Of all the “little things that can change the world,” recycling seems the obvious no-brainer in first world countries. It demands just enough effort that we can feel virtuous about it, but, at least in urban areas with recycling centers, it really demands only that we pay attention and make a little extra effort. Most of the time. Recycling reduces waste in landfills and leads to the reuse of materials—like many metals (e.g., aluminum), silica (glass), and petroleum (plastics). In a world where we are learning to appreciate the importance of trees in our environment, recycling paper and cardboard has become a way to manage that resource too. And from what I’ve read, reforming or reusing recycled materials always uses less energy than was needed to produce the original product.

I’ve been following the recycling effort at least since the 1970s when I was collecting empty beer cans. The local collection place bought them by weight so you needed a lot to make it worthwhile! When I moved to my current apartment, I assumed that because it was within the city limits we’d have recycling. Nope. So I lugged my stuff down the hill to a friend’s recycling bin or dropped it off at a major recycling center near where I used to work. But a few months ago the building’s management figured out a way for us to recycle, so now I happily catch the elevator to the basement.

One of the joys of working with Spirit Moxie is meeting people. One person with whom I connected was Belinda who works with our county’s environmental services and is the person who came up with the idea for our conversation “Let Others In.” Six months ago Belinda offered to set up a tour of the plant run by the primary company (Rumpke) that provides recycling in in our area and.last week everyone’s schedules finally matched. So, on Thursday, I wound my way to the address of the Rumpke MRF (material recovery facility) and donned hard hat and goggles to watch skilled workers, million dollar machines, and endless conveyor belts sort our offerings to the world of recycling. I learned what not to include and why; marveled at the very strange things people thought it was OK to include; and was pleasantly surprised at the passion of those working there for their commitment to, well, making the world work.

Recycling varies in different parts of the country so I’ll only list at the end of this conversation the specifics of what I learned. A pretty universal tip, however, seems to be to NEVER put recycling in plastic grocery bags. They are maybe the most harmful unwanted item recycle centers see since they gum up the rotating “blades” that help sort recyclable materials. The bags themselves aren’t recyclable except, perhaps, at your local supermarket.

Different cities recycle different materials and some don’t let you mix what you put in a recycling bin. For example when I was in the state of Washington, glass was separate and collected less frequently. And I remember that in other places, consumers used different containers for bottles, plastics, and paper.

Bottom line, recycling is a business, which is why in some places you pay extra for the privilege of recycling. Recycling usually requires extra collection crews and a lot more people at the processing end which creates jobs. Markets for recyclable materials fluctuate like gas prices, interest rates, and the stock market. Facilities have to learn to “ride out” lean times. And how the market uses materials also affects what the facility can recycle. If they don’t have a market for it, it goes to the landfill.

But reading about markets and business and rules can get boring. Start paying attention to the possibilities of reusing and reclaiming resources — just as a game! Besides the basic curbside recycling that we are accustomed to, you can see other places recycling happens if you look. In future conversations, we’ll talk about things like composting. We’re encouraged to take clothes and other unneeded items to thrift stores and resale shops — and to shop at them. We put our leftovers in cottage cheese containers. Dog owners reuse plastic bags by carrying them to clean up after their pets. People collect metal cans (the most valuable recycle item) from trash cans in the street, making a major contribution to our reuse of materials. (In New York City, for example, cans and bottles have a cash deposit value, but getting that deposit refund is a major pain. So people will leave their bottles and cans clean and outside for other people to “find.”)

And then there are people who really can do crafts. (So not part of my skill base.) When my friend Pat taught in the children’s program at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Museum, I gladly took all our beer caps, toilet paper rolls, and interesting miscellaneous treasures (e.g., a perfect piece of ribbon) to her house where they became art materials, party favors, and gifts. Local women from South America make interesting “flower” wreaths from soda bottles.

Plus there are the serious artists that include “trash“ materials as part of their work. Cincinnati artist Tim Jones prefers to work only with recyclables. My favorite Jones piece is composed of those plastic grocery bags the MRF can’t use.

So share. What do you do? What do you notice? What have you learned? Recycling can and does become recreating. And helps us pay attention. Now.

