embracing my inner hippie.

   I don’t know about you, but the way some people treat our awesome planet really ticks me off. What is so hard about recycling, huh? And not using copious amounts of plastic, a.k.a. petroleum, a.k.a. OIL? Sick. Why can’t people just hop on a bike and ride the mile to work instead of driving their low mpg “cool” cars? Who invented plastic grocery bags and can I punch them in the jugular? On top of that, who came up with the bright idea of putting LEAVES into PLASTIC garbage bags? Really? Leaves do not need to be thrown away. Leaves, like other natural matter, DECOMPOSE. Another jugular punch is definitely necessary for that brilliant thinker. What is so hard about composting? “Hm, should I throw this in this plastic bag or should I walk three steps outside to put it in a compost bin? SUCH A DILEMMA!” But no, instead we just take the easy way out (as with everything else) and throw it over our shoulder into the most convenient location. It doesn’t matter if composting would benefit your garden, doesn’t even cross your mind. Going along with that train of thought, why don’t more people plant gardens?! So simple, really. Buy seeds, dig up plot of dirt, plant seeds, water seeds, voila! Food! Right outside of your house! Who’da thunk. I guess not everyone has the ability to dig up a plot of dirt, so for you multilevel apartment dwellers and inner-city inhabitants, I guess you are forgiven. But the rest of you! No excuses. Fresh produce from your own garden tastes better than any tomato or green beans you could buy in the store, anyway. I could go on and on about this stuff all day. Like electricity wasters! Turn off the G-D lights! Don’t do laundry every day, don’t run your dishwasher every night, don’t leave your TVs on, and don’t take half hour showers! I realize these are all the benefits of not living in a third world country, but do you know what it looks like? Gluttony. I don’t know how I got to be so environmentally conscious, especially because I was definitely not raised with the planet in mind. I guess we were told to “save electricity” but I feel like that was more financially-based. No recycling in my house, no way! Those little plastic sandwich baggies were gone quicker than you could say “pollution”. As soon as I got to college, I realized how much waste one person can create. It grossed me out! Especially watching how much food and trash the dorm cafeteria threw out every day. Garbage is everywhere! I also realize you can’t just not create waste. Kind of impossible. But you can certainly try to reduce your amount. It’s strange to me that people don’t think about the products they’re using. That plastic water bottle you just tossed into the trash can? Not only did you throw it into a plastic garbage bag (which takes anywhere from 10-100 years to biodegrade in a landfill), but that little bottle will take between 50-100 years to “go away”! And putting it into another plastic material does not help the situation! And that aluminum can you just leisurely sipped from before crushing then tossing it into the ‘can? 200-400 years! Doesn’t that just make you sick? To think of all of the plastic and aluminum this world goes through in a day, just throwing it into the garbage like it’s no biggie…disturbing. And don’t even get me started on plastic grocery bags…this picture says enough about that. 

   It’s simple, really. Think about what you’re consuming every day. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that throwing something away makes it disappear forever, because that is far from the truth. This is where that bottle or can or bag or container goes: 

And that’s where it stays. For a LONG. TIME. There are always easier and more convenient ways of doing things, but that does not mean it’s the right way. Take the time to care for this little floating globe in the atmosphere or it won’t be as pretty, healthy, or life-friendly anymore. How does that not make people sad? It definitely gets to me.