Waste Not, Want Not
Or not? We, as humans, are very wasteful creatures (or most of us are, anyway). I am feeling a little wasteful right now, myself. Allergies have taken a firm , nasty grip on me today (I actually had to wait on writing this post because I couldn’t see straight out of my right eye, thanks to allergy… goo?), and my tissue usage has skyrocketed. Although I’m trying my best to use as little as possible, it’s pretty difficult. I’ve even shoved tissues up my nose to stop the continuous flow without the use of a new tissue every 30 seconds! Too much info? ;)
I’m a pretty cynical person to begin with; I have a tendency toward negativity, which is a big reason why I try not to watch the news very often (it seems every time I turn it on, it gives me another reason to want to lock myself in a closet!). Since starting this site, I’ve become more critical of the actions I see people taking. A couple of weeks ago, I opened up the dumpster to find a prime example of waste that, to put it nicely, pissed me off. I don’t see enough people making use of reusable bags here, which is one thing, but when someone takes a reusable shopping bag (a very large, nice looking, high quality one, might I add), and uses it as a garbage bag? That really makes my blood boil.
I’m not perfect. My showers are too long, and I spend too much time on my laptop, but I am trying. I came across a site that I wanted to share that gave me the motivation for this post, Every Single Little Thing. I believe it is written by the same person who writes PassionateGreen, a site I love. Sarah wrote a post that she titled Water Love, which is on the same basis as this: waste.
We would be amazed at what we could do if we had no choice. If there were limits to the length of a shower, we would find a way to get everything done in that time. If electricity was limited we would make more use of candles during the evening hours, and actually spend time talking and playing with our families. If we had to, we could make do.
It’s true. I learned forced limitation two summers ago, when we lost power from a bad storm for a few days. A pipe burst and we couldn’t drink from our tap due to risk of contamination. This, unfortunately, meant we had to buy bottled water, but it taught me to drink water that had been sitting for awhile instead of pouring it down the sink, which is what I used to do. If I didn’t, not only would I dehydrate from the extreme heat (we are on the 3rd floor of our condos and it was well into the upper 90s/low 100s), but I might run out of water. We went without the television, computers, and all other electronics for days, and we didn’t die!
It doesn’t take much to change. Start out with something small: make less food for dinner so you don’t waste any, turn the faucet OFF when brushing your teeth and set a timer for your shower, turn the TV off when you aren’t watching it and the lights off when you walk out of the room, and for the love of cookies, DON’T USE YOUR REUSABLE SHOPPING BAGS AS GARBAGE BAGS!!! We don’t want to be in a Futurama situation where we have to shoot our garbage into space!
And on a final note, I have to quote the title of another of Sarah’s posts, “Yes, One Person Can Change the World.”