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Recycle “rules” for Southern Ohio, Southeastern Indiana, Northern Kentucky

Paper and cardboard: Pretty much completely recyclable, and this includes paper bags, junk mail and magazines, but not paperbacks or food stained cardboard or paper products (like paper plates and napkins) [OFFICE NOTE: if you shred paper buy CLEAR (not white) plastic bags and put the paper in there (to keep it contained and not turn into litter). If the MRF workers can’t see what it is, it will probably be sent to the landfill. But if they can, you just helped reduce that “90% of office paper gets thrown away” statistic! Yes, you can do this at home too.]

Metal: Only cans. Really. Including aerosol with the tips removed. Put the cans in the bin loose NOT in a plastic bag. ALL other metal goes in the trash unless you have another source for recycling. (Some other sources for recycling metal can be found here. And your dry cleaner can probably use those hangers….)

Plastic: Only bottles and jugs. You can leave the plastic caps on! Milk bottles, water bottles, detergent jugs, shampoo…. But NOT those lovely, clearly marked #5 containers your yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese come in. NOT those “please recycle” containers you get when you bring food home from a restaurant. Yeah, I wasn’t happy either. [Rumor has it that Whole Foods recycles #5 plastic. You might want to check it out and let us know.] And never plastic bags (except for the clear ones containing shredded paper.)

Glass: Only bottles and jars. Other glass has other metals in it that don’t work for recycling. Color doesn’t matter. Take the metal caps off, but you can place these loose in the recycling bin. This includes beer caps!

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Photo credits from the top:

Trash bins in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR — Spirit Moxie
Sally visiting the MRF — Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District (Web)
Sorting at the MRF — Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District
Robert Gillespie promoting recycling — Spirit Moxie
New York City bottle recycling — Spirit Moxie
Bottle Wreath — Nancy Sullivan
“She’s an Autumn“ by Tim Jones — Spirit Moxie

I’m home from the World Domination Summit (WDS) and pretty much recovered from traveling to four different venues, through four airports, a couple of train stations, three time zones, and one bus transfer. Oh, and mastering (I think) public transportation in Portland.

This is my second year attending and my third year writing about WDS. For 2013 and 2014, I compared it with the Wild Goose Festival which I attended both years, but I’m not comparing them this year, because this year Wild Goose was so much like WDS it was scheduled for the same weekend.

So this year WDS gets a post all to itself. In 2014, at the end of WDS, I was sure I needed to return, but this year I was pretty sure I didn’t want to and I’m still trying to figure out why I felt that way. WDS is committed to supporting community, adventure, and service. Sounds perfect to me. “To live extraordinary lives in an ordinary world.”

Of course, I don’t find the world all that ordinary, but I think you’re beginning to know that.

Part of my personal dream for WDS was for Spirit Moxie. I planned a “Let’s Change the World!” meetup, using what for me was a perfect time last year to meet people before things got started. I even found a bar/restaurant rumored to have a great, but poorly attended, happy hour. A call to Mummy’s in downtown Portland confirmed that they would be happy to have us. [If you’re in Portland, check them out — it’s Egyptian food. Really. I had a falafel, unlike any I’ve had before, and a fava bean dip/appetizer served with laid-back hospitality. And I’m told there’s real belly dancing Saturday nights.] WDS approved the event and it was “sold out.” Almost 40 people said they were coming and there was interest in my Facebook invitation as well.

Only eight people showed up, nine if you include me. As far as I could tell none of them had signed up for the event, but came anyway hoping there would be room. The timing was difficult. The announcement said we started at 3pm and registration for the whole event started at 2pm. The restaurant had a reputation for being hard to find although I said an orange door was a clue. And, in the best tradition of events, those who showed up may indeed have been the right eight people to be there. In any case the conversation was wonderful and rich, and the people there were looking to give and share ideas and inspiration (e.g., how might you recycle those little soaps from hotels on a huge scale?). 

Although I felt sorry for the bar’s owner, and, to be honest, for myself, I shrugged it off until I heard other stories of other meetups where the same thing had happened. As the week went on, the rule seemed to be “even if you didn’t sign up, stop by to see if you can get in.” I went to one meetup that I’d signed up for and stayed for about ten minutes (hey, I was there). I “really” attended another one that I had signed up for, and I, too, stopped by another meetup that I hadn’t signed up for that was full and was told to stay.

