Acting Locally

Our family theme this year is "live lightly". We have always tried to live simply, partly because we spent years without a cent to spare but later because it seemed a more reasonable way to live.

This year we are making even more of a conscious effort, at the cost of convenience when necessary. Convenience is a subjective term and it all depends on what you are use to, of course. For example, I have never found it inconvenient to compost or recycle because I enjoy the process. I even enjoy the trip to the recycle center at times. I definitely enjoy the end result of a perfectly uniform humus for my garden. It is harder than you think.

One of the things I have been concentrating on this year is producing less garbage.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports the United States produces approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. This is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in compacted garbage. There are no statistics readily available for the entire planet, but considering the United States makes up about 4% of the world's population, this is a LOT. It is estimated that the entire planet's yearly production of garbage to be somewhere in the vicinity of 4 to 5 BILLION tons.

On average Americans generate 4.3 pounds of trash per day. Do the math: 4.3 X 365 = 1569.5 pounds per person per year. 285 million people in the US = 447307.5 Million pounds of trash. I am not confident of the final answer since I believe the figure was consumer trash production on average and did not account for industrial waste, but it is a start. (source:wikipedia)

Back in the 90s I lived in Ecuador for an extended period of time. I was amazed that most people just threw their trash out the bus window or over their fence. We Americans were more educated than that, largely due to an intensive marketing campaign in the 70's. Remember the Native American standing on a hillside, overlooking a highway littered with trash and the tear running down his cheek? Or the owl that said, "Give a hoot, don't pollute.". (To young to remember, you say? Oh shut up!) Well those very same uneducated Ecuadorians are light years ahead of us as far as per capita garbage production. Go to any dining establishment and just try walking out with your bottle of pop. They practically tackle you at the door. That recycled bottle is worth money. Eat at the greasy chicken joint, Pio Pio, and they dole out 2x4 inch single-ply paper napkins one at a time. Public bathrooms are (wo)manned by attendants who hand you an square or two of t.p. with which to wipe. Gotta go #2? Do it at home. They reduce, re-use and recycle EVERYTHING because they can't afford not to.

There are a few easy things we have done to reduce our garbage output. We almost never eat fast food or stop at convenient stores to buy snacks. We buy in bulk whenever possible and never buy the individual servings that are separately wrapped, such as snacks, drink boxes, soda pop, water. I bring my own cloth or reused plastic bags for shopping. I wash and reuse all plastic sandwhich and produce bags. I try to always carry a ceramic mug with me on trips so I can use it when I purchase a cup of coffee. We drink a LOT of coffee. Or we carry a Thermos of coffee if we are heading into parts where Folgers or Chock-Full-O-Nuts reigns supreme and decent coffee is hard to come by. I reuse boxes, packaging foam and wrapping paper. I don't need to purchase gift wrapping paper because there are so many other options that are free and less wasteful. We still have large sheets of white paper the movers used to wrap our dishes. We wrap with this and Owen decorates with glitter, paint, stickers and crayon. We steer clear of dollar stores and big box stores so as to avoid any temptation of filling our lives with useless plastic crap that comes triple wrapped. Cloth napkins instead of paper, rags and sponges in lieu of paper towels. This sort of lifestyle was the norm, say, 30 years ago before the advent of mass consumerism and a the disposable society.

I am sure there is more we could do. I am going to do an experiment when I get back to Idaho. I am going to save all my garbage for 1 week and weigh it and see how I compare to the average American.

So now to pontificate... I am amazed at how many educated Americans refuse to be even slightly introspective about their personal habits and their long term effects on the environment. It is so easy and cheap to change many of our ways. Bottled water, for example. What a racket that it, for starters. Water is free from most taps and just as good. And if not, there is the filtered water that comes from the fridge's front door or there are the Britta filter jugs. For god sakes, buy nalgene bottles and reuse those. Or buy a case of water and reuse the bottles. They will last for months if not years. It only takes a teeny effort to change that particular consumption habit. If you have not read up on the subject here is a good link:
http://container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2006/5-WMW-DownDrain.htm

Enough for now. I get a little worked up. I truly don't mean to offend, but.........