Part of living sustainable is being flexible. Oh tomatoes aren't in season? Perhaps I'll try my sandwiches with cucumbers instead (or perhaps I'll try and convince Pumpkin to do that but fail). Bus/train doesn't come right now? Take a walk, run a short errand, read a book, read a newspaper, read a magazine, send a txt, catch up on the phone with a friend until it does.
Part of living sustainable is being shameless. Bike seat stolen? Txt a bike friend, make a freecycle post. Accepting a stack of work pants from a shopaholic. Letting everybody know you need a carpool somewhere via facebook. Americans value independence, I am enamored with dependence. It brings us together and most times, people are happy to help you out (especially if you bike to their house to start the carpool). I couldn't do it without my amazing network of friends and family, but then again, who knows if it is the cause or effect of my dependence. In other words, do I have such a great network because I depend on them or because I value relationships over buying stuff?
This month I will be receiving two items of significant value, for free. (1) Rockband 1&2 (only missing a guitar), from a guy I dated a couple of times, and (2) an used Intel Core Duo CPU, from a long time friend who works for Microsoft. In both cases, the guys thought of me from fond memories.
For (1), we used to play Rockband late into the night so when he had to give it up upon moving into noise constraints, he thought of who it would bring the most joy to and he thought of me. That's fantastic, because I have wanted Rockband since it came out, but found the $200 price tag completely outrageous. I was flexible in waiting, and now, rewarded!
For (2), we've built computers together and he's constantly trying to get me to upgrade. After falling for consumerism once or twice in college, his case has been harder to plead. With each upgrade, my desktop remained unused for the intended gaming and instead for basic computing and so I learned my lesson. But I'll certainly take a faster processor to go with 2 GB of RAM (also given by him, at an earlier date) if it's free. Since the almost demise of my laptop (which Jon and I have taken apart and put together at least 5 times), I'm finding the desktops superior specs (and large monitor) very alluring.
I shamelessly accepted both gifts.
Finally, part of living sustainable is doing it yourself. If my bike gets a flat, I know how to fix it (whereas fixing a car would be far more complicated and potentially lethal). Cooking from scratch is cheaper than cooking from boxes, is cheaper from cooking from frozen, is cheaper than going out. In this case, I have to know how to connect Rockband to my Xbox 360 (like any xbox owner would). Perhaps harder is installing a CPU, but in terms of computer part upgrades, it's really one of the simplest (RAM being the easiest).
But why should they give? What do they get? Nothing (that they know about- but delicious homemade Christmas cookies and my gratitude are in store!). Or is it a question of what do they have to lose? Nothing. So then perhaps, it's a case of having everything to gain.
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