The Corrigan Encore

When my generation gets a tear in their jeans or a stubborn stain on the sweatshirt more often than not that item of clothing is discarded and a new one purchased. Last year the average American disposed of 81.5 lbs of clothes! The idea of clothes that are thrown away is called fast fashion. The movie “The True Cost” is a documentary that lays out the fast fashion trend and just how damaging this is for the world.

Basically I can throw away and buy new clothes because I have never paid the true cost of fashion. My family and I ate at a casual dining chain restaurant and the portions were insane. We had way more food on our plates than we could eat. The price for the food didn’t break the bank either and it probably should’ve (it was a lot of food).

There was a store that opened in downtown Amsterdam by a dutch non profit and the store had two price tags on the products. One was the market value and the other was the real cost. The real cost was markedly higher than market cost. How does this happen? There are all kinds of reasons we do not pay the true cost of something upfront. Some commodity costs ares subsidized other costs are pushed to other parties however, if you believe in synchronicity or the principle of correspondence you understand that everything is connected and we collectively pay the true price for consumption over time.

What can we do then? simply put consume less and consume responsibly. Instead of throwing out a ripped pair of jeans consider mending them or having them mended. At a restaurant that serves more food than you can consume consider ordering less or splitting a meal.

Being a responsible consumer can go a long way but we must also educate ourselves. I had no idea textile waste was such a large problem. I will never throw away a pair of clothing again. There are places to donate clothes and ways to repurpose the clothes too. But you have to educate yourself.

Lets all be responsible educated and respectful.

I am sending all the positive that I can muster to this writer. Very soon the waves will be off the hook and you will ride the point break.

Anyone older than a New York minute knows that bad stuff happens seems to happen in waves. There’s a year or three where everything goes ass-over-teakettle: skin cancer, fractured ankle, job loss, death of a beloved pet, divorce, heat wave/drought/flash flood, new wrinkles that you think are from sleeping hard on a creased pillowcase but […]

December 2022: Waves — the Art of Practice

Before my wife and I were married we spent some time together on a series of dates. One of my most favorite and memorable dates during that time involved a trip on a historic sloop on the Savannah river. I grew up on a great lake around boats however my family wasn’t really a sailing one so I had no idea what to expect.

The captain of the sloop let us know that this boat was a historic landmark and in keeping with tradition we the sailors would all work together and raise the sail manually. Everyone grabbed ropes where they could and we pulled. Now we had to pull together to get this very heavy sail raised. The sail we raised together was the main sail. Without this mainsail our journey would’ve been short.

Working together helping each other out raising that sail really resonated with me.

“We rise by lifting others.”

Robert Ingersoll

In the book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human future in Space, Car Sagan speaks to the collective human experience on earth and our need and responsibility to each other.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

We have to help respect and if we want to move forward love each other. Our ancestors found ways to work together and get the hypothetical mainsail lifted now we have to keep it up and down wind. We can do tis but we must do this together.

Imagine being an indigenous person of the North American continent. Ok, now imagine living in the year 1000 CE. How do you imagine life? Did you imagine that you would be trading with Vikings like Leif Erickson? Well, there is proof that you would have traded with Leif and his clan.

Now let’s continue this mental exercise. Imagine you fall asleep for 492 years and wake up. Now you are about to trade with Christopher Columbus. What is different about this trading? Well the Europeans trading is different than that with those from Iceland. The Europeans want more, they want gold, your food and the land that you are standing on.

Ok two more thought exercises and we are done. Imagine that you fall asleep for 134 years. It is now 1626 and the vikings are gone they now longer trade with you but the Europeans stuck around because they saw possibility in the land that you live on. The land they are interested in right now is an island towards the north of the continent the island will be named Manhattan. The Europeans offer you money to buy the island and the water around the island. This concept is strange to you because the land is not owned by anyone it is for everyone and must be cared for or it will not help everyone. You do not acquiesce and the Europeans come and began to destroy the land your homes and your people.

Last jump for you is 397 years. You escape the European barbarians fall asleep for 397 years and awake in 2023 CE. The world has changed almost everywhere. The land is not hospitable for live as it once was. There is no room to roam, and the large animals do not lie on the island anymore. Growing crops seem impossible and there are places that are not cave that have no sunlight. The Eurpeans have taken paradise and made it hell.

Iceland is number 2 in countries that are considered the best stewards of the planet. The United States ranked 173 in taking care of the planet. I can’t help but think that the reason the United States is doing such a poor job with caring for the planet stems from the way this country was founded or better put stolen.

Iceland home of Leif Erickson has a different relationship with people and land. In Iceland there is the right to roam. The right to roam does not exist in the United States. The people of Iceland from all the way back in 1000 ce seem to understand that land is not something to be bought sold and destroyed but something to respect share and cultivate.

Iceland ranks 4 for strong community and happiness, The United States ranks 15th in happiness.

