Saturday, May 14, 2011

Defining America

Looking through the Friday flyers this Saturday morning while eating Yukon Gold home fries with oregano and curry from the garden and a fried egg laid by an Americauna chicken that lives in Rehoboth, I notice a few trends.  The pile is modest, since I'm on the "no junk mail" list.  I peruse the grocery flyers and coupons, mostly full of items I don't buy.  I open a bill.  Then on to the two hardware store flyers, both national chains.

The first one has a variety of grills on the cover, along with various chemicals to kill ants.  Bottom center are American flags for sale.  "Dear America," they say, "please accept our char-grilled offering."  Turn the page, and its grub killer, grub killer, grub killer.  Funny, I thought the grubs were pupating this time of year.  Well, you may have 2-3 more weeks to get them, so hurry!  After that, what're all those chemicals going to do, sitting in the soil?  The rest of the flyer is lawn care, lawn seed, motorized mowers, plastic bird feeders, weed killer, and disposable paint rollers.  I sigh and add the flyer to the recycle pile.

On to the next national chain.  Wow.  Pretty solar lights.  Plants.  Okay, I'm going to turn the page...  The flyer is set up like a magazine.  There are articles on how to decorate and design inside and outside.  There is no VOC paint, a bird feeder to make with the kids using recycled materials and a kit from their store, a project detailing how to build an outside island for family gathering, which includes cloth towels, a recycling station, and yeah, plastic forks and plates, but wow!  They wouldn't put this much effort into advertising this project if they didn't think people would literally buy into it.  While companies can start trends, most see a trend or need and offer to fill it.  I'm hoping that this is what's happening here.  People want to live greener.

My own deck features a second-hand plastic table we put a tablecloth over.  We store my daughter's toys underneath.  The previous owners built in seating, which is divine.  Some day, I may make cushions for it.  Last year, I repaired and repainted the roll-out awning and replaced the front door with a more energy-efficient one.  For now, I'm not making any big plans for renovating.  I will probably improve the gate on the deck.  Maybe add seating around the fire pit.  Definitely organize all the dead wood we've gathered or cut down.  At least it's good to see some greener possibilities.

A chain of events is occurring.  The recession has made people think, "Do I really need this?  Can I fix what I have or buy second-hand?  Can I make it?"  The supermarket cashier asked my husband where we got our mesh produce bags.  Multiple companies, such as Terracycle and Eco-Fi, are making goods from trash.  The first solar-powered plane flew this week.  Are we lawns and propane and bug killer?  A student showed me six inchworms she found in the schoolyard, gingerly putting them back in their home.  How shall we define America now?

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