Between the Bear and myself, we must own 25 travel mugs of various persuasions, numerous water bottles or different kinds, and a host of feast gear. Sadly, I still end up with drive-thru cups from time to time. I’m better than I used to be, but nowhere near where I need to be.
I’m significantly older than you…and I remember the first time I had the “Aha!” moment you describe. I was in the 8th grade (so that was 1968, I think)…and we were discussing Toffler’s “Future Shock” (at least I think that was the book…it’s been a LONG time!). Prior to that discussion, I had never even thought about garbage…except to grumble when I had to do anything with it. We started talking about all the stuff we throw away on a daily basis, and picturing the mountains of garbage that would result. I remember vividly the shock of recognition I felt when, for the first time, I realized that we were seemigly trying to become a disposable society. Razors struck me particularly, as I was bound and determined to use the cute, plastic disposables instead of the clunky, old-fashioned razors my parents owned. The other item that drove it home to me was sliced cheese. Yes, those ubiquitous slices of American cheese, each individually wrapped in its own, forever-and-a-day-in-the-dump plastic wrapper. We talked about how packaging had gone from simply wrapping something in butcher paper to using plastic inner and outer wraps, often with a box around that. A pretty shocking realization for a country girl who, up until then, believed that all the shiny, plastic, throwaway stuff was sophisticated, intelligent, and worldly-wise, not ignorant and backwoods like the use-it-till-it-breaks-then-fix-it mentality of my parents and grandparents.
The outcome of that day or awakening? I still make mounds of garbage every year. We recycle a lot of items, and I’m *aware* but we’ve not really done anything to avoid excess packaging, nor have we eliminated disposables from our lives. Convenience is a smooth operator, a fast-talking, snake-oil salesman who really does have our number.
How do we encourage each other and those around us to do better? The only way I can see to *truly* make changes in how much garbage we produce is to simplify our lives. The time it takes to do things without disposables…to wash towels instead of using paper, to use cloth napkins, to buy in ways that eliminate as much extra packaging as possible, to not stop at the drive thru on a busy morning…those things take time. We’ve filled out lives so full that we just don’t have time left available to do the right thing. How do we change that?
The answer seems easy…just slow down…don’t do so much…prioritize…do the right thing…and if it were that easy, I like to think we’d all be doing it. Maybe it is that easy and I’m just that mired in my evil ways.
I don’t know the answer, but I live a mile from the Hamilton County Landfill and there is now a small mountain where a flat pasture used to be, made entirely of garbage, a lot of it mine. I get queazy everytime I drive by there, and I still don’t have the answers. The best I’ve come up with so far is, “Do something right even if you can’t do everything right.”
My, but I do go on…sorry for the long rant. You touched a nerve.
I'm not going to go into great detail on this here because I need to sleep soon. But I'm going to get it off my chest before laying down for the night. Maybe I'm the only one ...
Talk about your lightning bolts out of the blue. Or maybe I should say, talk about the fact that the coffee in the to-go cup is actually hot!
Heartsong (heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com) |
Thursday, 3rd September 2009 at 7:04 AM