The Lost Plum…

[ NOTE: I have a kind of tradition of picking up all lose change I find while working in a space on a show/job. Kind of a little 'game' of lets see how much money I make on this show, I keep it all in a little jar...Im a nerd]

An unnamed Off-Broadway THEATER

TOTAL FOUND =$ 13.74 

(that dollar coin really was exciting to find, to bad I can’t spend it anywhere)

HOURS WORKED =

Now this is harder to figure out. I know of 32 days total I was not at the theater, but let’s round up and say 50 days I didn’t go in. I would say I work an average of 10 hours a day, but lets round that down to 8 (evens out those days I didn’t come in, and those days I didn’t sleep and spent the night, or two) Let’s say 360 days in the year minus the 50 days = 310 days/8hours each 2480 hours (and thats not including the fact I’m attached to my phone/email)

= 2480 hours

SO

$13.74 over 2480 hours

= $.0055 cents an hour! 

Conclusion: I love theater! where else can you make that much money from just bending down to pick it up, and get fired on a sunday.

We all know deep down I’m a bit of a granola environmental recycling loser! It’s never been a big secret, but I’ve just gotten better at hiding it I think. One issue I could talk your ear off about, and I am sure I might have done it before, is global warming (oh and plastic waste too, but that leads to global warming as well) 

Now the idea of Global warming isn’t new.  Even some of our favourite 80/90s sitcoms touched on the sensitive issues (Doogie Howser, Blossom, Picket Fences, Full House, Saved By the Bell, Family Matters….the list goes on)

The scientific community has reached a strong consensus regarding the science of global climate change. The world is undoubtedly warming! It is a fact! This warming is largely the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation. Continuation of historical trends of greenhouse gas emissions will result in additional warming over the 21st century, with current projections of a global increase of 2.5ºF to 10.4ºF by 2100, with warming in North America especially the US expected to be even higher. This warming will have real consequences for us and the world, for with that warming will also come additional sea-level rise that will gradually inundate coastal areas, changes in precipitation patterns, increased risk of droughts and floods, threats to biodiversity, and a number of potential challenges for public health. 

So as the polar bears begin to drown and die in the rising arctic waters (From A: ice melting and B: the fact that sea water expands when it is heated), as the heat waves, hurricanes, tornado’s, and floods kill our friends, family’s and neighbors. As warmer weather creates better breading grounds for mosquitoes who then increase the number of blood meals they take in accounting for the rise of West Nile, Malaria and other infectious disease. As spring comes sooner and last longer, as our Great Lakes continue to drop in water levels ( 2 feet lower in the last 3 years),

And as we all get up in the morning and turn on the TV to watch GOOD MORING AMERICA, with a new fancy set which in total has 40,000 florescent tube bulbs lighting it (and that only the florescent lights!!!)

Should we be examine our moral values. Examining our attitudes as they relate to our natural world. Each of us needs to ask ourselves: What makes us really happy? What makes us feel secure? It is highly questionable if money and tangible objects make us more happy, it is even possible that we tend to be less happy with our life’s when we have a lot of tangible objects and money to care for. Has our striving for more and more materialistic consumption caused us to forget that we are living human beings? We have to realize that we have much more in common with the plants, animals, air and water than we have with the mechanical, chemical and electronic world we have created around us.
Unfortunately, the dis-balance, which we have created between our lives and the Earth, is already showing the signs of disaster. We are in an imbalance, which, in the long run will cease to exist.

“Global warming will be the greatest environmental challenge in the 21st century.” ..- Vice President, Albert Gore.