Truthful Social Media

Ding.... Ding... Bzzzzz.  Ring Ring Ring RING RING RING!  Social media is here to stay - its been prying its way into our lives, gluing students to their phones, but also has given us a platform to spread our messages.  We are constantly connected, searching for immediate gratification, knowing that everything we could possibly need is at our fingertips.  In some ways it can be like an addiction.

However, social media has the ability to be used for good.  Social media itself isn't making these ethical choices - its up to the owners of the accounts of what to post.  Many post their lives on Facebook... or what we think is their lives.  In reality, when you scroll through someones page all you see is happy photos, or their latest adventure, and the last meal they ate.  This positivity is great - except when it is taken too far.

Many people compare their lives to the ones on Facebook - but they aren't really getting the true picture.  It may look like someone is really livin' it up, but in reality they are holed up at home on the computer all day taking photos specifically to enhance their profile.  When they compare lives though, they aren't comparing a friends Facebook directly to their Facebook page which also has many nice photos of good moments, but instead compare their friends Facebook to their real life.

The question then arises, is it our responsibility to show these people that Facebook isn't our true life?  Should there be a disclaimer explaining that what you see on social media is only the very delicately hand picked moments of people's lives?

If we were actually posting our real life on social media, it wouldn't be as popular.  People would become bored - even with the most amazing people in the world.  Could you imagine:

• 6 AM - Just woke up... way too early!
• 7 AM - Breakfast with the cat, mmmm we love porridge
• 8 AM - Stuck in traffic on the way to work... typical.
• 9 AM - Gotta love that water cooler chit chat
• 10 AM - Good time for a smoking break and a selfie
• 12 PM +  (NO ONE WILL READ YOUR POSTS ANYMORE)

That is one of the reasons that people are embellishing their profiles.  I have nothing against someone who doesn't want to post every detail of their life.  I just feel that it might be a consideration to show people that social media is not real life.  In theory we all know that, but when you scroll through the feed you can't help but feel that you are the only one not taking amazing vacations every other week.  

Social media is a great tool to connect with others, it really gives them a window into your life - but be careful what you post.  The tiny embellishments are making a big impact on your social circle - just as your friend's profiles make an impact on you.  Humans can't be amazing 100% of the time - and that is OK.  Hopefully this will lead to a more positive social media experience, with a tad of reality mixed in.

Tell me what you guys think: is it our responsibility to ensure people understand our profiles are just played up pieces of our lives?  Have you ever felt badly because of others seemingly perfect lives on social media? I would love to see your comments below!

What Living in Switzerland has Taught me about Waste

You buy a can of soup, you get a plastic bag to take it home, the receipt dangles inside.  Once you get home you take the lid off and throw away the label.  After you are finished cooking the soup you either recycle the can or toss it out all together.  What if I told you that this everyday process is the key to sustainability?  Switzerland has mastered it so far - can we?

Montreux, Switzerland in the Fog

I have been living in Switzerland for the past few years for university - and it has completely changed my ideas of what being sustainable means.  I used to think sustainability was all about recycling and repurposing old materials.  However, here in Switzerland, I realized that the key to sustainability isn't how to reuse products; but instead,  how to reduce the amount of things we consume.  The key method Switzerland uses to impose this restriction is through their trash collection system, and the laws governing it.

Depending on which canton you live in there are many different regulations on trash that you create.  I live in one of the more relaxed cantons, Valais, however certain cantons like Zurich have such high taxes on trash that people actively try to reduce waste before it even comes into their homes.  There have been stories of people unpacking products in stores so that they don't have to pay for the waste that the packaging creates.  This in turn influences the stores to sell products with less packaging which goes back to suppliers who also reconsider the amount of packaging they use for all of their products - and the cycle continues.

Dragon recycling bin in Montreux, Switzerland

Honestly, after seeing how much a trash bag costs in Nyon, Switzerland - I ONLY want to recycle and find a way to make each and every piece of trash fit those standards just so I'm not breaking my bank.  This seems slightly harsh by mandating it by law - but it is effective.  If people weren't motivating themselves, this is the one of the best ways to wake people up to the realities of how much we waste on a daily basis.  The great thing is that they aren't imposing limits on the trash - they are just making waste a financial burden.  Which, in my opinion it rightly should be a financial burden because what are we doing when we throw stuff into landfills?  We are damaging the environment... so wouldn't it be nice if this extra money to pay for trash bags went to clean up the mess we made? It only seems fair.

Trash isn't the only way that Switzerland has made an impact on sustainability practices, but this is one of the most well regulated systems I've seen so far.  I hope to see it expand so that more people are reducing not just recycling.  If you would like to read more in detail about this trash system or what we in Switzerland call the trash police this is a very good article detailing the system - in a very satirical way: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-04/swiss-garbage-police-irk-foreigners-reeling-after-vote

Don't forget, it's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  There is a reason reduce comes first!  Lets use Switzerland as an example and see how much we really waste this month.  What do you think about the laws? Would the amount you waste per month break your bank?

