"Do I dare," and "Do I Dare...Disturb the universe?
While working with my dad, I have a tendency to get a little droopy in the shoulders. I can tell I'm pulling an unhappy face, and I try to straighten up.
The truth is I love working with my dad. I love the things I learn to do for myself, the knowledge he shares with me, the visible difference we make in people's homes. I love feeling like I made someone's home better, their day better, each night. It makes dinner taste better, working that hard for people.
The other truth is I go into a bit of a panic each time I turn the water on or spray chemicals or even see a Roundup/Roundup Ready, I want to cry. He doesn't have a choice. It's what they give him, because it's what their parents gave him, because it's what farmers were convinced to trust.
Now how do we struggle against that system?
Our country is increasingly at risk for a water crisis. I sink into a panic, drowning in the rising level of water in our buckets that we pour onto garage floors for annual cleanings. This is what they ask for. This, this and our dandelion-free lawns, is what we've been taught, because when the tap turns, the water flows.
The water is flowing away from us now, and I'm making several promises to myself. I encourage you to do the same...
- Shower. It saves, mostly.
- Use hand sanitizer as much as possible. It's still a long process to make the sanitizer, but that's no difference than the soap you'd use to wash your hands.
- Pull weeds. Stop. Spraying. Them. Or, just learn how to plant things and work with "weeds." Grass is not sustainable. Here are a few other tips.
- Install rain barrels. Understand how to use graywater.
- Put potted plants out into rain instead of leaving them on porches. They'll make it. They grew in nature at some point, right?
- Imagine what would happen if you couldn't water your lawn, if you turn on the tap to a dry gurgle, if you walked for water, if you walked for water for your entire family for an entire day.
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