Sunday, November 29, 2009

Turning around a Fail

Well, I'm three months into my "year of deconsumption" and I'm 1 for 3. I started out strong with my full month of no alcohol - but, the last two months have been pretty weak. Part of the issue might be that a year is a long time to stay focused on anything. Also, I think that some of the months I chose were either redundant or off message. So, I'm consolidating a little bit. See my new schedule on the right. I'll be back at the end of December to preview January.

Monday, November 9, 2009

November already

Well, as you can probably tell - October's decluttering did not go too well. I packed up a box of books that's still in my room - that's about it. And so far, volunteering in November hasn't gone much better. These two months have been difficult mostly because they are rather tangential to the overall point of this blog, which is "deconsumption".

But, today I found a site which might help out with November. It's Maryland Volunteer Centers - a site which has links to various volunteer links around the state. On the Baltimore site I was able to search by zip code and activity type (environment, healthy community, arts & culture etc).

Here are some of the positions that interest me the most:

1) Research Assistant/Data Entry for Baltimore Health Department - It involves conducting surveys and data entry. Don't know how interesting it would be - but, I would like to be more involved with community health. Although I work in the health field I don't work with directly with community health departments in large cities.

2) Serving meals and/or mentoring at "Our daily bread" center - I might start with serving meals just to check it out and then look into mentoring. The volunteering I've done with South Baltimore Learning Center has been very fulfilling. I've been working with Willie for over a year now and I'd like to do more of the same kind of work.

Anybody have other suggestions?

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Clutter update

"So, how's your clutter free month coming along?" my wife asked this morning sarcastically.
Eyeing my box of books that I had plucked from the book case, but had yet to get rid of, I did what most husbands do in this situation - I pretended I hadn't heard her.

The contrast between the great success of my alcohol-free month of September and my "clutter-free" month of October is pretty depressing. The problem is that it's hard to define success in this case. It's very subjective.
Here is my list so far:
1) Get rid of books I probably won't read again
2) Get rid of clothes I never wear
3) Put CD's into album
4) Figure out what to do with random running parafinalia (trophies, medals, numbers) that I don't need
5) Get rid of random electronics that I don't use
6) Organize my bills and miscelanious records
7) Empty out my box that's supposed to be for mail, but gets filled with other random stuff
8) Get rid of stuff in closet that I don't use

So far I'm part way through with #1 and we're a week into October. It's just kind of overwhelming. And although I understand that I would probably be better off without clutter - I just have a hard time changing my habits in this area. I could blame my mom - who had a sign on her desk at home that said "an empty desk is a sign of an empty mind." But, that would be unfair and cruel. Or I could blame it on my college roomates - who pushed me into feeling even more comfortable living in filth. Or even my wife - who admitidly isn't focused in that area either. But, any of those excuses are copouts. This is my issue and I need to figure out how to change my perspective. Not that I want to become some anti-social misfit - who says things like "cleanliness is next to godliness". I just want to simplify my life by de-cluttering my surroundings.

My inspiration for including this month as a part of my year of deconsumption came from a chapter from the book "Roads to Quoz" by William Least Heat-Moon. The chapter in question is about an older woman living in the desert of New Mexico. Heat-Moon had met her through letters she had written him about some of his previous books. She was interesting enough that he decided he needed to head out to meet her. His description of her 117-foot square living quarters (a trailer) made me realize how our penchent for collecting meaningless stuff is a major part of the reason that we are such energy hogs. Everything in her trailer had a purpose that helped her to live. She had lots of interests - was well read etc - but, she didn't collect things.

It struck me as very Budhist in a way. The focus on the breath in mediation or yoga is important, because it helps us to let go of attachment. Many eastern religions view attachment as the reason that we suffer in this world. Let go of attachment, as you let go of the air in your lungs, and you'll be much healthier in the end. This philosophy is an important part of the purpose of my year of deconsumption. Not only is it important for us to consume less for the planet - but, it also makes us healthier to consume less.

So, now that I've reminded myself why I included this month it's time to get back to work. If any of you have suggestions - or stories of how you de-cluttered your life I'd love to hear about it to further inspire me.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

