Day 9 of Daily Footprint Project, and still nothing to report in the ‘Non Food Shopping’ area. Pretty amazing, given that only a few months ago, I was still writing about my frequent fashion expeditions to Target and Anthropologie.
You see, I no longer have the time, nor the desire to shop. My green conscience did not even need to kick in. The urge left me, just like that. Replaced instead by a much bigger passion. The La Marguerite blog has filled up my life, leaving no room for extraneous activities.
I would like to talk about the personal vacuum. There is this space inside, that we all have, and that we need to fill up until it becomes full. Ful-fill-ment. I never realized the true meaning of the word, until now. If we are fortunate enough to find a passion, like I am with this new vocation as an environmentalist, the passion will transform our life, into a meaningful adventure, and we will experience that fullness, that is so essential to our well being.
What happens when the vacuum stays empty for too long? It feels just like that, empty. And it drives us to look outside for fillers. This has been an ongoing thread in my blog, starting with ‘The King of Buthan’, and more recently, in ‘The World Needs Some of That Gypsy Spirit‘. Al Gore, during his interview for the Nobel Peace Prize, qualified the climate crisis, as ‘a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity’. I would like to add, that part of the solution to that challenge, is also of a spiritual nature. By spiritual, I mean the universal human need to transcend one’s condition with extra-ordinary meaning. A love so great that it literally takes our breath away.
Daily Footprint Project Daily Log Day #9 Water personal: flush toilet 2 wash face 2 brush teeth 2 wash hands 4 two showers at the gym mom: communal: rinse dishes wash veggies water for soup Electricity/gas personal: electric toothbrush 2 microwave tea 4’ microwave oatmeal 4’ laptop on all day mom: cook cream of wheat communal: lights Food personal: oatmeal with organic milk organic persimmon tea organic milk mom: cream of wheat with organic milk mango tango juice from Odwalla communal: organic soup with leftover chicken and veggies organic salad wild fish Waste personal: toilet paper sheets of paper mom: communal: vegetable peelings 3 newspaper plastic wrappers Recycling personal: mom: communal: 2 papers milk bottle junk mail Transportation personal: drive to appointment, stopped by grocery on way back 5 miles drive to gym 6 miles mom: communal: Non food shopping personal: mom: communal:
La Marguerite 
I’ve been enjoying your Daily Footprint Project. Recently, I’ve been conducting similar audits into my own routines Isn’t it amazing just by the very act of observing one’s behavior in a certain context, it instantly changes? Heisenberg strikes again.
There is an interesting dichotomy between your day #9 and day #10 posts. Your newfound passion and fulfillment is a sufficient supplement for certain pleasures and conveniences that you once enjoyed, but sometimes isn’t quite enough to mask enormous inconvenience. As I transition my lifestyle, I am grappling with this as well.
I’m not quite certain how to deal with these trade-offs yet except to do as you’re doing: systematic identification to help identify the root causes…
Anyway, bravo on the blog! Enjoying it muchly.
Thanks Mac.
Like you, I am often left with more questions than answers, and a few insights to share. As they say, it’s the process that counts.
Although, in this case, we need to worry about solutions fast. And I do feel an urgency, a need to translate my reflections into action.
Not just on a personal level, but also, in terms of strategies to influence consumer behaviors in a more sustainable direction.
I look forward to hearing more about your journey along the greener path.
I am quite enthused to see that I am not the only one who loves the earth this passionately. No one seems to understand how important and vital the earth is. We shouldn’t do it for ourselves; we should do it for this gorgeous planet that shelters and feeds us, the planet we call home. Nothing can replace nature, and we are a part of the world. We are nature, nothing more or less. Once people can accept that fact, we shall be able to live in peace and harmony with the earth, as our ancestors once did.
I am 13 years old and would like to thank you for caring, because you decide the fate of the world I grow up in.