On Speaking Up!

You are just sitting there, minding your own business when you hear it.  You feel uneasy inside but at the same time the adrenaline is rushing to keep you pinned to your seat.  The pain won't stop, yet you want to show it who's boss.  You finally get up the courage to stand up for yourself when - it's over...

This was me for most of my life.  Letting things slide by because I rather endure the pain instead of to break the peace.  This might seem shocking to those of you that know me as I am a quite outspoken person.  However, when it comes to things that truly bother me to the core - in person I rather just keep my mouth shut.

This all changed yesterday in the funiculaire to school.  I was sitting down minding my own business trying to mentally prepare myself for class at 8am.  Typically the ride down is pretty calm and quiet since most people are in need of coffee just as much as I was.  Yesterday was different though.  Yesterday there was a group of girls spouting off racist comments, not just jokes but flat out insults to people.  I won't repeat them here just due to how rude they were.  Unfortunately the two girls sitting right next to me were of the same race they were targeting.  They just looked at me - as if it was my duty to stand up to them.  I was getting flushed and angry and I didn't want to yell at them or else I'd be sinking to their level.

Finally, the funiculaire got to the school and I got off first.  I walked a little thinking - nah, it's ok it's none of my business.  Then I saw the girl who was sitting next to me... just looking at me.  I slowed down my pace and made sure the girls walked up to me.  I had no idea what to say - I didn't even know who they were.  It reminded me of the show "what would you do"; this time I really had to do something!  So, I said "Hi, you girls might not know me but I just wanted to tell you that what you were saying back there might have been offensive to some people". 

I was cool and collected, making sure not to let my emotions get the best of me.  They looked confused and then they realized what I was talking about.  They said in a shocked tone, "no no, you don't get it - it was just a joke just chill out". 

 I nodded my head and agreed, not that it was a joke but that maybe they thought it was a joke.  I assured them however that it was indeed offensive and that they were being very loud.  I explained about the two girls sitting next two me, and they started to look embarrassed.  They hopefully started to realize that certain things should never be said - no matter how "funny" you think it is.

I wished them a good day and walked off.  I will never know if the message sank in or not, but hopefully they will remember my demeanor.  I wasn't yelling so they could get angry, I was just calmly asking them to rethink their choices.  Isn't that our duty to society?  We all have free speech but don't we also have the right to stand up for what we believe in?  

Tell me what you guys think - what would you do?  Speak up or stay quiet?

Are you Hard Core?

What do you think of as hard core?  Bruce Willis?  The Borne Ultimatum?  007?  Not in my books!  If you want to be hard core you have the chance to do so today! No need for motorcycles, guns, or spy devices! Just an apple, a camera, and a simple Facebook post.

This simple action can make a huge difference in a starving child's life and spreads awareness throughout your community about the reality of food waste.  In the new Hard Core Challenge that I have created one must eat an entire apple - including the core, on camera and then nominate 3 friends to do the same.  If they are able to eat the whole core they become part of the Hard Core Club and can nominate 3 more friends - if not they must donate to the Hard Core Club's Action Against Hunger Page which uses the money to send food to starving children.  If you are constantly wasting food like this its the least you could do.

About 1/3 of the apple goes wasted when you toss out the core - that's the same amount of food that is edible that gets thrown out before anyone has a chance to eat it.  Most of this food is just deemed "ugly" or "unusual" so it never even makes it to the supermarket shelves - which is a shame.  Its the same with the simple apple core; there is no reason not to eat it - so why do we throw it out? It looks weird?

If we can spread this awareness to our communities and help those who are starving from lack of food - we will be making a huge change.  So, I want to challenge you to be HARD CORE!  I want to see what you can do to make a difference in your community.  Film yourself, nominate some friends, and see how far your reach can expand.  If you decide to take me up on the challenge please post this note on the bottom of your video so people will know where to donate:

"You have been nominated for the Hard Core Club Challenge! To fight food waste and hunger you have 24 hours to film yourself eating an apple core.  If you fail you must donate to Action Against Hunger here: https://my.actionagainsthunger.org/fundraise?fcid=582920  Thank you very much for your participation!  --The Hard Core Club (Les Roches Green Club)"

I look forward to seeing all of your videos - and take a look at mine! Lets see how Hard Core this Earth can be!

When Responsibility is EXPECTED!

Many companies are making efforts to be environmental stewards and generally responsible through their business decisions.  However, can they afford to do anything less?  I've spoken to a few large companies CSR representatives and recently they have explained that helping the community isn't something they do as an extra to boost their reputation.  These days if anything not helping would deteriorate their reputations.  Communities now EXPECT these big companies to help schools, volunteer, donate and the list goes on.  Although I believe that businesses should do as much as they can to help the community (so long as it doesn't take away from their product) - I am interested in why communities are looking to big business to solve their problems.

