I keep mulling over in my mind why I can be such a wasteful person. Our family of four fills most of a trash can and a full recycling can every week. Sometimes, I feel like I just bring bags of stuff into the house that I’ve deemed necessary, but don’t really need. The closets fill, the garage, the pantry, the fridge…
I ask myself, do I really need all this?
Stores stash trinkets that we don’t need at cash registers and aisle ends so we can’t pass without grabbing
a bit of the cuteness – or get away without a fit from the kids. Restaurants overload plates with food we can’t possibly eat. Malls are jammed with the same stores selling the same wares that a neighboring city or a city across the county will have – despite different geography, climate and demography. Grocery stores load long aisles with gleaming boxes and bottles of so many different versions of the same thing that I often find myself baffled at the choices – original, salted, un-salted, low cholesterol, low fat, fat-free, carb-free, low-carb, wipes, spray, powder, concentrate, ultra-concentrate, whole grain, multi-grain, plain, onion, raisin, bleached, unbleached! It is certainly convenient to have all these “things” at our disposal.
Key term here – “At our Disposal”
Since when are we so important that things should be readily available for us to dispose of? Do we not cherish the environment because we don’t cherish basic freedoms? Where did this mindset come from? I’ve made a few changes to our lifestyle and even in the small changes, I feel taken for granted by those unwilling to make the same change. For example, shall I purchase and remember my re-usable bags at every shopping trip only to be outnumbered by the amount of consumers walking away arms loaded with goods in disposable plastic bags? Are they undoing my good deed? Do they even see my good deed as good?
A comment in a recent 800 words article, “Light of My Life” – ( Dan Neil, an automobile reviewer, writes for the LA Times Magazine on Sundays) – upset me. In the article, Neil was quoting a blogger from the Free Republic website – Steadfastconservative – who had written: “I don’t care if the compact bulbs save energy or not or if they are better for the environment. Just how many more freedoms are we going to have to sacrifice for the sake of the environment?” (I couldn’t find either to link here). I instantly saw red. How could it be? Changing a lightbulb was so easy, yet someone would find a way to see it as a threat to their freedom! Would we be alive to bemoan our freedoms if it weren’t for the air we breathe or the water we drink? Let’s be free to pollute ourselves to death! Is it through this very sense of freedom that we become greedy and wasteful? Do we appreciate what is difficult to attain? The basics are bountiful and taken for granted.
I believe we are hurting the environment with our wasteful lifestyles. I strive to get people to realize what they can do to honor this great gift of earth and air and water. The next time you’re shopping and you’re going to buy that thing that you just have to have…think about it. Will that thing end up in a dump next year? Can that $5 go to a better cause? Take a look at your waste. How much is it? Is it all necessary?
Do you need it like you need earth, air and water?
As I read your blog, I found myself remembering a vist some time ago from a European friend. We went to the grocery store and she was stunned by how much variety we have. When I asked for a pound of ham and the clerk threw what was just over a pound to balance the scale into the trashcan…she was horrified.
I love your post! I am so tired of the greedy, buffet gorging, over- indulgent, lifestyle of Americans.
I’m trying. I’m really making an effort to change the things that I can that are wasteful.
No matter how many people refuse to change the way the live their lives, we will continue to be one less family adding to the problem.