Sustainability - it's our future!

My husband calls me 'hippie', my sister and brother in law refer to me as 'Captain Planet'. Truth is, I am trying my hardest to to help our planet by being somewhat green. We recycle, I have eco bulbs in my lamps and a half gallon of water stuck in the tank of the toilet. I only water my plants every other day and never, ever wash down the driveway. I only wash laundry and dishes when I have full loads and always after 9pm. I bring my own bags to the grocery store and never take plastic if I only have a few items that can be carried in my hands. I buy stuff at the Goodwill, refuse to buy water bottles (except on occasion) and reuse anything and everything I can more than once. I use cottage cheese and sour cream containers to send home left overs with my kids. I use milk jugs for sun tea. Colored glass bottles (from beer or other drinkables) I turn into root starter bottles for my plants. I have a composter in the backyard and chickens that will hopefully produce eggs for us soon. While my garden is still 'in progress', hopefully I will be able to grow my own veggies all pesticide free someday. Why you ask? Because I am trying to be more sustainable, because it's the right thing to do!

 

We as American have gotten so spoiled that we pay no mind to where things come from or how they are disposed. You wheel your trash to the curb each week and don't worry about anything other than if the can is empty. But we are Americans! We should be proud! And what do we have to be proud of? Americans are the biggest wasteful society on the planet. We keep thinking that someday, technology will catch up with the problems that we are creating and that we will be able to 'fix' everything. Like the landfill and waste problems, pollution in our waterways, global warming, a lack of natural resources, species dying off, the icecaps melting and our oceans rising. Nature is being continually destroyed by the 'smart' species of the planet. But I have to ask myself, why do we continue down this path of destruction when it is not necessary? Why must we continue spending to replace completely good items, just to be in style and have the newest and greatest? Do you know that we actually ship our e-waste to other countries? Some of them being so poor, they accept our waste for money. So in other words, we are not even keeping our trash here, but we are shipping it elsewhere now and destroying the lands of others? It's just all wrong.

I don't know about you, but there is nothing better to me than enjoying the great outdoors. I love traveling to new places, going camping, boating, fishing and diving.   Doing whatever  I can whenever I can to see what there is to see out there in the big world and in our oceans. I love taking pictures of the flowers and the trees, our natural waterways and formations. I love hearing the birds sing and seeing wildlife in it's natural habitat. It's all beautiful, natures most natural wonders. What I don't like seeing is broken bottles, cigarette butts, dirty diaper and trash littering our forests and camping spots. Plastic bottles and cans underwater. I don't like seeing spray paint on the rocks or old furniture that has been dumped there. Every time I go, I pick up all of our trash, including my cigarette butts. Nothing is left behind. That's how it should be. Leave nothing behind but footprints in the sand.

My dad always told me "leave a place better than you found it" and I have taken this to heart over the years. It is so true! How much effort does it take to haul out your own trash and add a little of someone else's as well? My kids will tell you when we have gone tubing down the Salt River, I have a rule. Everyone is required to pick up 10 pieces of trash that are not their own and haul it out. On average, there is about 10 of us who go. That's 100 pieces that we have picked up with no effort at all. Just think - this could make a HUGE impact if everyone did it. Bottom line is, no matter where you are in the wild, please think about this when you see someone else's mess. You can bend it over and pick it up, or you can just say "it's not my mess". Choose right and be the better person.

While you may laugh at my little efforts now, you won't be laughing later when we are living like people in Water World. Every little bit helps and I know that if everyone made a small effort like me, all of those little efforts will add up to make a BIG difference and it will help and it does matter. It will be people like me who train tomorrows youth these ways and that is what will eventually save Mother Earth and the human race.

And I will be proud. And that will be something to smile about :)