With the constant talk of climate change, the weird weather and rising energy prices, it's hard to ignore what's been going on. Not that I want to.
After seeing Dr. Suzuki on tv a couple of times lately, we're going to try and follow his Nature Challenge. As it is we try and do things like bike to work (when it's not -30 C) . Next steps are to bring our own bags to the stores (not just grocery) and reduce the number of plastic bags that get about 30 minutes of use before we put them in the trash. Same with lunches: try and reduce the amount of garbage that we generate. The meatless meals once a week will give me a chance to try out some different types of cooking, like Thai.
We're not going to go all freaky and wear burlap sacks while sitting in our mud hut in the forest, but we're going to work on the little things one at a time. I think that in north america we have a culture of waste, and I'm not really happy about being apart of that. If we all just changed a few little things, it would make such a big positive impact for ourselves and not just our children.
4 (possibly 5) of those 10 things he listed are basically the equivalent of stop driving so much. I believe this is the biggest problem with pollution. They are 3, 6, 8, 9, and possibly 7, which doesn't cut down on your driving, but cuts down on the amount of tranportation for your food. I'm not completely against driving, but I do think that people drive way too much in our society. I've seen people drive from my building to the Tim Hortons next door. It's crazy. Even if I had a car, I hope I would never get that lazy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i've sort of developed this mindset of environmental responsibility over the past couple of years. It actually (emotionally?) hurts me when i see stupid waste, and plastic bags may be my biggest enemy. When i go to the grocery store, i almost never use their bags. When the convenience store cashier attempts to put my *bag of milk* *in a bag*, i just give him the evil eye. Seriously, that irks me. Sometimes in clothing stores, i ask them if they mind me just taking the clothes that i bought and putting them in my backpack, and not using a bag. (It may look a little fishy if i have their stuff in my bag without it being in one of their bags, so that's why i ask.) There are all sorts of other examples where i at least try to reduce my waste. Seriously, i'm a freak sometimes with asking sales people to do different things so that i don't have to cause waste either directly or indirectly. (Like if i'm full after eating 2/3 of my meal at a restaurant, and i want to take the rest home, i may ask them if they put the "doggy bag" in styrofoam. If they do, then i'll just stay and force every last bit of food down my throat before i'll use the styrofoam. I hate that sh*t.)
ReplyDeleteTo me, it's not our environment and it's not our Earth. Thus, we have no right to just destroy it, especially since it's our kids who will have to liv in our mistakes. Can you just walk up to someone else's car and smash in all the windows? No, because it's not yours. That's why we have no right to treat the environment like that either.
I'm far from perfect, but at least i'm conscious of what i do.