Sharing a Story with my Green-Friends

Sharing a Story with the World! I have to share an interesting story. Just last week, I went to go meet a friend of mine for lunch. She takes care of her mother, so I went to her house - and we hadn't seen each other in almost 2 years. Although we have been friends since 4th grade, life sometimes gets in the way of seeing the people that mean so much.

As we were sitting at the kitchen table, we began discussing Earth's Journey, and how excited I was with my new adventure of building this wonderful site, and showing the world how beauty can come out of recycling. I started talking about the talent that was out there that I've found, and how most people don't have that imagination to create beautiful works of art out of trash. My babbling about artists that use environmentally friendly materials must have triggered something in her mind because she suddenly said to me, "You know, sometimes when I'm bored, I play with Microsoft Paint and draw pictures on my computer." Well that's nice I thought, until she went and got me one of her so called "scrap paper" drawings. I was shocked. It was absolutely gorgeous! She created a picture of a landscape scene Tuscany on Microsoft Paint. Now if any of you have ever used Paint, you know as well as I do that you can't really draw with a steady hand because the control is on your mouse and unless you zoom into the picture you can't really see any fine lines.

So I started yelling at her! Okay, it was a friendly yelling, but she had no idea that what she just showed me was really very good. And not only that - what she was doing was Eco-Friendly!!! She was drawing on her computer; there are no chemical paints involved, no smells, no mess. I literally had to remind her of this... "Do you know you're very talented and eco-friendly?" Her response was, "I am?" I said that all she needed to do was to purchase some recycled paper and a reclaimed wooden frame, and she could show her own exhibit on our website! She said, "I could"? It was the excitement of a child – you know, sometimes it just takes someone to appreciate what you do for you to appreciate it yourself.

Please see the beautiful work of Mary Espenas below: (So, was I right, or is it just me?)

That very same week, I finally got a copy of the pictures my other girlfriend took from when we both attended the Willie Nelson concert at Radio City Music Hall. (Yes, I'm a BIG Willie Nelson fan.) She brought her digital camera and for weeks I was calling her asking when I would get a copy of the pictures. Well, I finally got them. Now, if it were me taking these pictures, they would come out blurry, far away, half of Willie cut off... I am not a very good photographer. Okay, so, what I saw in these pictures was someone with a definite eye for photography. Some people have that eye, and others like me, don't. I asked her, "how do you print these"? She responded I usually buy photography paper from Staples. Obviously my next question was, "Do they have environmentally-friendly photo paper", to which her answer was, "I don't know."
People live day-to-day without knowing they are creative and/or eco-friendly. I'm not saying that everyone in the world should become and artist and join Earth's Journey, but what I am saying is think about your life a little more. Is there something that you do on a daily basis, or enjoy doing, or have a hobby? Is there something you could do differently to be more eco-friendly? Do you have yard sales just to "get rid" of things in your home, only to find out that the $50.00 you made from 2 days of dealing with people trying to low-ball you, could have been donated to a worthy cause instead? Do you sell things on Ebay to realize that the kid down the street that doesn't have much could have used that old toy you just got $3.00 for?

A digital camera is again, digital. If you can find recycled photographer paper, then why not use that instead? My girlfriend only knew that she liked to take pictures, and didn't think she was any good, and sometimes it just takes someone to tell them. Please see my favorite Willie Nelson picture below, taken by my friend, and possible Eco-Artist, Jennifer Medaglia.