Independence Day Wish List

Some seemingly minor but actually major things I would like us to free ourselves of. List is ongoing and in no particular order.

1) Bottled water

Seriously, there should be a special place in hell for an industry that has:

1) systematically undermined public trust in the public water system;
2) undermined the political will to clean up the public water supply where necessary;
3) drained springs and aquifers;
4) created endless mountains of junk plastic; and
5) convinced the most economically vulnerable households that they need to buy its product.

#RefuseBottledWater — Our resistance is more powerful than we think.

BTW if you haven’t already, Google to find all kinds of studies showing that the quality of bottled water is not significantly different from the quality of tapwater. Same with the taste, in blind taste tests.

2) Spending hours pulling “weeds”

I’m only 61 and already my back and shoulders protest loudly, so when I see people 15-20 years older than me spending hours pulling weeds, I am torn between being envious of their fitness, and wanting to save them from this drudge work. There are many ways to put an end to this drudge work.

1) Learn the names and attributes of the so-called “weeds”; many are free food and medicine, as well as supporting butterflies and other

2) Grow your desired plants closer together. Nature abhors a vacuum; she doesn’t plant plants with big areas of mulch in between. Neither should we.

3) When the occasional unwanted plants spring up, just cut them to the ground with scissors. This is called “chop and drop.” The cut vegetation nourishes the surrounding plants, and the root that remains in the soil supports the teeming microbial life of the soil and helps prevent erosion. Healthy soil absorbs more stormwater and acts as a filter.