Election Year Garbage - How Are You Dealing?

This election cycle seems like it has gone on forever. Kicking off in 2006 it has drug on and on and the rhetoric passed ankle deep quite a while ago. As the networks dig up surrogates with dubious or no connection to the campaigns to fill the time slots the commentary is rapidly becoming ludicrous in some of the attempts to score points. The latest person to join the fray, Ms Palin, and the constant drip of fragmentary information, coupled with her unwillingness to face questions, has sent created such a maelstrom of contradictory information that it would be amusing if it wasn't so serious. While the left speculates and the right ignores the historical record the amount of garbage being produced is astounding.

So with all this crap abounding what is one to do? We decided to counter the shit-storm of crap by reducing the amount of crap we produce. Instead of a carbon off-set a kind of politician off-set.

The first thing we did was start recycling. OK, we're a little late to this particular party but every time we got one of those fun canisters for the pick-up from Waste Management it got stolen. Now that the neighbourhood is a bit more gentrified and other people on the street haven't had theirs stolen we went ahead and ordered a new bin.

Now while the bin hasn't arrived we've already started the process of bagging up cans, glass, and plastic so we will be ready the moment arrives. A reduction large enough for me to be able to watch an hour of MSNBC or ten minutes of Fox Noise each morning with a clear conscience.

The other thing we decided to do was to take part in the city's composting scheme.

So, in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Hannah, I sent my pregnant wife off to wait in the rain and procure some subsidized compost containers. One for us, one for a friend and one for a birthday present. The line at Willow Lawn was long but they moved very quickly. She still got soaked.

Saturday afternoon saw me enjoying a glass of wine and reading up on what can and cannot go it the composter and all sorts of handy hints. It should be interesting to see what I can do in my yard if the plants are in soil rather than Virginia clay (and in our case contaminated with spilled diesel from an inconsiderate neighbour...).

At the end of the weekend I took a peek into our large city trash canister. We had reduced the amount of crap we produce by over 50%. Quite an accomplishment with only minimal effort on our part. Now I can watch a full episode of Keith Olbermann in the evenings, or five minutes of Bill O.

Now, with the new baby on the way, just need to find disposable diapers that can go into a composter... Probably wishful thinking on my part.