I found myself wondering throughout all this about the whole concept of giving your word and keeping it. The RSVP. The shake of the hand. The casual, “I’ll call you next week.” Any event/party host will tell you that planning has become difficult because people do not let you know if they will attend — or they don’t let you know that they won’t be there if their plans change. Lawyers have made whole careers around people no longer honoring the handshake and their word. Friendships have been stretched and lovers separated. And I’m certainly not perfect, particularly in the “casual remarks to friends” category.

There was another element at WDS that also bothered me. While we were excited to be changing the world, we seemed oblivious to our interactions with the community. Oh, we set a world record for eating breakfast in bed (because we could) and donated the mattresses and beds to appropriate local agencies. But I’ve seen events so embrace the community that the city was minutely transformed. WDS could have been like that. Excellent volunteers made sure we laughed, gave high fives, and that there was no litter or other ecological scar. But I saw meetup leaders dismiss hassles for waiters, bus riders ignore their intrusion on the locals, the “it’s only a job” look on the theatre staffs’ faces, and the stoic disappointment on the face of Mummy’s owner. Shouldn’t engaging the world with basic politeness and awareness be a part of keeping our word to be transformative?

So WDS’s commitment—for weren’t we all WDS?—to community, adventure, and service seemed mixed. Last year, I came home with a Brave Bot, an appreciation of superhero capes (and tiny houses), riding a hot air balloon crossed off my bucket list, and a visceral understanding that we’re all related. I don’t even need to go look at my notes to remember
this. This year, looking at someone else’s notes, I was reminded that I’m a poet (first poem published in second grade), reclaimed my own experience with grief, saw my mentor Lissa Rankin heal the whole room back into love and possibility, and “met” Kid President, who shares awesomeness and is clearly a kid. I’d say about half the speakers challenged me, but I don’t really remember what they said. Almost none are remembered as I write this. Pictures remind me that I ate a Voodoo Donut—another bucket list triumph.  And I talked to people who left greatly renewed and inspired so I do know there is another side to people’s experience of the weekend.

All I left the event with were these two questions: “What is there about keeping your word?” and “Does keeping your word really matter?”

This past Sunday I went to an early church service and reported on the first of the four “venues” mentioned above. “I wish you would come do that at 10:30, too,” I was asked, and I said, “I can do that.” I was juggling bus schedules, but easily found a bus (yeah, Google maps) to my favorite breakfast spot. Perfect. Had a great breakfast, wandered over to the grocery store (did I really need anything?), and thought about going home. No buses for more than 45 minutes. No bus back to church either (had I really promised to do that today or some other Sunday?). But it was only a little over a mile away and the timing would be perfect if I walked. I would arrive about when they needed me to do my spiel, even if it was 90 degrees out. Hmmm. As I approached the church, I saw a bus pull up that would take me directly home. All I’d have to do is run or wave or . . . But I walked, watched the bus turn the corner, and went inside the church grateful for air conditioning. When I made sure they knew I was there, the leader said, “Oh, I knew you would be here. You said you would be.”

So I did my spiel. Looked at the bus schedule. And found another bus leaving in five minutes for home.

What I have is my word to give, to share. It’s free. And your word is yours. How do you honor it? I’m pretty sure the universe will help you keep it.

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Photo credits from the top:
Marquee at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR — Armosa Studios
Mummy’s Restaurant and Lounge — Mummy’s Facebook page
Bear waiting for breakfast — Spirit Moxie
Sally and bear posing at Worldwide Waffles — Spirit Moxie
Worldwide Waffles certificate with our attending bear — Spirit Moxie
Lissa Rankin onstage —Armosa Studios
Kid President (Robby Novak) entering the stage — Armosa Studios

Hug yourself! Put your left hand on your right shoulder. Put your right hand on your left shoulder. Push hands towards each other. And there you have it. Did it feel a tad strange? Or good? Or interesting

Are you breathing? (Yes, this is a silly question, although sometimes we hold our breath when we do something different.) But is breathing something you have to think about? Heart pumping? Can you see to read this or can you hear it because someone is reading to you? Can you move? At all? Your body supports you. It just does.

