Fay Watson

Hope

Being of good cheer isn't always easy to maintain.  So many things influence your mood on any given day, at a given time.  Other people and the things they say affect how you feel, sometimes more than you would care to admit.  Little things said by the right person can thrill you, lighten your mood and make the day suddenly seem brighter.  Conversely, a single word or phrase from someone can do the opposite.  A smile always brightens my day, it doesn't even matter who smiled at me.  Smiles are infectious.  The more you smile, the easier it is to smile.  A warm genuine smile that reaches your eyes can touch a stranger.  A simple hello and hope that you have a good day will have impacts that you can't measure. Try to be that positive force out there in the world tomorrow.  Keep a smile on your face and say something nice to a stranger.  You never know when those words might be making a huge impact on that stranger and improve their day.

Friday evening started at Mexseaco with the Pearland Chamber Ambassador Party, and then moved to a home where I dropped in on the Community Garden Christmas Party.  These volunteers have worked hard to bring something to Pearland that is an incredible community asset.  In the past year the Community Garden donated more than a 1000 pounds of produce to the Pearland Neighborhood Center.  They recently received an award from the Neighborhood Center for all of their hard work and fresh produce donated! I am so proud to know these folks.  I enjoyed my time at this party.  As much as I like catching up with friends I haven't talked to in a while, I especially enjoyed my time with the youngest of the Mitchell clan. Playing with Corbin reminded me how much fun a little one can be. Bringing back memories of my little ones (26,23,19 and 16 now) so they aren't so little any more, they are still fun in their own ways.

Nice to sit and talk through breakfast...

I am sitting here thinking about going to bed.  But then I remembered that I haven't written a blog or posted a photo today.  So... here I go!  Writing about nothing... I almost think I need to set an alarm to go off every day to remind me to post something... I need to be thinking more about postings especially when I am out and about.  So that I note special things and take photos of interesting things.  I used to do more of that and it always brightened my day.  So...for today...this is it...a stupid musing about forgetting yet again!

Last week,  I talked to 155 kindergarten and first grade students at one of our elementary schools.  I love doing these informal talks on career day.  I start each talk a little different and let the questions of the students drive the direction of my talk.  Today I started with litter strewn on the floor.  Each group of 38-40 students reacted a little different to the litter.  One little kindergartner was very disturbed to see the litter on the floor.  She was agitated and uncomfortable.  She pointed out the litter to everyone and kept asking me why I put litter on the music room floor.  That is exactly the kind of reaction we want to see in everyone.  The little girl offered to pick up the litter, I promised her that before I left for the day I would pick up my litter.

Important facts about litter and the 2013 Litter Behavior and Visible Litter Survey: http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/research.php

From  the Texas Department of Transportation 2013 visible litter survey there has been a 34% decrease of visible litter since the 2009 survey, and this decrease is concurrent with a 5.8% increase in the Texas adult population.  Cigarette Butts continue to be the largest portion of the total litter.  Of larger littered items tires & rubber debris are number one as in past surveys with beverage containers (most of which are recyclable) comprising a larger portion of the total visible litter than in 2009.

In Oakbrook Estates subdivision in Pearland there is new litter every day.  Most of what is littered is recyclable beverage containers.  In addition someone throws out a banana peel almost every day.  The corner where most of this litter accumulates serves as a bus stop for children of all ages in three different groups starting at 6:30AM.  If these children don't feel badly about littering how can we change that? Keep America Beautiful put a lot of time and resources into changing behaviors and what is accepted as a norm when it comes to litter.  I suspect that these children know it is wrong to litter, but don't want to carry the trash in their backpack.  I wonder if the bus driver said something about the litter if that would make a difference?  I am sure that there is a waste receptacle on the bus that the litterers could use.

It is my hope that the children like the kinderagartner who couldn't stand the litter out number the children who willfully liter.

Wrote a piece for the Reporter News on Recycling Trends in Pearland.  I hope that it inspires a few folks to recycle.  Our increases in recycling are at a higher rate than the concurrent increase in population.  I am optimistic that with enough education we can make larger gains.  Pearland should be able to meet the national average solid waste diversion.

I am sure that I have used this title before.  Perhaps a long time ago when I had a blog on Microsoft's cloud that went away.  I used to write a lot of things... things amusing to Fay and just plain old musings.  I spent a lot of time griping about bullies I wish I hadn't lost all of those blog postings.  It makes me sad that I didn't rescue them.  It wasn't until it was too late that I realized how much the posts meant to me.  Lesson learned...if you wrote it, you put time and thought into it, so don't lose it!  I don't even know if any of it even made an impact on anyone.  I guess that part really isn't important to me. These postings are really for me and about things I care about.  Well, for someone who was just trying to keep her commitment to post things regularly I have managed to say a lot about nothing at all.  'Til next time...

