My group and I were paired with the University of Washington WashPIRG chapter. We were able to dedicate our project to their – Break Free From Plastics Campaign. Navigating our action project while also engaging in the course material, helped my group and I to determine what exactly we wanted to get out of our project and how we would achieve that. We centered our project around holding multiple clean-ups near the University District. We felt as if the area itself was so highly targeted for littering due to how many students and people populate this area. By taking the time to pick each piece of trash up, I felt frustrated and reminded that collectively we all contribute to the waste we see before our eyes. My group and I felt that the implementation of contemplative practices would help us to feel more grounded and in tune with ourselves and the project we took on.
For our group, these practices were experiments at first. We had just met in person for the first time and were asked to sit, breathe, and feel the weight of the world upon our shoulders. However, in the end, we all benefited from taking this time and feeling this shared sense of responsibility and collective action towards change. Throughout this course, I personally struggled with discussing the ecology of death. I had never before faced head-on my feelings and acceptance of death. It was until I had read Joan Halifax, Being with Dying, that discussing this topic became easier to wrap my mind around. She recalls that “accepting impermanence and our shared mortality requires loosening the story knot: letting go of our concepts, ideas, and expectations around how we think dying ought to be.” I felt so strongly tied to the idea that I should avoid discussing death, that I myself was afraid to accept that change is inevitable.
And through this group project, I could share in the mortality of others, and see firsthand the waste we have accumulated in our neighborhoods. Our fear of death should be intertwined with the ecological crises we face in the near future. Instead of choosing to build characters and cultures that shield ourselves from our helplessness, we should consciously choose to break this cycle and be driven to protect what is left of this Earth.
