toristew
Registered: December 2011
City/Town/Province: Ketchikan
Posts: 1
View this Member's Photo Gallery
|
Southeast Alaska has been my home as far back as I have memory. I live in a town called Ketchikan, located on an island surrounded by the nation’s largest national forest, the Tongass, an area abundant in wildlife and lush greenery, with amazing opportunities for hiking, exploring, photography, and enjoying nature. Being in this place has given me a deep compassion for the environment, and I know I want to dedicate my life to conservation.
Ketchikan is a very creative and close community, nestled on the inside passage and far from any sprawling concrete cities. Most residents are some sort of artist or musician; everyone needs something to do indoors on the numerous rainy days that allow this ecosystem to be as rich and beautiful as it is. There are many events to showcase all the homegrown talent: classes and workshops, dance and theatre shows, film presentations, art walks, art festivals and fairs, galleries, auctions, competitions, live music days at our various cafes, and the Monthly Grind.
The Monthly Grind is a unique grassroots gathering of performers and watchers that happens on the third Saturday of every month. It takes place in the Tribal House of nearby Native community Saxman, which cozily holds about three hundred people. My mother and I inherited the volunteer job of running the coffee and tea table, and we saw where we could help. It had previously been rather undemanding on the part of the workers – everything was disposable, and so all the cups, tea bags, paper towels, and coffee grounds could just be pushed into garbage cans at the end of the evening. Huge bags of garbage would be hauled out, ready for the landfill, which expands constantly to hold all the waste dumped there at the base of our stunning and beautiful Deer Mountain. We knew that we could commit ourselves to this and make it more sustainable.
We gathered nearly three hundred donated and secondhand store mugs to use instead of the disposable paper and foam cups. We store the mugs at home and carry them to the Grind, then spend most of the next day washing them with rainwater from our roof and letting them air dry. We also bring home all of the used tea bags, coffee grounds, stick stirrers, and paper towels to compost. It is something that takes some ambition, but it is worth it. The Grind goers love the soothing and familiar feel of mugs, and they don’t mind helping out with clean up either. It embodies what the Monthly Grind is supposed to be: warm, folksy, unpretentious, and ecological.
We will be bringing mugs for months to come, and we hope that it inspires others after us to carry on the mug practice. I think it is absolutely important to focus on sustainability, and not just think about the present. The effort involved in washing a mug is nothing compared with the desecrating process involved with extracting the materials for, forming, and shipping a foam one, and the impact that a foam cup with have for years afterward. Alaska is one of the most beautiful and largely untouched areas of our planet, and we need to protect it. I love living here in Southeast, and I will live here the rest of my life.
|
