In addition to being a word nerd, I also consider myself an environmental geek. On this page I am happy to share a few pieces that I have written about the environment and the ways in which it sometimes interacts and intersects with the writing world. If you like what you see, click here to subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly dose of knowledge, inspiration and word nerd resources delivered to your inbox.
~ Amanda Zieba
Environmental Blog Posts
Covid Sucks: Unless You’re Mother Nature
You may or may not know, but in addition to my writing work I am also an instructor at Western Technical College. At the college I support different general studies courses, helping students with their essays and written reports - putting my writing guru skills to use in the form of creating pre-writing graphic organizers, giving feedback on drafts in progress and offering up self-editing checklists.
One of the essays I helped students write, edit and submit this past semester focused on finding the positives in our current pandemic stricken lives. The lead instructor and I read about all sorts of interesting silver linings. Students wrote about having time to improve personal habits including healthy eating, exercise regimins and better sleep schedules. They also wrote about improving their personal relationships because they spent less time running around like a chicken with their head cut off and more time at home with their parents, spouses and children. They wrote about the benefits the slower pace of life had on their mental health and their ability to use additional free time to reconnect with nature. I enjoyed reading all of these essays, but the ones I found most intersting were the ones that shared the positive effects the COVID-19 virus has had on the state of our planet’s environment.
A Word Nerd Turned Enviro-Geek's Experiment with Bamboo Toilet Paper
In addition to being a word nerd, I am a pretty big geek when it comes to the environment. I am also borderline obsessed with recycling. Sometimes writers write about writing, and other times they use their words to share a message they believe in. Today is the later. Here’s what I learned about a company doing their best to help consumers make eco-friendly purchases when it comes to household items.
Tree by Tree
On my recent nine day writing road trip I carried bags of plastic bottles and aluminum cans home with me because Northern Michigan only recycles Michigan made plastic through the depository system, and the cabin I was at in Northern Minnesota didn’t have a recycling pick up in it’s rural community. This might sound absurd, but just like the man in the famous starfish story, I believe every little bit counts and helps keep our planet habitable longer. All of these pieces of plastic sparked an idea. Why not? Why couldn’t authors save the world? Why not readers for that matter was well?
Books and Trees; It’s Complicated
As a word nerd, I consume a LOT of paper. I prefer paperbacks to eBooks. I prefer bookstores to the library. I prefer to write longhand and then type my work, only to print it out, edit on paper and then repeat. I used to say that I WASTE a lot of paper, but in the past few years I’ve amended that mindset to confess that I USE a lot of paper. But this doesn’t change the fact that two loves of my life are in conflict. Books and our planet.To celebrate Earth Day (week) I’ve gathered several facts (the good, the bad and the ugly) about the publishing and printing industry and paper. Hopefully, armed with these facts, we can make a can make environmentally conscious decisions when it comes to our work creation, book production and overall paper consumption.
My Part for the Planet
Disclaimer: This post does not fall into my typical content, but part of being a good steward of my gift as a writer is using it to make the world a better place. Sometimes I do that by helping you escape in a story and other times I use my words to inform my blog audience about a particular word nerd entity that has captured my attention. Today, however, I will do neither of those things. Today, I am using my writing talents to convince you to be nice to our planet. You’ve been warned. Read on if you are still interested.
