CV/Eco-Culture and Guilt

Eco-Culture and Guilt

By C.S. GILBERT

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Any of us growing up in a religion buttressed (actually, accidentally or anecdotally) by guilt, primarily in my experience Judaism and Roman Catholicism, know there are heaps of things to feel guilty about. Mothers. Indulgences. Material possessions. Sex. You name it — reference specifically the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins.

Soooo. . . where does vegetarianism and recycling fit in?

There are reasonable, intellectual, ethical motivations to decline to eat meat and to properly dispose of, repurpose and/or reuse no longer needed objects, in opposition to piling up landfill or polluting the air with incineration. However, so many of the disposables in our lives were created, in fact, to facilitate our “modern way of life”—supermarkets instead of individual greengrocers and butchers, communication technology instead of messengers on foot or horseback (as Wells Fargo), refrigeration, heat, light, machines that do everything for us except conceive babies (and I think they’re working on that).

How much can we reuse/repurpose/recycle and still maintain the relative ease of our daily lives in 2014? Quite a lot, it turns out.

I still eat meat occasionally, but I also recycle, compost and try to conserve energy and water. Before seeing No Impact Man at the recent Key West Film Festival, I would’ve said I ranked pretty high up on the protect-the-environment chain.

Wrong.

I’m not a total bust, but since seeing the film I’ve improved. I may never again buy paper towels; the bottoms cut off too-long T-shirts (presently a bright green one touting Marriage Equality) work perfectly well to sop up spills, clean counters, etc.—and they’re easy to rinse and launder. It’s harder to give up Fausto’s salads in plastic containers for lunch.

Day before yesterday, as I write this, I forgot to bring my tote bags into the supermarket, so (on the advice of a handout offered after the film by our wonderful Florida Keys GLEE) I brought the unbagged groceries to the car in the cart and with trunk open packed up the forgotten cloth-like bags—which may be made of synthetics but are reusable practically forever. “Stop using stupid plastics,” they advise: A fork? A bag to hold a greeting card? A straw? One time use holiday decorations? Just stop it!

And hooray for the City of Marathon, which last week lit a 16-foot, red-bedecked community Christmas tree made entirely of donated local lobster traps. Sponsored by “the many patrons of The Incredible Fruit Stand,” the tree is visible at MM 50 gulfside and funds raised go to scholarships for MHS seniors.

I still feel a little guilty: There’s the hybrid car battery, the iPhone, the recycled-from-previous-grocery-runs but still-plastic trashbasket liners . . . Not everyone I know and love even recycles; apparently the city of Fredericksburg, Va., doesn’t offer their residents that option and seeking out and visiting a distant recycling facility is a bit much to ask of someone who just turned 89 . . . And toilet paper? Let’s not go there, although we did nicely with torn quarter-pages from Life Magazine in Monforte de Lemos, in the province of Lugo, Spain, in 1963, thank you.

Nevertheless. Let’s make supporting eco-culture a resolution for 2015.

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In a more poignant version of recycling, a visiting Kathleen Peace tore the roof off Virgilio’s last week when she was prevailed upon to join Skipper Kripitz and his League of Crafty Musicians, in this case Bubba Lownotes and Chris Thomas. She was channeling Janis Joplin, only better. She left town after the Pier House purge and is much missed, along with Larry Smith’s Sunday Showcases. Rumor at writing was that both she and Larry, with Christine Cardone, might be on Virgilio’s stage with Skipper Dec. 2; if so stay posted.

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Remember the free holiday concert under the stars by FKCC’s Keys Chorale, Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m., on the campus patio. (Bring lawn chairs and snacks.) It’s the first concert under the direction of new Professor Jim Cutty. The class (now credit as well as continuing ed) has grown to more than 60 voices, so if you haven’t heard the group recently, you’re in for a real treat. There will also be, for your listening pleasure, solos, duets, a quintet, an octet and a 12-voice echo on high! This is going to be something special.

That’s all for now. Gotta fly!