It's all about control

From the moment that we arrive into this cold world - we try to control it. We cry out as we're ripped from the warm safe place that we've known as home. As we mature we come to understand that we have very limited control over the outside world. At times we even lose control of ourselves. We have needs, desires, urges - but, we learn that we're better off in the long run if we suppress these primal forces. Acceptance by society requires it.
As described in an earlier post - alcohol depresses the activity of our nervous system. But, it seems to impair some parts of our personality more than others. Our super-ego, that part of us that attempts to act with perfect morality - and opposes the id, seems to be more affected. This isn't true at low or moderate levels - but, at high levels of alcohol consumption many people become violent or lecherous. We make bad decisions, say stupid things, put ourselves and others in risky positions. To me, this is the great evil of alcohol.
But, it's also probably the reason why people over indulge as well. Most of our day is spent at work - where we must constantly control what we say and do. We might want to tell somebody off, but maybe they're our boss - and we just have to say "all right, whatever you say sir." Alcohol gives us the opportunity to shed that pesky super-ego - to give our id whatever it wants.
Over the last month I haven't actually felt much of a physical change. My running hasn't greatly improved - I haven't lost any weight really. But that doesn't mean that I don't see any value in my experiment. It's probably happened at more of an unconcious level, but I think that I've had to find healthier ways to deal with the world. Chemically pressing the "off" button was no longer an option.
So, next is clutter. More on that in a few days.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Why we like it

Why does this seemingly innocent molecule have such a strong pull over humanity? Why has a chain of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen been given the title by Homer Simpson as "the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems"? The short answer is that alcohol (ethanol being the form we normally ingest) is a depressent.
Despite the fact you might think that humans are mostly lazy beings who need our morning coffee to be able to accomplish anything - many people actually have the opposite problem. They can't sleep because of stress, or can't concentrate because they're over stimulated, or sometimes might be incapacitated because of pain. What all these situations have in common is that we would feel better if the activity of our nervous system was somehow inhibited. Depressents do this very well.
Specifically alcohol affects the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors - which are responsible for neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system (stolen from wikipedia). It's no accident that alcohol is used widely in social situations. Most of us have some social inhibition that alcohol helps to remove. One phrase I learned in Germany was "Es gibt worter im bier" (there are words in beer). I can tell you that it's even more true when learning a new language.
Of course the problem is when we go overboard. More on that in my next post.

For an update - believe it or not I'm actually still on the wagon. And actually the longer I go the easier it gets. Although don't let that make you think that I won't look forward to my first beer (probably the night after I run the Army 10 miler).

Friday, September 11, 2009

The Tai Chi principle of finding balance

When I was living in Ann Arbor I decided to take a Tai Chi class. Although I can't remember any of the movements - one philosophical part of the practice has stayed with me.

An important part of Tai Chi movements is to find balance - at the end of each series one normally finds one self in a very solid and balanced position. Tai Chi is a form of martial arts - so, the purpose of all this balance is to make sure you don't end up on your back. The principle that is found in all series of movements is that to get to a place of balance in a particular position you must first step beyond that place or even sometimes go the opposite direction.

When I first told Kendra about this year of deconsumption - her first reaction was "why do you have to be so extreme about it?" The point of being extreme is not that I expect to give up all these things - but, rather that I will hopefully come to a place of more balance when it's all over. And to do so I need to step a little beyond of where I hope to finish.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The First Month: Alcohol

I've been thinking about doing this for quite awhile. I'm not running quite as many miles as I was while training for Boston - so, I thought it would be important to do a better job on reducing calories. Also, in certain doses alcohol is toxic (duhhh) - so, I've been thinking that I need to at least try to see if completely removing alcohol will make a difference.

After nine days here is what I've found - I'm probably a little too dependent on alcohol as a stress reliever. Most disturbing was a dream I had where I failed to make it the whole month. Apparently there is a part of my subconcious that is fairly dependent.

Also interesting has been the reaction of my friends and family. Most of them think that I'm going a little far. They know my love of good beer and wonder why I would want to do that to myself. Some other people don't understand why this is a big deal at all.

In my next post I'm going to write about why some of our bodies crave something that seems to be so bad for it. I'm also going to summarize the effects of alcohol on our body.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Deconsumption: What is it and why am I doing it?

Yea - I know, it's not a real word. I googled it and found a website dedicated to "deconsumption." And it appeared that the author had the same idea as me. Which is that the world that we live in is not sustainable. In other words - think of our accessible energy resources as water in a big bucket. In the bottom of the bucket is a hole that constantly lets the water out. Some water is coming into the bucket - but, the amount of water leaving the bucket is greater than the water entering the bucket. This is our current situation in the world.

Now, to be fair, this is a pretty huge bucket. But, the obvious conclusion of the above situation is that eventually the bucket will empty unless one of two things happen. Either the water entering the bucket needs to increase or the water leaving the bucket needs to decrease. New technology could help in both areas - and pretty much everyone alive today is used to the idea of technology bailing us out. But, there is no law that states technology must save us.

Most people think that we have a long time to come up with a solution. But, the truth is that this energy problem will most likely have a huge effect on how I live the second half of my life. If the only problem was that we need to come up with a solution before all the water ran out in the barrel then it might be doable. However, life will start to become uncomfortable because we will get to the point (we might even be past the point) where we can't make the hole at the bottom of the bucket any bigger.