We belong to a society that demands constant growth and can't tolerate slow down or decline - thus when problems do arise the first solution is to fix the problem immediately without really finding out what the problem was to begin with.  There are no gradual solutions anymore, people don't put back the puzzle piece by piece - many look to buy a whole new puzzle.  In my opinion this is why people look to businesses to help the community.  It is because companies are the only ones with such big numbers, so much money, so much capacity that they can solve these problems in one go - with no reflection on the problem.  They can alleviate the issues without doing much but writing out a large check. However, is that really what we need as a community?

Developing a stronger more resilient community to fight your own problems.

Instead of demanding that one large player gives up a lot to solve a problem "or else" why not bond together as a community and build ourselves again from the ground up?  This type of structure is much stronger because all the links together makes it harder for something to take the community down again.  A quickly and cheaply built building would come tumbling down after an earthquake.  The new community which is more tied together and closer through problem solving would act as the steel bracing within the building keeping it sturdy in the face of disaster.

Again, I am not saying these companies shouldn't help out - I just think communities need to find a way to balance out their demands.  Most small problems can be worked out internally if you really work hard.  However, you would want these companies to help out when you need incomprehensible amount of support such as a natural disaster.  If we stop demanding something for nothing and threatening to stop being customers due to simple problems - bigger businesses would be more willing to help when something truly important comes up.

Nothing should be EXPECTED if you don't expect it from yourself.  If you don't expect yourself to help when every little thing comes up why do you expect it of a business?  Responsibility is something that we should all WANT to do because its the right thing.

Knitting with Plastic Bags - the Final Product

As you might have read in my previous posts about plastic bags, I took on a mission to knit a mat for the homeless out of plastic bags.  Clearly I didn't think of how many hours it would take me to create a 3 foot by 6 foot piece of knitted plastic fabric, but it definitely took me longer than I thought.  I must have knitted for a good 12 or 13 hours and only got one foot done.  Not to mention how difficult it was to knit something so long - the stitches were truly forced onto my needles not leaving an inch to spare.

In hind sight I really should have woven this material or crocheted (if I knew how) because of how time consuming it is.  None the less the product is finished... well not so much finished as re-purposed. In the end I managed to get three feet across and two and a half feet down - before I had to leave to go off to school.  Unfortunately I couldn't continue knitting at school since there really isn't much of a problem with homelessness there as there is here in California.

So, instead of chucking all of my hard work in the bin, I decided to turn it into a bag.  When I see homeless people around here it seems they are always looking for bags to carry their supplies and belongings around - so to make it easier for them this works to keep their stuff dry and is also extremely durable and flexible.

I decided to take the rectangle and fold it up and weave in some of the plastic yarn I made to tie it shut at the bottom and on the side.  Then I needed something to carry it with so I created a long strap about 6 stitches wide so it is durable.

To test it out I went to the grocery store with it so that I didn't have to take even more plastic bags home.  Everyone who saw it couldn't take their eyes off of it - they even asked if they could buy one off of me.  I was a bit shocked to see how many people liked it since it's just made out of plastic bags.  The store clerks really appreciated that they could even pick out which bags were from their store.

I still fully intend to give this to a homeless person to use as they have a lot to deal with this winter season here in California.  Especially while they suffer through El Nino.  However, I am thinking that when  I return if people are still not using reusable grocery bags I might as well start making these bags for people. That way they get something cute, fun, and ethical for their shopping trips.

If you are interested in the details of the knitting process watch my tutorial video here: https://youtu.be/FfHSk75-AsE

Getting Back to Basics - 3 R's

Recycling seems to be the buzz word these days within households, businesses, and communities - which is great!  I am so proud of the efforts people are making to try and improve the Earth by trying to recycle products they would normally just toss in the trash.  This is the way we are going to start to make the difference the world needs to continue surviving.  The other day I went to Kean coffee shop and saw what an amazing job they were doing being environmental stewards, not because they had recycling bins but because they took it one step further.  They took an average coffee sleeve and put an even larger impact on it than just making it out of recycled materials or asking people to recycle them when their coffee was finished.  No - they asked them to REUSE this simple product.

If you look back at the 3 R's its:

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle

Recycling has always come last because it's the slower of the 3 to make a difference.  Just by taking this 1 step up the ladder made such a difference in energy use and true impact they are making on the environment.  Although it might be a bit complicated for a company to implement a "reduction" program as they want their products to be bought - inspiring people to reuse parts of their product is a great deal more efficient.

These coffee sleeves aren't destroyed like a paper coffee cup after 1 use, there is no mold there is no bacteria really and it never touches the coffee so why not reuse it?  By reusing it you are either saving it from going to the landfill where it just adds to our growing trash problem as it struggles to decompose; or it goes to be recycled where it takes time and energy to turn the paper into something else.  I've never seen another company try and work their way up the ladder of the 3R's but Kean coffee shop is doing it right!

It really makes me think what else could be reused instead of simply recycled, are there more things that I am overlooking as I sort out my waste?  Its great food for thought, what do you think could be better reused than recycled?  Let me know in the comment section below!