Above is my sugar bowl after too much holiday celebrating. This photo was taken after I added the leftover powdered sugar with red sprinkles from my holiday cookie baking, just a little recycling of the more attractive variety.
We have a small lidded jar on the kitchen counter that gets all the vegetable and fruit peelings, the coffee grounds, the wilted lettuce and anything else that will work to our benefit in the compost pile in the garden. We do get the rare batch of hatching fruit flies, but if we are careful, they only last a few days.
We take out the leftover grease from the pot roast and carry it to the ravine for the squirrels and foxes. We dump the shells from clams and oysters at the far edge of the river for the raccoons and otters to clean. The stale crackers go to the birds and the stale bread to the ducks, and recently, some spoiled raw lamb stew meat to the crows, which was most interesting to watch.
We use the newspaper to mulch the weeds in the garden and recycle all the magazines at the dump along with the rinsed glass and metal and plastic and foil.
We take the clothes, shoes, games, books and other stuff we no longer use to the church store.
We usually take our own cloth bags to the grocery store, but when we forget, we still find uses for the plastic bags that we bring home. They help group all the zip-locked garden vegetables by type in the chest freezer or they are used for carrying stuff up to my daughter's house or holding the used batteries until we take them in. We tuck them in our backpacks to carry out any trash we may find on our hiking adventures. They are useful as shoe-bags in the suitcase.
I return my printer cartridges to the office supply store for a discount on expensive new printer cartridges.
We combine our errands so that we take fewer car trips to the store and post office.
But I am not patting myself on the back because these are such teeny-tiny and common gestures to help reduce our footprint on this planet. We are not handy types and thus fail to repair or replace broken machinery or appliance items so that they can be used once again. We are not as careful as we should be on our use of oil and electricity since we are only two people using a big house, and we tend to move to new technology as soon as we can afford it...me with my camera and PC and my husband with his GPS and boat.
I sincerely believe that global climate change, removal of fossil fuels, disposal of toxic waste, and accidental introduction of non-indigenous species to areas is changing this planet at a hugely rapid rate. Just watching the natural disaster news for a month proves that. I work regularly to help my grandchildren learn what fresh natural food tastes like, how being careful with toys and turning off batteries help the planet, and keeping them aware of the fragility of our natural environment as they tramp through it. But my overall battle plan seems so small and weak and any help you all can give will make this much better.
"my overall battle plan seems so small and weak"
ReplyDeleteif every single one of us did as much, we'd win the war!
Wonderful post to help us start the New Year off right!
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!!! So well-stated. I'm here in northeast Tennessee doing my tiny part also. :)
ReplyDeleteWe have done these things for years as well. My family accuses me of being a garbage Nazi because everything is so sorted. When my daughter came home on her first college break (Early '90's), her comment was, "Mom, do you know there are people in the world who don't recycle? My roommate threw her shampoo bottle in the TRASH."
ReplyDeleteYou set a good example, nonetheless. I am a lot more conscious about re-cycling than I used to be, but we have to drive a long way to a facility to get rid of old electrical items and so forth, so it almost seems like cancelling itself out. No excuse not to do paper and bottles though, they are local.
ReplyDeleteWe're similar - we try and try and try. I'm drawing the line at self-composting toilets, though. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteI do my best to recycle plastic, paper and alumunum but I don't do nearly as much as you. You should be proud of yourself.
ReplyDeleteAtta girl. That's a pat on the back from me to you.
Doing the same things here, Tabor, and wondering what else we can do to tread a little more lightly on the earth.
ReplyDeletesmall and weak, sure, in the face of the enormous threat that global warming poses to life on our planet, absolutely essential.
ReplyDeleteYou could have written my list.
My little slops container on the draining board gets emptied into a larger bin standing by the back door. This in turn gets emptied into one of the huge compost bins in the garden.
We practically recycle everything. It's become a totally natural way of life.
But, Tabor, I sincerely wish that the younger generation would be as concerned about their environment; do you find that they are more casual than you? I certainly do.
I think you are doing fine. We took our recycling to the appointed place for years, so were happy when mandatory recycling came to our town. I grew up in the country, doing most of the household things you do. My parents actually had very little to dispose of, and everything else was put to good use.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because you wrote this post today, a few more folks will decide to give recycling a tryl.
Wonderful post. We do many of the same things you do to reduce our footprint. I don't find that taking the time to do these things is a burden, either. It's just what we should have been doing long before now.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that the push to recycle has also inspired a whole new set of plastic merchandise designed to help us recycle? I wonder what will happen to all of these red yellow and blue plastic bins and totes when the next iteration of more earth friendly containers comes along?
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post. Encouraging for those of us who struggle with recycling. I have made progress though since moving to Oregon. I feel like a fish out of water in Texas.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. You do far more than the average person.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't seem small and weak to me! I try to do as much as I can, but you put me to shame!
ReplyDeletei do these things, too. i've also been a vegetarian for years, something that probably makes as great an impact as all my diligence with turning off lights, using canvas bags and avoiding (when possible) purchasing items made of (or packaged in) plastic.
ReplyDeletesadly, it's really difficult to be environmentally-friendly in this modern age.
Our life is so low key we are naturally conservative (in more ways than one). Food left overs go to the animals, outgrown clothes go to the Salvation Army, water has to be conserved because we are on well water. We save our trees on our ten acres and plant more and we burn all our trash, including plastic shopping bags.
ReplyDeleteTabor, right their with you. I try to not waste anything. Wonder what will come up in my compost this Spring. In the past some of the best veggies ever :)
ReplyDeleteHey - I always learn from you - not this time :)
If everyone were as conscientious as you are it would be a much cleaner planet. You are to be congratulated for the ultimate in recycling and in going 'green'.
ReplyDeleteBravo....yes, we don't compost because we don't have a garden, and we recycle a few different place than you....but we are about the same here. Except for one thing. I still drive my 16 year old truck. Perhaps you can say I am recycling by continuing to drive the darn thing. That's the single item I feel guilty about in this day and age of small footprints.
ReplyDeleteI threw out some rice foe the birds but (judging by the droppings) attracted mice! I am still wondering how to dispose of the new energy efficient light bulbs. I heard they a have mercury in them. I think you started something with that snazzy sugar!
ReplyDeleteI like the colored sugar in your sugar bowl! And boy, you are far ahead of most people with all of the other things that you do.
ReplyDeleteWe also do many of these things. I love it that we have "mixed recycling" in our town; newspaper, plastic, and cans can all go in one container. We have also started pulling the pugs on chargers and appliances like the coffee maker and coffee grinder when they are not in use b/c apparently they are sucking small amounts of energy even when they are just sitting there.
That's plugs, not pugs!! Ha!
ReplyDeleteHi There, WE do almost all of the same things you do. In addition, we don't use our clothes dryer much (except for sheets). Since our community won't allow outdoor clothes lines, I have a rack in my laundry room and also hang wet clothes over the showers in our bathrooms. We keep our heat lower than normal and don't use AC much in the summer. Don't know how much a hybrid auto helps--but we have a Prius and love it. We try our best--but like you said, it just seems so small in the big scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Betsy
Wow, you put me to shame. I do some of those things, because I was raised that way. The family rancher/farmer has always been aware of their imprint on the land. You don't last long if you aren't.
ReplyDelete