Over the last hundred years we have become very good at finding oil. Although energy can come in many forms (coal, sunlight, tidal, wind, nuclear etc) I single out oil because no other commodity is responsible for our standard of living than oil. 1) It contains an incredible amount of energy 2) It is relatively easy to transport 3) It can become almost anything (plastic, medication, fertilizer etc). No other form of energy comes close to oil in these key areas.

Oil has what people call a high energy return on energy invested (EROEI). Back when Judd could shoot at a squirrel and black gold came bubblin out of the ground we only had to expend 1 unit of energy to get 50 in return. These days it's more like 10 returned to every one invested. The reason is that we have found all the easy stuff. Now we have to do things like dig five miles below the ocean floor or melt oil shale (basically rock) into oil. The quality and accessibility of oil products is rapidly decreasing. Add to that many oil producing nations that have been traditional exporters are becoming importers because their oil fields are emptying and their populations are using more oil.

I wasn't intending to go into that much detail about our energy problems - but, it does provide a fair amount of the motivation for me in this quest for deconsumption. The other motivation is my curiosity of the psychological effects of these experiments. We all have areas of our life where we depend on people or things much more heavily than we realize. As an old psych grad, I'm interested in my reaction to the removal of certain "stimuli." I also think it will help me to simplify my life, become more connected to my community, and break me of some bad habits.

So, here is the plan. Each month I will remove something from my life that I treat as a necessity, but is probably more of a luxury. As I go through the month I'll write on this blog why it's important, how it affects me, and whether I might make it a part of my life instead of just a month long experiment.

September 2009: Alcohol - Yes, "the cause of and solution to all of life's problems." Before I thought up this idea of sacrificing something every month for a year I had already decided to give up alcohol for the month of September. I have a big race coming up at the beginning of October and I decided that I might be relying a little too much on alcohol for stress relief.

October 2009: Clutter - This was originally scheduled for June 2010 - but, my wife strongly suggested that I move it up ; ) Most of us have a lot of crap that we have in our house, carry around in our cars, or store somewhere else. This has always been a weakness of mine. I hate cleaning up. I've heard the saying - "a place for everything and everything in it's place" - but, I haven't exactly put it into practice during any of my 32 years. This is important because the more stuff you have the more space you need - and the more space you have the more energy you use. Also, I think that it might actually make me feel good to live in a clutter free space. We'll see.

November 2009: TV & movies (exception for sports) - I've actually lived without a TV during a few brief periods in my life. But, I think it's worth doing again. I know - the exception for sports is kind of weak - but, come on this is right at the most important time in the football season!

December 2009: The internet (exception for e-mail, work related stuff, and this blog) - This might be the hardest of the first four months for me. I am addicted to information - and of course the internet has more information than any "place" in history.

January 2010: All animal products: I've never gone without meat for more than a few days, so this will be an experiment. The challenge will be to get enough protein for training. For the 2008 Olympics they did a study on nutrition habits of all the male and female marathoners. The one thing they had in common is that there weren't any vegetarians. However, I acknowledge that there are a lot of energy related and even moral reasons to abstain from meat.

February 2010: Eating food prepared by others: Pretty much this means no restaurants and a lot of cooking. I am pretty good about cooking - but, we probably do go out to restaurants a little too much. This might be the hardest sell for Kendra. So, I might need some people to go out to dinner with her a few nights ; )

March 2010: No purchases other than food/housing/clothes - I'm not a big shopper - but, I do like my toys. I'm not sure how I should define this - would my cell phone bill count?

April 2010: Trash - I don't know if this is possible at all, but I'm going to try to not produce any trash for a month. That means only using recyclable or reusable products and taking food waste to a compost. This is going to be rough.

May 2010: No transportation that uses oil - This means I can only go where I can walk or ride my bike. Working from home and living in the city makes this relatively easy. But, I'm sure that I'll have to make sacrifices at some point.

June 2010: Time (Volunteer once each day) - I hate to admit it but, I've never done much volunteer work. I do work with a guy from the South Baltimore Learning Center at least once a week. But, as the amount of available energy constricts it will very important for communities to become more cooperative. If we're going to survive we're going to have to depend on each other a lot more than we do currently.

July 2010: Processed food - I grew up on hamburger helper, rice-a-roni, campbell's soup etc. Although I would say that I've gotten a little better in this area I still have room for improvement. Processed food is very dependent on oil and it's really bad for you - even the "healthy" stuff.

August 2010: No food made from more than 100mi away - This is kind of a trendy one - some people have even done this for an entire year. Obviously August is a relatively easy time of the year for this challenge - but, if I've made it this far it will be a little reward.

September 2010: All of the above (except for meat) - As I go along there might be other things that fall out of this month. But, that's the goal. This will be the month before I run the Chicago marathon - so, living like a monk might be a good idea.