I met Robert Bisson at the first Move On! event I ever went to. We were to gather in Hudson, NY on a steamy summer afternoon at a gas station to let voters know about the connections between John McCain and the big oil companies and the difference in the presidential candidates’ energy policies. “Bring an umbrella,” Robert had written to the participants, “it’s likely we’ll get a thunderstorm.”

When I got there, this lively activist with the energy of a mischievous and optimistic ten year old was setting up signs. Only later, when contacting him for this article did I find out, that he is about to turn 78.

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This article is number 100 on The Sunny Way, and we couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished so far, nor more excited to see what unfolds in the future. For anyone who may be new to the site, I wanted to take a step back today and encapsulate our mission, and also invite your contributions and ideas.

The Sunny Way is a radically optimistic website whose mission is to bring the possibility of a magnificent future alive in our readers, and to awaken responsibility for creating it. Our goal is create a new conversation around the future of humanity—one focused on optimism and responsibility instead of OMG, things suck! But what can we do about it? *Shrug, consume.*

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Since I have a healthy hang-up with trash and how to keep reducing it, I thought I’d take another look recently to see what was in there. I found mostly bits of unrecyclable plastic. I decided to find out how I could recycle just 1 item of this motley crew: plastic dry cleaning bags. After searching online, I did not find any dry cleaners or small recyclers that would accept them, but I did find was a great DIY site that offered a tip: tie the hanger end into a knot and use it as a large garbage bag—great, a way to reuse them, even better than recycling… But what about everyone else’s bags? I doubt most people are planning to tie knots in theirs or make fluffy plastic DIY Christmas wreaths.

To my surprise my search also turned up a piece of pending legislation on this very subject: Bill # A.11725/S.8643. This is a NY state plastic bag recycling bill that, should it pass, would override the more stringent NYC plastic bag recycling law that was signed last January.

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Over the last few weeks, Worldchanging has been hosting a contest/conversation centered around imagining what’s next after green. They asked readers to participate by completing this thought: “Imagine no ...” And there have been a bunch of excellent and surprising responses.

I added a few which I will paste in here. The comments for Worldchanging’s entry will close today, so if you want to add your own response, high-tail it over there and do so, then leave us a comment to let us know we should go check it out.

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If anyone embodies the spirit of The Sunny Way, it’s Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who as of this morning has gone on to the great Imagineer workgroup in the sky. I am so grateful for the wisdom he delivered in his Last Lecture, and I think of his courage every time I hit a brick wall—I remember that it’s only there to give me a chance to prove how badly I want what’s on the other side of it.

He came back to CMU to speak to graduates 2 months ago. Here’s what he had to say about how to live, something he obviously knew a great deal about.

A few weeks ago, I attended a new play called “Current Changes in Empire” by Sarah Moon of the NYLovesMountains project, which is working to establish connections between communities which are being impacted by mountaintop removal (MTR) coal-mining, and the cities (like New York) which get their power from that coal.

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I am a pianist, music teacher, photographer, and writer. But of all the mediums of communication, music for me is the most authentic and natural.  Music at its best is arguably humankind’s most potent conveyor of transcendent beauty. When you hear truly beautiful music, it dissolves all boundaries between self and other, self and world It is ephemeral and yet utterly real. I recently found a quote from the great Russian writer, Feodor Dostoevsky. He said, “Beauty will save the world.”  I humbly submit that as the context for this blog post and others to come.

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With oil prices on everyone’s mind it feels a bit like the future we were all wondering about is actually here – no doubt things will not stay the same. Here are a few news items of projects, people and events who are ahead of the curve, climbing the next mountain.

If you have seen pictures of mountain top mining in Appalachia, you know what distressing sight this is, let alone the enormous costs to wildlife, rivers and humans this brutal method of coal mining occurs.

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Ever since I moved out on my own I have been doing a balancing act between my resources (money, physical energy, time), my values and my dreams. It has not always been pretty, I can tell you that. There are days I feel like I’m not doing very well at any of it and days where everything clicks along happily, but overall I feel like I’ve made some pretty good progress on all fronts.

The good news is that in many ways my efforts to live frugally and my environmental efforts go hand in hand. For example, not turning on the A/C is good for both my pocketbook and the earth. In other areas, like food, it requires a lot of compromise and a lot of incremental adjustments. Admittedly in some areas both frugality and the environment end up taking a backseat to some other priority, like my drives to the country to visit an elderly relative. Family is really important to me.

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“The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.”
—Seth Godin

By now, millions of people have seen Wall-E, the astounding new film from Disney/Pixar. If you haven’t seen it yet, then you might not want to read this post. We don’t give away too many particulars, but the film is so surprising, novel, and full of heart that you might want to walk into it as a completely blank slate.

If you have seen it, then chances are you’ve also heard people’s reactions—everything from “OMG best movie ever” to “They are brainwashing our children!” Great works of art have a tendency to polarize people, and I doubt that anyone can walk out of Wall-E unmoved.

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I have been planning recently for an international trip next spring. I have been on-line checking out places to see and ways to travel. I have chanced across several articles recommending that we “travel light.” One of these authors points out we don’t want to be carting our over-packed luggage to day destinations and that some of the airlines are charging extra for checked luggage and that often that extra stuff that you carted half-way around the world stays in your suitcase the whole trip. I think that this advice has application for everyday life as well. And inherent in the concept of “packing light” is packing for the trip you are taking.

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Well, even though I caved and got delivery twice over the weekend (my excuse: I wasn’t feeling well), overall I still need to give myself snaps for the progress I made on my goals. I now have a wee veggie garden, tons of worms happily turning my garbage into soil, and a much less gnarly delivery habit. Typically, before the challenge, I’d order in at least 2 or 3 times a week. Now it’s a much more rare occurrence, and I appreciate it so much more.

I also noticed several funny things about the process of changing my habits ...

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I am feeling so much better about the garden. I got some really encouraging responses from friends and e-mail buddies. Thanks guys! It really helps me to hear about everyone else’s experiences.

I finally beat back all of the weeds and replaced some of the plants that failed. I added some peppers and another cucumber. I took Victoria’s advice and finished my weeding on a morning when I knew it would be hot. Hopefully that helps. Many of the plants that survived the attack of the killer weeds are looking pretty good. I’ve been able to harvest some lettuce, dill, chives and lemon balm. The lemon balm is especially healthy. I’m going to dry a bunch of it for tea. I have some orange mint and pineapple mint at my house that are both doing pretty well. I think that combination would make a nice herbal tea.

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For the last few months, my friend Cathy has been telling me, “You have to meet Shumin! She does environmental short films for Science Friday on NPR and you will love her!”

Luckily, this week, I finally did get to meet her, and Cathy was right—the woman and her work are both warm and interesting. She emigrated to New York with her family in 1985, grew up in the city, and spent most of the last decade traveling around the world learning the art of filmmaking by making lots of films.

What I love about her films is their simplicity. They let the stories tell themselves. When the form falls away and the content shines through, you can really connect with the story that’s being told. These films educate, but not in a pedantic way—information is transmitted through the eyes of people engaged with the work. From shopping for fish in Chinatown to learning about Lunar New Year, Shumin’s work celebrates people and the things they do.

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