Priorities in the United States must shift away from the self destructive ones that they were founded in and currently are isf we ever want to be a happy healthy good society.

We must collectively prioritize; community, land stewardship, people , family and equality, over a desire to become “wealthy”. We have become a country that is rich in dollars but poor in sense.

I remember asking my mom many times if the milk in the refrigerator was still good. Every time I would ask I would be answered with the same thing go ahead and smell it. Does it smell bad? When I got older I realize that milk cartons and jugs had best if used by dates on them. This was great no more smelling of milk and guessing.

Here in the United States of America our grocery stores have packaged food and all that packaged food has dates on it and up until three years ago I thought hat these dates were expiration dates. Turns out the dates represent freshness not food safety.

I listened to a podcast that described the process for creating the freshness dates. Grocery stores essentially created the freshness dates based on how fresh food tasted at different times on the shelves when the food tasted less fresh, they would create a date. So nt a safety thing at all. In aNPR podcast, an expert on food safety was interviewed about food safety and dates .

GONZALEZ: Emily says sometimes dates do matter but on, like, 1% of the food in stores. She says, you do want to pay attention to the dates on things that are in the prepared food section, like egg salad, deli meat, also unpasteurized milk and cheese, raw fish, think things we tell pregnant people not to eat. For everything else, Emily has one simple rule, use the smell and taste test.

BROAD LEIB: Take a pause. Look at the food. Smell it, taste it. You would know. You would, you know, be able to smell. Or if you took a tiny sip and the milk tasted bad, it would be apparent.

GONZALEZ: The smell test or the taste test. That’s it. That’s the rule. Just use your senses. Except sometimes the government literally doesn’t let you.

NPR podcast interview

I have heard and used the word sniff test many times since my mom introduced the sniff test to me. The sniff test albeit informan is an important test. We are faced with all kinds of situations everyday and some of thes situations can seem a little shaky or we maybe unsure about. What should we do? Use common sense and see if the situation passes that sniff test. This can be applied to all parts of our lives. Often there are things that are legal but totally immoral. A good sniff test will alert of us these things and we can avoid them.

Our common sense for food and life is often better than the freshness dates or the expert opinions. Often common sense will lead s to the same or near the expert opinion but if our refrigerator is not as cold as the supermarkets the sniff test and common sense approach may tell us that he milk is not as good in 12 days not the 14 on the tag.

We would all live healthier fuller lives if we learned to rely on common sense and expert opinions.

There is a war in the Ukraine right now. Russia has through force annexed parts of the country. Because of this war and illegal annexation, The areas are attracting a lot of attention in the form of media. The other day I was listening to a reporter interview someone who was leaving a grocery store in a territory that was annexed by Russia then reclaimed by the Ukraine government. The person had no idea and was just grateful that his water worked again. This whole exchange got me thinking about leadership. I came to the conclusion that leadership is at best ceremonial.

In the UK there is a royal family, this royal family has the leadership role in title only. The royal family in the UK is ceremonial at best and has no real power over the citizens. When I begin to consider the power of leaders I can’t help but think about the term consent based leadership. In consent based leadership everyone is a leader because everyone is capable of making the right decisions. What then makes someone capable of making the right decisions? Education is what makes us capable. So instead of leaders maybe we should fill society with teachers…

Now why do people who know what the right thing to do is still not do that right thing? The reasons are not that simple, some people are in places where they cannot do the right thing. Some people are not properly motivated to do the right thing. In these instances people need changes in their situations and motivation not leadership. What happens when someone doesn’t do the right thing? Well depends on the severity of the situation. If a person is a farmer and they do not plant a crop at the right time there will not be a harvest. Then society will need to eat what is grown in the wild. Enforcement not leadership then is needed when someone does not do the right thing. Enforcement that is in accordance to the severity of the crime. The farmer missing harvest by a day should not be penalized as severely as a farmer who misses harvest by a year.

Why am I harping on this no need for leaders string? Well I am doing this because I have not seen actions of even good leaders do more harm than help.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Lao Tzu

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

Bill Gates

Leaders may not be obsolete just yet but right now the leader follower model is dead and organizations that use this model are dying. So how can we prepare ourselves for the upcoming leader to leader work place? We should educate ourselves, never stop learning. We should motivate ourselves, set some goals for yourself with deadlines (new year is coming up what a great time to do this). Finally we should believe in ourselves you don’t need a leader because you are a leader you can do this!

A great post by an amazing writer, on the importance of taking a break!! a wonderful read! Love this post.

Ah, vacation. If the picture above didn’t give you a hint, my wife and I just returned from two weeks in Spain. We visited Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid. We wore out our feet, increased our waistlines (I gained 8 pounds), and created many memories. It has been three years since my wife and I took […]

Churros, Chocolate, and Clarity — Author Scott Austin Tirrell