One of the most interesting aspects of my journey toward being more present is the challenge I keep being given to love my body. This is not something we learn. Society seems to present “them” (aka bodies) as something that will break down, get sick, age, be used as a rack for ornamentation, and otherwise betray us as our true self, i.e., that is our mind and/or soul, gets on with the business of life. St. Francis of Assisi referred to the body as “Brother Ass” reflecting the 13th century asceticism, which we still claim, that bodies are an uncomfortable accompaniment to being more spiritual.   

“Take care of your body” is a Spirit Moxie conversation for another day. And an important one. But today, the topic is about rejoicing (really) in being a body. As Frederick Buechner says regarding man in Wishful Thinking, “it’s not that he has a body, but that he is a body.”* And loving and appreciating our bodies (this isn’t always the same thing) is crucial for how we show up in the world and how the world interacts with us. Increasingly this is affirmed by writers and speakers who show us ways to be healthier, happier, and more productive. Do you want/seek any of these things? To be healthier, happier, and more productive? Of course you do. I thought so.

So try it again. Left hand on your right shoulder. Right hand on your left. And hug. It is almost that easy. Love your body as it is right now. Whatever the weight. In pain or not. However old you are. As we work toward the gift of being present and so conscious of and  participating in the world as it is, our relationship to our bodies becomes central. This is not something we are taught. It is something we need to learn.

Perhaps it is harder for women with their forced body images. Perhaps it is harder for us all as we are told (yes, told) that we will inevitably slow down and become less attractive as we get older. But seriously loving your body, exactly as it is, provides the base for everything else we have been talking about for changing the world. And the result of loving it is that you continue to grow into your ideal self — by your standards — not the mental picture that’s been imposed on you by a greedy and unhappy world.

Amy Ahlers in her book  Big Fat Lies Women Tell Themselves gives this exercise/challenge: “Stand naked in front of the mirror and name ten things you love about yourself every day for a week. . . .They can range from ‘great ass’ to ‘the miracle of my skin’ to ‘my heart is pumping.’”** I failed this one. I tried, but I literally found myself running from the mirror. What was that response about? But even trying began the process. So try that exercise with one thing. Work up to five. Skin color? Do your nails look good? Wow, can you actually see, feel your hip bones? I never noticed the curve of my neck; my ankles; that one mole that is perfectly placed to be interesting; that my eye color is more varied than I remembered; and I forgot about my dimples. Your turn. Go. And stick with it.

Somewhere along the way, not by magic, not immediately — unless of course it is immediate — you will start seeing some changes. Maybe not on the scale. Maybe the pain is still there. But you’ll walk a little taller. You’ll get more compliments. The weight and the pain will no longer be in charge and there’s a great chance both will become manageable. You’ll be ready for your part in changing the world. So allow me to introduce you to yourself: you in your body — your best self.

Report in. What do you need to do for you? Hug.

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This is a snapshot of how this has worked for me: I began this “loving your body challenge” feeling a little dumpy, too old, and with pain that moved from my right shoulder to my left leg. Now I feel pretty awesome, really. My body gets, no, I get compliments out of nowhere. Age is just a number that I forget most of the time. And, when I’m really present and doing what I’m called to do, the pain disappears. Of course, my stretches help too.
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Hugging exercise adapted from the work of SARK
*Frederick Buechner, “Immortality,” Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (Harper & Row, 1993).
**Amy Ahlers, “Big Fat Lie #16: one of these days I’ll win the battle of the bulge,” Big Fat Lies Women Tell Themselves: Ditch Your Inner Critic and Wake Up Your Inner Superstar (New World Library, 2011), p. 69.

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Photo credit:
Peaceful Heart Doctor – 3, 720 Grant Ave., San Francisco —Eva Blue

Additional Resources:
Amy Ahlers latest work, with Christine Arylo, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl: 7 Steps to Stop Bullying Yourself and Start Loving Yourself. Also for Dudes!
Christiane Northrup, M.D.,Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being. Primarily for women, but there is useful information for men as well.