2009: Year of the Bear (Necessities)
ha ha ha – see what I did there? I created the title of my blog by combing Chinese astrology, my nickname and a catchy title of Disney’s 1967’s classic animated film The Jungle Book. My my, the creative juices are in full flow this evening.
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities (ha ha ha bet I got it stuck in your head for the rest of the day now!)
Before I start off this blog, I would just like to mention some progress on my “be green” new year resolution – I emailed both CLEO and GLAMOUR magazine to say that after 5 year’s respectfully of subscribing to their poor excuse for a woman’s magazine (after I always read them, I generally feel unsatisfied – kind of like when you’ve had Kauai for lunch and you are still ravenous because there’s no freakin fat in their lunch!!!!) – I will no longer be renewing my subscription, nor purchasing their magazine while they continue to wrap it in a completely unnecessary (glittery) plastic wrapping.
Yes, I know that their magazines are full of sex (well, in the sealed section) but come on – Cosmo isn’t even sealed! And frankly, I would rather have small children learn how to give the “perfect blow job” (or other nonsense that they publish) than destroy the environment. In hindsight, if the earth implodes in 5 years due to global warming, those 7 year olds won’t be able to use any of those sex tips they picked up anyway! So I think I really have a valid point!
On the note of no longer buying magazines, I come to my next point – that 2009 will be the year of bear (bare) necessities.
My hippy folks: Mom and Pop tripping balls on acid
No guys, I’m not going to join the nudist colony (yet – I still have a while to go before I reach that 100% hippy saturation point), but I read a very interesting article in a magazine recently. I am not going to tell you it was the YOU Magazine, as you will then judge the calibre of my intentions; so instead I will say it was the New York Economic Times.
There was this woman in England who went a whole year without buying “stuff.” She lived as simply as possible, shopping only for items she really needed, but could not obtain herself. For a whole year she bought no new clothes, magazines, take-away coffees etc. Basically things that you don’t need to survive – just things that you spend your money on impulsively or because you think you need a 57th generation iPod Nano.
Now many of you *ahem* capitalists will find the thought absolutely horrifying, however I find the whole idea completely appealing. Our whole generation’s self worth is so caught up in the colour of our credit cards, what kind of car we drive and owning a $1.6 million [that's a R12.8 million rand people!!] Hermes Birkin handbag that looks as if it was made with glitter, macaroni and Pritt in a Montessori pre-school class. To check it out, click here.
Seriously, what is wrong with the world when there are people who are dying of starvation in Africa and someone pays the price of a Camps Bay apartment for a bag which they will probably leave on the bus [if they rode the bus] and some bergie will use it’s viable materials to start a fire. It’s seriously fucked up (yes, I just broke my other NY’s resolution, but I honestly feel that this notion truly deserved the f*word).
So this year, I am going to try and see the world through a simpler view – one where my self identity is not tied to a new pair of shoes or the size of my bank account. Look, I know it will be hard, of course, and it’s impossible to go through the year not buying ANYTHING – but I think I will enjoy the experience of asking myself “ do I really need this?” before I buy anything – and I am confident that the whole experience will leave me feeling more whole and more at peace in myself – because I will learn how happiness and obtaining material objects are not linked.
The Future Bear (what the elimination of monthly facials and shopping trips can do to you)
Geez, also imagine the crap load of money I’m going to save for 2010, when I can buy stuff again!! WOW!
Does that mean we’ll now have to buy you drinks when we all go out? Sneaky, sneaky!
Posted 10 months, 1 week agohmmmmm – you are totally right! I never thought that that would apply to booze. guess it’s not really an nessacity huh> hmmm, this requires some thought…. !
Posted 10 months, 1 week agoHa ha, I see you’re doing as well with your resolutions as I am! *guilty shrug* Oh well, at least we’re making an effort. I can’t see you not swearing though… you look like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth, but good god, you have the vocab of a sailor on his tenth round the world voyage with no pussy. Scuse my French.
Ps I love Glamour – am I a secret anti-feminist?!?! *grins*
Posted 10 months, 1 week agoAmusing reading, you write quite well my girl.
I do think your opinions on global warming are a bit dramatic though, in fact there is pretty much a whole hoard of new research suggesting outcomes other than catastrophic failure of the planet. Of the total amount of greenhouse gases contributing to the greenhouse effect on Earth, only 0.28% comes from human beings. The bulk of it is excreted by the worlds oceans, volcanoes and decaying plant matter. 95% of the greenhouse effect is caused by the water vapour circulating in the cocoon of the ozone layer.
In fact its been proven that global temperatures have been flat lining since 1998, and are no longer increasing at the predicted rate which most theorists use in the models which caused all the concern in the first place. Some pre 1975 scientists were actually predicting a state of global cooling where the ice-caps would consume us all.
This article summarises most the research quite nicely.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/globalwarming.html
In the same breath, I think its quite important for the human race as a whole to focus on sustainability with regard to our waste materials, as our rubbish litters this planet far too much for our own good, especially in developing countries. A major way of doing this would be to focus heavily on reducing our use of non-recyclable plastics. However with the onset of nuclear fusion being predicted as early as 2050, we will have the power to turn our garbage into usable clean energy and thus solve most of the worlds major sustainability problems in one fell swoop.
The point is that global warming is just a phase in our lifetimes which has already set the human race on an altogether completely different path of sustainability. As far as being a threat to mankind, I think we would only see the effects of it in several hundred years time. Besides I’m pretty sure AIDS is going to reduce the earths 3rd world populations substantially unless it is brought under control, and this will obviously affect the carbon footprint of humanity as a whole. Just a thought.
Posted 10 months agooh SNAP!
Matthew, thank you very much for your intelligent comments – it is always enlightening to hear different opinions from other people, especially those who are obviously so educated on the subject.
Thanks very much!
Posted 10 months agoIm super-pro-environmental-conservation, but extremely-anti-we-didnt-listen-global-warming-we-all-going-to-die-hype for a number of reasons I could probably go on about until I’m blue in the face, but I’ll avoid desecrating your blog with my whinging. The main reason is because I feel it causes mankind as a whole to focus on the wrong outcomes (in my opinion) in favor of so called ‘green development’.
For example developed countries are trying to promote renewable energy sources to developing countries, regardless of the fact that solar and wind power is some of the most expensive on earth. For instance the provided power-per-dollar of these types of energy converters means that solar powered hospitals in rural areas cannot afford to run both their medicine fridges and lights at the same time, so they end up working in the dark anyway.
While its fair to say developed countries should be penalised for their excessive carbon footprints as part of the Kyoto Protocol, its unfair to push these same restrictions on countries where coal power can still play a huge role in bringing the average person cheap and nasty electricity.
However if global warming helps people to realise that the planet isn’t expendable then I’m all for it. We shouldn’t make sustainable development an absolute priority in a world where the majority of people go to bed hungry.
With regard to vegetarianism, apparently because of the fact that every ton of meat takes on average 20 tons of grain to produce, so if the whole world was vegetarian there would be enough food for everyone! But that also means we would be eating lentil stew every night. Not to mention the fact that livestock farting contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect through high excretions of methane. Coupled with the fact that they are cutting down rain forest to make space for cattle farms in the US so that they can satisfy the obesity ‘epidemic’ in the states.
Posted 10 months agoI’m so sorry – I just couldnt make it through either of Matthew thesis’(?).
Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago