I spent alot of time today getting excited about a few things...
First, I was glued to The Sartorialist blog (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) for a while oogling the lovely Spring-y fashion shots from around the world. That man has such an amazing eye for lovely, fresh, original details.
Secondly, I became enamored of little red worms!!! They can live in a little bin right in your kitchen and eat your food scraps and make great potting soil! AMAZING. (http://www.lesecologycenter.org/les_frames.html) I cannot wait to get back to the States and buy a pound of the little buggers.
So. Is that a contradiction? Am I a huge hypocrite because I love fashion and aesthetic beauty... but ALSO want to save the world and decrease my environmental footprint as much as possible?
I do not think so. I think it's perfectly normal. Why should we have to choose between being a tree-hugging hippy or a swank Chanel-wearing lady? We DON'T! That's the beauty of living in the twentieth century. The only thing we don't have a choice in is being personally responsible for the earth. We must make little choices to slow down (and eventually reverse) the horrid damage our race has inflicted upon the globe. I, myself, am guilty of not always making the right choices. But, I am resolute in my desire to stop being so damn lazy. So, I hereby declare to do my part to save the planet. In my quest I resolve to:
1. Stop using plastic bags when shopping... I now have a cute linen tote that folds up nice and small.
2. Buy fluorescent/CFL (I think?) bulbs.
3. Buy large chunks of cheese, local, unpackaged deli meats, and, generally, avoid packaged food.
4. Actually USE my Nalegene!
5. COMPOST à la red worms.
6. Buy more second-hand clothes. PLUS, then they're more original and personal.
7. Eat less meat, even though I really eat very little.
8. Try to buy local vegetables (in Poland there's not need to distinguish between organic and conventional since they don't practice massive, ravaging agriculture like in the U.S.... this is just to support local farmers who desperately need it).
That's a list of such SIMPLE things I can do (ANYONE can do them too!) to reduce my negative impact on the world. It just requires a wee bit more energy, a consciousness in my consumption habits, and some imagination. PUL-EEEESE try to make a similar list. I'll update it as I think of more ideas...
10 April 2007
Sri Lanka, Florence, Auschwitz... Close but no cigar.
Well. I have had quite a time lately. I cannot believe that the past 8 days have just FLOWN past! Please, allow me to recap.
I intern as a research assistant for a television show... It is called Korespondent and is on Telewizja Polska 2 (a Polish, government-funded channel). Essentially, the show is a documentary program investigating conflict situtations throughout the world. I, somehow, ended up with this gig through a friend. For the past month I hadn't gotten to see much dramatic, chaotic, newroom action... 'til last Monday. I arrived at work at my normal time (around 11 am) to find no one in the office other than the head journalist, who is RARELY there. One of the producers was in the U.S. doing work for her master's thesis and the other tore her ACL and was in the hospital for three days. So, he was in a slight panic and proceeded to explain to me that it was crunch time because the planned trip to Pakistan to investigate the Belochistan nation was cancelled and they HAD to get a trip together for April 28th. The three options were Sierra Leone (diamond conflict), Nigeria (easy contact there, always a story), or Sri Lanka. I told him that it's time he venture a bit out of his 'comfort' zone (aka extensive travel in Africa and the Middle East... such COMFORTABLE places) and I would do some seriosu investigation into Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers.
Well. I don't want to give away my trade secrets... but let's just say that I found us a fixer (someone on the ground to translate and do logistics planning) and got our visa information rolling (COMPLEX since they are travelling as journalists). OKOKOK. Stop baying "How? How?" and poking and prodding! hahahaha. I, literally, just used google to find news articles about the Tamil, found names of reporters, emailed them or googled them and called everywhere I could think of. That meant to the BBC press office in London, who redirected me to the press office in Delhi, who then gave me a CELL NUMBER to the BBC coordinator in Colombo who is oh-so-nice and helpful! I also emailed the senior analyst at the International Crisis Group to see if he could suggest any potential fixers, got an immediate, positive response, and I took off running! Not only that, but I googled the name of the Norwegian Minister of International Development that is brokering the peace deal between the Sri Lankans and the Tamil and somehow got the CELL NUMBER for his press contact. I called some random number, got an answering machine in Norwegian, and hung up. Two minutes later, the phone rang and it was this man, on vacation and returning my call! He was so helpful and gave me names and numbers as well and offered an interview with the Norwegian Minister. HONESTLY. I was on Cloud Nine after two days of this craziness. I cannot even begin to explain the adrenaline rush that comes with not knowing how to even approach such a project, randomly plugging words into google, and actually getting helpful, eager responses! If only the people I spoke with knew I was a 20-year-old undergrad... or, scratch that, THANK GOD they didn't know! I would have gotten NOWHERE.
