An Anchor on the Winds.
Wind anchors, are usually lines of rope tied to an immovable object.
A Sail, is a device anchored to a raft, boat, or other floatation device to capture the power of the passing breeze.
In skydiving and base jumping an anchor is deployed behind the pilot, called a Drogue. Which is essentially a bag that is first deployed to stabilize the pilot in free fall which has a dual purpose in assisting his/her parachute to properly open.
A Sea Anchor is deployed from a survival raft to anchor it with the ocean currents beneath helping maintain a steady course.
Without the anchor our travel would be sporadic and limited, at best. At any moment vulnerable to loose control of the direction of travel, becoming lost amongst the winds and the sea. Tossed in every direction but the destination we originally plotted out.
Humans have used bags and Anchors for many purposes throughout the years. We love our totes and pockets, wings, sails, boats, planes, and cars! But my question is, what are we filling them with, and what are we leaving behind? Are we leaving valuable items to just float away without an anchor?
Grocery bags for example, are great for carrying items from your cart to your home, but when you see them floating on the breeze they become an open invitation to fill them back up with the valuables we left behind, like trash and litter!
As we continue down the journey of life, our daily routines, what anchor do we use to keep us from floating off the path?
An empty bag is easily blown into the sky, tossed around to and fro, but a bag full of possibilities has potential. In our manufacturing sciences we’ve created a million possibilities for containers to be used in transporting items, but what else can those containers be recycled into?
My friend at Recology brought this question to me one morning, asking, “Think about it. What can this discarded item be turned into?” The answer has eluded me for a long while now.
Can a bag only be turned back into a bag? Can a box only be turned back into a box? A bottle, only remain a bottle? What are the other possibilities for these items?
Take earth ships in Arizona for example… tires, bottles, glass windows, and concrete. Together they create a sustainable zero waste microsystem large enough to support a family where no real resources exit. Very little rainfall on an annual basis, not enough to support a garden or a stable population of wildlife, and yet if you take a tour of one of these home pods… there is life flourishing within its artificial green house. By reusing discarded items these people have found a way to live in one of the most in hospitable places on earth. The Desert.
What about those living in the dense rainforest, how do they anchor themselves their homes, and their families through the hurricane storms? Could our recyclables be used to weather the storms around the sea and humidity better than the conventional stick homes of the past?
Are there young minds are out there willing to take on the challenge, of reusing our current materials to create more sustainable durable housing? Cleaner containers for our food and storage needs? And is there a better use for these materials we’ve mined than just burying them back into the ground? Why allow them to go to waste? Are their safe ways we can further utilize their potential energy, instead of letting it go to waste?
How can we further anchor these young minds, and materials. I believe our futures depend on developments in manufacturing, and habits at home.
My Dream would be that if we could Anchor our homes, habits, and lives on that which Creator wanted for us! Goals of:
Healthy Lifestyles, Communities, full of Creativity, and Love. But still focused on Cohesiveness with our Environments.
Seek peace and cohesion not war and destruction.
And as a reminder for all of us this Sunday a passage from the letter to the Roman church of old:
We are more than Conquerors!
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31 NIV
“Get Healthy, Help Nature”
JP