This is a very belated entry on the occasion of Blog Action Day. Thank you, Suzy (www.wbii.net), for pushing !

In the 80ies, Copsa Mica in Transylvania was one of the most polluted cities in Europe, due to a local factory that produced negru de fum – soot ! The entire city was black, from the leaves on the trees, to the ears of a donkey trotting along the black road…everything was just black. I shot a picture once at 6 am, in the ill-famed railway station; the sunrise was deep purple, like an aubergine.

I have been living in Western Europe for nearly twenty years now – and I am still bewildered about the politically correct pollution in this ‘civilised’ part of the world where people are bragging about how little they spend on food, where a pair of shoes can cost as little as 19.99 euro, where it is advisable to throw away appliances instead of repairing them…really angry about the big plastic box that displays a memory card the size of a stamp.

I get mad about the huge amounts of paper showed through my door, irrespective of all the stickers I have installed, stating that I DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE ANY ADVERTISING MATERIAL ANY LONGER. No, njet, nada.

I have seen An Inconvenient Truth, I see it every day. And it frustrates me really badly, when my 13 year old son says, after seeing the film: But Mom, by the time the flood comes, at least you’ll be dead.

The older I grow, the more radical I get in my anger. I boycott shops that don’t give a damn about my plea  not to put the two colorful plastic straws into my smoothie. That have no paper cups for take away. That try to wrap my flowers into cellophane. That overpackage veggies and fruit. That have the airco on high. That leave too many light bulbs on during the night. That still hand out plastic bags.

I buy groceries from the organic market in the center of town (Wednesdays, at the Buitenhof - bring your own bags !) and from my Kurdish neighborhood store (Firat, Weimarstraat 268, 2563 HS Den Haag. Basic English spoken and smiles when they help with the shlepping) using a beautiful basket I bought from the Fair Trade Store.

I don’t drive beyond the city borders, unless I reallreally need to get there on time and there is reallyreally no public transport to take me there. I have stopped wrapping presents. I have not used a dryer since 2006. I go for wood, linen, metal, glass, paper, rubber, wool, cotton, straw and accept  plastic only in a medical context. When I fly, I pay into the carbon footprint scheme of the airline. Since I know that feeding steaks to a family of five costs the same in bad emissions as driving an SUV around the block for three hours, leaving all the lights on in the house, I am mindful of our meat consumption.

I am blessed with a wonderful Kringloop (www.kringloop.nl) store about seventeen doors down from my own. Except for food and underwear, it gives me all I need and before stuff comes in stuff must go out – to the same Kringloop (circle in Dutch) to hopefully make other people happy about their findings.  If I don’t find it there, I look in the Fair Trade store, Dille en Kamille  (Plaats 16, 2513 AE, The Hague, 070 3640284 ‎dille-kamille.nl) and a few other small, family run businesses in town.

I am no saint and I am not rich. Still, I am so much happier than in the years when I drank a lot of coffee with people I no longer miss. Being radical about this one life I have on planet Gaia leaves me a lot of tenderness and appreciation for all that is priceless: family and friends, good health, the spectacle of clouds in the sky, instant bottom-of-the-fridge dinners shared in good company, peace, the right to free movement, books, the right to make choices… and my list is looooong.

Ah, forgot to mention – I also sleep much better, although the world has definitely not become a better place since my ongoing epiphany.