Gingerbread House! (and Addicted To Plastic)

So I know that I promised I would tell you all about the movie I was watching (Addicted to Plastic) and I will in just a minute - I just got distracted by these pictures from my Gingerbread house! I love Christmas and I adore Christmas baking. I didn't actually get to bake the house myself since it was made while I was out at camp - I did get to decorate it though! Isn't it the cutest little cabin you ever did see? It is actually the Domco retreat office (I know the close up is blurry - I apologize... I didn't have the new camera yet). I had so much fun working on this and thanks a bunch to Trudy who took the pictures for me!

I made the windows out of melted candy and the trees are ice cream cones covered in icing. I plan on taking some new pictures when I get back out at work this month, then I will be taking the *NEW* camera with me! Hurray! The baker also told me that they will be creating a village with all of the houses that people made and that could be finished when I get back in. Exciting!

These last two pictures are a couple I took off the balcony tonight - the colour was just amazing! Nothing like a sunset to brighten (darken??) the evening.

Now then - about that movie. So I watched Addicted To Plastic (among other documentaries) the other night and I must say - very interesting. Okay that is an understatement.

For those of you who know me, I am already a bit of ... hmm.... how to put this kindly..... an earth loving nut? Okay maybe not quite that extreme, but I do care a lot about the Earth and the way people treat it. I guess you could say that I feel that we were given the Earth as a gift and should be good stewards of what God gave us.

Sooooo on to the movie: it talks about how plastic surrounds us in our daily lives and how we have basically  taken it for granted. Instead of treating it like a valuable commodity we treat it like garbage. The filmmaker brings up a very valid point however: plastic doesn't go away! There was a really crazy scene in the movie where they use this "manta ray" trolling system that skims the ocean for plastic pieces (small pieces). The water they bring up is a veritable soup of plastics in all forms. The craziest part is that they are miles and miles and miles away from shore.

The film also talks about the toxic effects of recycling, manufacturing and disposing of plastics and the effects it has on the developing world. While some of the information was stuff I already knew I found it quite interesting and also thought provoking.

The movie got me thinking about a project concerning garbage production that I had done for the Science Fair when I was a child. People produced a lot of garbage then and I bet it is even more now. I had to sit and think about how much garbage I produce in a year (it's a lot) and what I could do to reduce that amount.

I would recommend the film to others because it will get you thinking. The movie doesn't propose that we get rid of plastic completely but rather that we treat it with more respect. I hope you have a chance to see it! (Family - you can borrow it from me anytime!)

What are your garbage production reducing strategies?

Ciao!