I went out to the grocery store late last evening and I came home pissed:
Not because I couldn’t find the grocery item I needed.
Not because there were no helpful checkout clerks or stockpersons.
Not because my coupons had expired
And not because I thought the prices were too high for what I bought.
I came home pissed because I wasn’t focused on something I feel is important.
For you see, once again for the umpteenth time, I had gone to pick up a few groceries and didn’t take in my reusable shopping bags sitting in the back of my SUV. So once again, I ended up taking home not only my groceries, but 3 plastic bags that I subsequently threw away and thus added to the mounting problem of plastic that goes to either a landfill or worse—like an ocean dump. It’s my fault…and I can do better.
So one of my New Year resolutions for 2019 is to be more focused on my recycling and waste efforts. I CAN remember to take in my reusable shopping bags…and I WILL. It’s a small thing, but if everyone did small things like this we wouldn’t have landfills at capacity, global cleanup crews headed to the middle of the Pacific ocean to collect trash, and low recycling levels in the U.S. Simply put, we’re like the little kid who was never taught to pick up his toys after he played with them….and our room is getting “trashed”.
There are a number of ways we can contribute to reducing waste and pollution. Recycling is one but there are others that are easy to do if we simply FOCUS on them. I found this article from 2016 by the NRDC (Natural Resource Defense Council) that offers up some good ideas. I hope you’ll take the time to look them over.
So what are your resolutions for 2019? Do they include any “green” initiatives? If not, I encourage you to add one more. With your help, we can make 2019 the year our global room starts looking a little less cluttered and a little more cleaner. I hope you’ll join me in this effort.
I thank you….. Our marine and wildlife thank you………... And Mother Earth thanks you.
#icandobetter #plasticpollution #reusableshoppingbags #sustainability #newyearresolutions
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/10-ways-reduce-plastic-pollution
My New Year Resolution for 2019