I dropped the salt. I know, I know, it’s bad luck to spill a little salt. Maybe the bad luck ends when the shaker breaks in half, pouring out its contents onto the counter and the floor, a million crystals mocking my clumsiness, one can hope anyway. Normally something broken would have been thrown into the trash without a second thought, but not today.
The night before the shaker broke, a few of us had casually discussed the end of the world, over supper. Climate change is worsening, but I had somehow remained unaware of just how quickly and just how giant an impact this will have on humanity. Ignorance turned into a feeling of impending doom as we discussed the worsening fires and lack of rainfall. Ten years “they” say til we feel the harsh wrath of the earth, thirty years before we are likely fighting for existence. No one knows the exact timeline, but the idea that there is one that expires at all and quite possibly in our life time is terrifying. It feels irresponsible not to fix the shaker.
Not fixing it may have imminent consequences.
As a country we are giving up plastic straws. I too watched the video of the sea turtle with the straw painfully lodged in its nose, poor guy, but there’s no way sea turtles are constantly doing this and yet for that little guy and maybe a handful of his friends, we are doing it. There are far more environmentally hazardous and unnecessary things. Maybe we are just being eased into it, if we survive surrendering our plastic single-use straws, surely we can give more without altering our lives too greatly. Single-use hangers for example, you only need one set of hangers. After shopping, you take the clothing off the hanger and put it on a better hanger or into a drawer, where does the single use hanger go? Certainly not the recycling, they don’t get recycled, believe me, we tried.
Apparently recycling is just a feel-good activity anyway, to make us feel better about our copious amounts of waste products, as most of it is put into landfills.
But imagine for a minute that “repaired” became the new trendy. Our items would gather scars and character from their time with us, creating charming conversation pieces. For instance:
“Please pass the salt”
“Here you are”
“Oh wow, what a charming salt shaker, what’s her story?”
My in-laws very generously lend us their camper trailer each year for my sibling camp out. It’s perfect, fully stocked with all the necessities it makes packing easier, sleeping comfortable and undesirable weather bearable. We made a meal, slapped the food onto the plates and the plates literally fell to pieces, right there on the tiny counter. Just gave out from the weight of the toddler sized portion of food. I thought this was next-level thriftiness, which is admirable in itself, but now I’m aware that saving free collectible dishes from Shreddies, circa 1985, is very environmentally friendly. That dish far exceeded its life expectancy and the in-laws can feel good about having not wasted. I guess this ought to be the trend.
Waste not, want not, has long been forgotten, and certainly not well practiced here in the western world, not by my generation anyway. In an age where things are cheaply mass produced and so easily replaced, that’s exactly what’s happening, replacing and not repairing, often replacing before it’s even required. I’m guilty, so guilty. I want to change and it begins today.
We need to evolve or there may be catastrophic consequences. And I hope that all of our little efforts add up.
So I glued that big old piece of plastic back together. I might even add some cute tape. And if you’re ever at my house for supper and see that glued-up, taped-up piece of unwasted plastic, I will tell you about the day I feared for the end of humanity. At the very least it will remind me to be more environmentally conscientious, to take better care of the Earth that cares for us.
What’s the greenest thing you’ve done this week?
Good reminder, Natasha!
The greenest thing I’ve done this week? Probably manually aerating the front and back lawns, with a foot-powered 2-hole aerator! It does a good job and is a great workout. Now my front lawn looks like 3,000 dogs have stopped by for a poop-fest!
The two normally-yappy little dogs from across the street saw me tying my shoes on the front steps today, so they came over — without a single bark — and got a pat from me while they took a look at my poop collection. They seemed impressed!
Green Thing 2 was when I heard my grandsons had been signed up for spring soccer but needed cleats and shin pads, Brand new could have been over $100. I said I’d do a visit to the local thrift shops — and I came up with 3 nice pairs of cleats and 3 pairs of shin pads. Total bill: $10.00.
Wow!! Very green, Barry!! I bet your lawn will thank you, and LOL at the dogs!!
It’s so nice that being eco-friendly is friendly on the bank account as well. I bet your grandsons will have a lot of fun in their gear. Nice shopping, grandpa!
Awesome Tash! My green pledge is no new clothes this year. I stopped buying those face wash wipes too. Couldn’t stand seeing the pile in the garbage. I say glue that puppy together and make it last!!
Nice pledge!! I totally think if we all make a couple green moves we can make a big difference. If green becomes more trendy big companies will hopefully make more changes too
I started cleaning my house with enviromental friendly cleaners and found a eco refill store ..so I take all my glass containers and refill them with soaps,shampoos, oils and cleaner. Smells good and way less plastic .
Trying to be.more.mindful of the earth and what we leave behind for.our children .
Eco refill store!! That sounds amazing!! Way to go on that green move!!
Such a timely article, we have been blessed to live in such a beautiful place! As a grandmother of 6 I try not to buy toys with batteries and when the toys are no longer played with, we recycle to a mother’s organization for Moms in Need.
I also recycle any used clothing in good shape to the same group. I even sorted my ‘garbage’ into paper, food and crap!! That didn’t happen all the time!! My Grandma washed every plastic bag and just kept using them too…good to keep on top of our world, it is an awesome creation, designed for us and it’s our job to look after it!! Hope I can get over there and check out that salt shaker!!
Hey Shirley!! Great green moves!! I really like that no battery rule!! Seriously why do they need so many batteries!?!?! Bonus is that it inspires creativity if kids have to make their own sounds!! We started composting this year too, it’s amazing how much of our waste was food 😬
I have a habit of re-using jam jars and people think I’m bejng ridiculous. Erm, no I’m not!
Waste is an issue. Period.
This is a great post! 😊♥️
Reusing NEEDS to become trendy!!! Except it costs nothing lol so industry is not likely to promote it. But jan, Jam totally could. “Purchase for the jam, save for a mini vase” sort of thing haha!! Thanks for your comment!!
Loved this post! I personally try to limit my water footprint on the environment but sometimes I just end up feeling like my single effort isn’t doing much. If everyone adopted the same mentality then I feel like we’d at least get a couple mote years on this planet.
https://www.chevytakesthemic.com
Thank you 🙂 yes!! If we ALL implement one or two new changes it has to make some difference, right?! Thank you for your comment!
Until a couple of years ago our family was so SO guilty of plastic straw usage. We bought them by the box and used them daily, shameful and super ignorant in retrospect. We have since invested in a couple of sets of KleanKanteen ss straw kits, some bamboo (wouldn’t go that route again – the kids say they have a taste), and some Luumi silicone straws from MEC. Love the KleanKanteens for everything, and the Luumi are great for cutting in half for more littler kidlet friendly sizes. We decline straws at the drivethru if we know they’re plastic and are keeping extra KK’s in a travel toothbrush case in the van.
The salt shaker story is wonderful because while we live in a time of mass consumerism and waste, I think more and more ppl are wanting to turn that around. By being more mindful about the value of our “things” (thank you Marie Kondo!) and repairing more and replacing less, we can certainly turn things around. (And what a great way to create homes that are set apart by containing unique items that have their own stories from us prolonging their lifespans by repairing/upcycling:D)
I’m glad you found a good straw alternative!! We can only do as good as we can with the info we have. Yup the salt shaker still makes me smile every time I see it haha the time I didn’t throw something away 😉 it’s a constant reminder to make better choices when I can 💜