I just put down the hammer for a few minutes to write this post. I am building a boat “an Ark” that me and my animals can use perhaps at some point this weekend. Noah and I aren’t friends, so I can’t call him up and I believe you should always be prepared.
Ottawa, ON is getting hit with more rain and has already been hit pretty hard. The river on my property is the highest its been in years and my dad lives near another river which is slowly swallowing the land around it. Flooding is scary and being someone who has experienced a flood in my basement only (which was terrible enough) I feel the need to talk about this a little…flush it out
Not only is garage sale season a.k.a. the best time of the year to grasp vintage & antique finds being delayed & shortened due to the weather but it’s got me thinking about the environment. I’ve seen a drastic change in the weather even over the past 2 years…
- Crazy ass wind and stronger storms! My trees are all broken, breaking or falling over on my property!
- One hot summer last year and a record hot summer for some areas (good for peppers in my garden, not so good for lettuce)
- Large amounts of rainfall right now and flooding all over the place
- One-day nuts snowfall records
Global warming, climate change or a coincidence – call it what you will but something is up. In an effort to save our planet or do what I can to make a difference, I am turning it into high gear fellow vintage & antique friends.
Here are some small things one can do to make a difference:
- Buy used clothing ONLY (get on the vintage bandwagon with me or get some nearly new finds at thrift stores) – Fast fashion as they call it is causing mega problems. Clothing ends up in the trash in astronomical amounts and due to the way most clothing is made it does not compost/biodegrade properly.
- Repurpose furniture, purchase used furniture ONLY or properly recycle your belongings When items are manufactured (created, shipped etc.) they create some sort of emissions and when you buy stuff second-hand you are cutting that out to some degree. You are also using something for a longer duration (extending its lifespan) which is great! You can also feel good because you are saving landfill space & perhaps saving some trees going this route. I am only going to buy used! I am only going to bring my unwanted items to a thrift store or give away- on Kijiji Free.
- Cut down on my meat intake (LESS MEAT TO EAT) I did some immense reading after a horrible fishkill in my river and found out Cow poo poo is more of a threat to the environment these days than car pollution. I love me some beef but I eat it way too much – I over consume and as a whole we (the world) over consumes. Everything you see around suggests take a bike to work, carpool blah blah blah (which yes will help too and is great) but I discovered livestock contribute more to our earths destruction than cars currently do. Perhaps this is up for debate but the latest facts don’t lie!
I personally love antiques & aged clothing because I find the quality much better, they are original and I do feel they contribute to a greener earth. I hope to share some of my thrift store & garage sale deals with you all very soon, in the meantime try to stay dry. If I spend this weekend indoors I may just go stir crazy thinking about if this rainfall warning is part of a bigger problem – I need to care (and do) more about.
My thoughts are with those dealing with Flooding (Floods) in Ontario, Québec and abroad.