off the water while you soap your body. Then run the shower.
Now John Stossell, and the libertarians, will say…”I will take a bath if I want to. And an 8-min. shower. I have a constitutional right.”
No, John. You take the rubber boats in your bath and put them where John Denver’s sun will never shine.