It's funny how junk starts to accumulate if you let your guard down just a little bit. We have been redecorating/reorganizing the bedrooms in our house with the goal of clearing clutter and creating space for the items and activities that matter the most to each of us. As I work on sending out the things that we have outgrown or that no longer serve a purpose, I am looking at them with new eyes. I am thinking about how they entered our lives and where they will go next.
Last night I finished the book Garbology by Edward Humes. The book has been moved from my coffee table, to my bedside and back again as I chipped away at it over a few months. It wasn't a book that I could digest all at once. The history of trash in this country, how our cultural norms were developed, the gravity of the numbers surrounding our waste, the descriptions of our landfills, the depth and consequences that surround this topic weighed too heavy on my heart to take it in in a short period.
The numbers aren't good. He sites that the average American is throwing away 7.1 pounds a day, 102 tons across a lifetime. That's a lot of trash! And that garbage all has to go somewhere; take up space somewhere.
It sounds bleak and made for some tough reading, but Humes also tells the stories of companies that are working to do things different. Businesses going against industry giants to stay true to their mission of reducing and creating alternatives to our norms. Companies creating products that reuse some of our everyday trash and are thinking about a product's end life.
He also told the story of Bea Johnson who has figured out how her family can live in our American culture, while only generating one mason jar of trash a year. It seems unfathomable, but she has found a way. It was a process that took her family two years, but the result is a more relaxed home and huge financial savings.
I feel I am fairly conscientious about consumption, but I am probably a bit naive about my small efforts. All of the things that I do with the best of intentions might not even make a dent and there are probably a million things that I haven't even thought of. It is also so tempting to buy, buy, buy when everything is so accessible.
Here's what Humes suggests as steps to get started on the path of generating less waste.
1. Refuse: Say no to extras like unwanted mail order catalogs, printed bills, and free junk.
2. Go Used and Refurbished: Used items have an environmental footprint that is a fraction of new products.
3. Stop Buying Bottled Water: Get reusable bottles!
4. No More Plastic Grocery Bags: One small step that will get you moving on the track to decrease waste.
5. Focus on Cost of Ownership: Save up for purchases that are more durable, long-lived, reliable and efficient.
I know I can do better and part of that will come after I gather more facts and gain more insight. I also know that this isn't something that I am willing to overhaul overnight. There is no way my family could go from our garbage can, that gets taken out 1-2 times a week, to a mason jar, but there are things that we can shift.
As we put our bedrooms back in order, we are making space for the things that matter the most to us and working really hard to let the other things go. We are looking at each item and asking if it is still brings value to our life or if someone else might be able to use it. And after we wrap up these projects, we will switch our focus to making sure that we don't let unwanted junk creep in and clutter up the space that we so lovingly created.
I feel renewed in my desire to lead a life with a smaller impact on our world. I will be keeping a goal of simplicity and the yoga principle of Brahmachary or nonexcess, in the forefront of my mind as I carryout my everyday life.
Brahmachary is "a call to leave greed and excess behind and walk in this world
with wonder and awe, practicing nonexcess and attending to each moment as holy."
-Deborah Adele
Do you fall into the trap of buying more that you want because it's seems
like a good deal or it's cheap? What small things do you do to decrease waste?
Comments
Post a Comment