I was looking at recycling data the other day and was very disappointed in the numbers for Pearland. See my blog on that topic click here.  Last year Pearland had a solid waste diversion rate of 10%.  The low rate inspires me to try harder and reminds me that we at KPB need to do do a better job of getting into classrooms to change the norms associated with recycling and recycling behaviors.

A recent morning spent with kindergarten and 1st grade students reminded me that they are the key.  If we can reach more children and get our message out to them regularly I think that we can make changes in their behavior and their families behaviors.

We need more families in Pearland to do their part.  A drive through a Pearland neighborhood on recycling day was disappointing.  Only 1 out of 6 houses had a recycling bin in front of their houses.  Recycling has gotten to be so easy, but how do we get this message to the average family?  Most of what is put out for the garbage man is really recyclable or yard waste.   If we all did our part most of our solid waste can be diverted from landfill through consistent recycling and diverting green waste by putting it out for the green truck.

As long as packaging is clean it is recyclable curbside.  The only things not recyclable curbside in Pearland are plastic bags & plastic film and #6 polystyrene plastics.  Metal cans (steel, tin and aluminum), plastics (1-7 but not 6), glass, and all paper including cartons like milk cartons are recyclable curbside click here for a complete list.

Plastic bags and other plastic films can be recycled by stuffing them all in a plastic shopping bag and dropping them in the plastic bag drop off at several area stores including: HEB Plus!, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Randalls, Lowe's, and Sam's Club.  To find out more about plastic bag and plastic film recycling click here.

Yard waste and trimmings recycling is very easy to do.  To participate, residents should place grass, leaves, flowers, stalks, stems and trimmings in a translucent (semi clear) bag at curbside on their collection day. The weight of the bag should not exceed 35 pounds. Tree limbs and branches should be cut no longer than five feet in length and tied in bundles no larger than 18 inches in diameter and no heavier than 50 pounds. 

Need to know your recycling and yard waste pick up days? Use the City Property Search function to find out when your pick up days are for trash and recycling… click here and put your address in the fields in the top right corner.

Do you have any other questions about recycling in Pearland?  Want to have someone come and talk trash to your group or classroom? Give KPB a call at 281-652-1779 or email us a info@mykpb.org.  

AND
today is a lazy day for Fay.  A little lethargic I probably need to get up and move a bit, but I really am just feeling lazy.  A few photos of spiders and playing with iphoto to learn what I can do with it and then lunch and now perhaps a nap :-) and maybe read a book for a while... and just be lazy some more!

Recycling your Christmas tree is the best way to keep it out of the landfill.  If you think it is too early to think about Christmas ... think again!  Even before Halloween the retail establishments started pushing Christmas and setting up Christmas displays.  Christmas music can be heard playing in the background. Some places even have scents in the air relying on that strong connection between our sense of smell and Christmas memories to make the shopper think that Christmas is imminent.

Live fresh Christmas trees will soon appear in retail parking lots everywhere. Before purchasing your tree please don't get one that is flocked or flock it yourself.  Don't put tinsel or spray snow in your tree, those are practically impossible to remove from the tree.  After Christmas remove your tree from its stand, remove all tinsel and ornaments and recycle your tree.

Recycling Your Christmas Tree: Two Options

Option one:

Re-Use - Recycle - Reduce - Rot

Although it makes no sense to me.  These words and phrases: environmentally friendly, green and sustainability, have become polarizing words.  Among certain people any mention of these words brings forth a vision of the proverbial hippie, a liberal whacko unkempt person not capable of hard work and unable to keep a job.  If you tell one of these people that your job is to promote environmental responsibility they roll their eyes and ask if you are one of those "DEMOCRATs!"

My political affiliation is none of your business.  What is your business, our communities business, and my business is how to make things last, how to build a community that isn't breaking down our environment by using resources that are nonrenewable.  I believe that we need to come together and develop some creative solutions to reverse our cycle of environmental degradation, but for now we can at least slow down the rate at which it is happening.

So, these R's, my R's are central to how we can begin and for some of us continue toward the path of sustainability.  They are words we can use and by consistent messaging especially to children make it a norm for them to be a call to action.  We need to do environmental education while avoiding the words and phrases that create a political divide so that we can better reach our community.

By incorporating these actions into your daily life you can do your part.  You can help the community and lessen your impact.  Re-Use, Recycle, Reduce and Rot... these are actions, check back in and I will elaborate on each of these separately.

Fell off the blogging log yet again. Shouldn't let life get away so fast! I am going to try harder to remember to post things weekly and if I really get my act together, even daily. It isn't as if Fay doesn't have enough random crap go through her head. Perhaps sharing those with the world will be a gift to someone. OR it might get me in trouble with people who have a very limited, tunnel view of life. What the heck! Getting conversations going amongst open minded friends despite religious or political differences makes life more interesting. I will listen to you as long as you are willing to listen to me.