Projects!

I'm so excited! I'm about to get neck-deep in coursework and yet I'm planning a whole slew of new experiments in accidental environmentalism! Okay, well one of these plans is with DG and it's this one that I want to talk about first because it's so darn cool and enviro and is actually something we can do easily and cheaply. This was DG's idea: Collect old canvas totes from area thrift stores, make totes out of old tank tops (by sewing the bottoms [this is apparently something that people are doing, called "t-bags"]), and give them away at the farmer's market, using the "need a penny? take a penny, etc. philosophy. If people want to use cloth instead of plastic they can exchange their plastic bags for cloth bags and if they have extra cloth bags they would like to contribute they can bring them by for others to use. It will truly be a fun adventure and will be sure to post w/pics when we actually do it.

Do You Want a Bag With That?
I had a cultural anthropology professor at IPFW who gave us some word pictures to shake us out of our collective teenage somnolescence by talking about things like going up to the counter at McDonald's and asking for, say, trout almondine with a nice chardonnay. His challenge to not follow the same sleepy routines we find ourselves spinning around in (the "do you want fries with that?" mentality) has always stuck with me and I now want to do my own McDonald's challenge: Go to the campus McD's with a plastic container and a cup and ask for a happy meal without the packaging. DG has expressed her willingness to be a witness to this so I won't feel as scared and idiotic when they refuse and I have to talk to the manager. I'd like to find out why I wouldn't be able to do this and possibly have some follow up challenges, so I guess I'll have to do some thinking about this. Darn. And they'll probably ruin my self-righteous indignation by actually going along with putting a burger and fries in my stinky plastic tub!