So. That happened.... is still happening...
Thursday, my great high school friend was supposed to arrive in Warsaw from Bologna. She is studying in Florence for the semester. Rather, I should say that she is using a unversity exchange program as an excuse to travel and see as much of Europe as humanely possible and still pass classes. Ok, back on track... I sign onto the internet to recieve a frantic email saying that she missed her plane. An not because she was a minute late to check in (cheap-o airlines are not so lenient about that) but because she simply didn't wake up. WTF. But. It happened and she was still determined to come visit me in Poland. We had plans to go to Krakow, Auschwitz, spend Easter with my family, then to meet her Polish relatives for the first time. So, she bought a spendy last minute ticket and we met in Krakow on Friday. Lovely city, lovely time... I just LOVE Krakow.
Then, on Saturday, we decided to spend the whole day at Auschwitz. But, that is a topic for another blog. I was mostly just so excited about my work. I WAS ACTUALLY A MOVER-AND-SHAKER! Ha. Amazing. The power of the internet, telephone, and a resourceful brain. Incredible.
I intern as a research assistant for a television show... It is called Korespondent and is on Telewizja Polska 2 (a Polish, government-funded channel). Essentially, the show is a documentary program investigating conflict situtations throughout the world. I, somehow, ended up with this gig through a friend. For the past month I hadn't gotten to see much dramatic, chaotic, newroom action... 'til last Monday. I arrived at work at my normal time (around 11 am) to find no one in the office other than the head journalist, who is RARELY there. One of the producers was in the U.S. doing work for her master's thesis and the other tore her ACL and was in the hospital for three days. So, he was in a slight panic and proceeded to explain to me that it was crunch time because the planned trip to Pakistan to investigate the Belochistan nation was cancelled and they HAD to get a trip together for April 28th. The three options were Sierra Leone (diamond conflict), Nigeria (easy contact there, always a story), or Sri Lanka. I told him that it's time he venture a bit out of his 'comfort' zone (aka extensive travel in Africa and the Middle East... such COMFORTABLE places) and I would do some seriosu investigation into Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers.
Well. I don't want to give away my trade secrets... but let's just say that I found us a fixer (someone on the ground to translate and do logistics planning) and got our visa information rolling (COMPLEX since they are travelling as journalists). OKOKOK. Stop baying "How? How?" and poking and prodding! hahahaha. I, literally, just used google to find news articles about the Tamil, found names of reporters, emailed them or googled them and called everywhere I could think of. That meant to the BBC press office in London, who redirected me to the press office in Delhi, who then gave me a CELL NUMBER to the BBC coordinator in Colombo who is oh-so-nice and helpful! I also emailed the senior analyst at the International Crisis Group to see if he could suggest any potential fixers, got an immediate, positive response, and I took off running! Not only that, but I googled the name of the Norwegian Minister of International Development that is brokering the peace deal between the Sri Lankans and the Tamil and somehow got the CELL NUMBER for his press contact. I called some random number, got an answering machine in Norwegian, and hung up. Two minutes later, the phone rang and it was this man, on vacation and returning my call! He was so helpful and gave me names and numbers as well and offered an interview with the Norwegian Minister. HONESTLY. I was on Cloud Nine after two days of this craziness. I cannot even begin to explain the adrenaline rush that comes with not knowing how to even approach such a project, randomly plugging words into google, and actually getting helpful, eager responses! If only the people I spoke with knew I was a 20-year-old undergrad... or, scratch that, THANK GOD they didn't know! I would have gotten NOWHERE.
So. That happened.... is still happening...
Thursday, my great high school friend was supposed to arrive in Warsaw from Bologna. She is studying in Florence for the semester. Rather, I should say that she is using a unversity exchange program as an excuse to travel and see as much of Europe as humanely possible and still pass classes. Ok, back on track... I sign onto the internet to recieve a frantic email saying that she missed her plane. An not because she was a minute late to check in (cheap-o airlines are not so lenient about that) but because she simply didn't wake up. WTF. But. It happened and she was still determined to come visit me in Poland. We had plans to go to Krakow, Auschwitz, spend Easter with my family, then to meet her Polish relatives for the first time. So, she bought a spendy last minute ticket and we met in Krakow on Friday. Lovely city, lovely time... I just LOVE Krakow.
Then, on Saturday, we decided to spend the whole day at Auschwitz. But, that is a topic for another blog. I was mostly just so excited about my work. I WAS ACTUALLY A MOVER-AND-SHAKER! Ha. Amazing. The power of the internet, telephone, and a resourceful brain. Incredible.
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