Be the Change

My new favorite quote is: Be the change that you want to see in the world. ~ Gandhi I heard it on Grey's Anatomy a couple of weeks ago, and it really stuck with me. I have recently started recycling, and it is definitely an inconvenience. But all the talk in April with Earth Day and Going Green really got to me this year. Before, I thought, I'm just one person. What difference does it really make if I throw away this or that? When we were living in Lexington, the city provided a recycle trash can in addition to the regular trash can. And you didn't have to sort, you just threw it all in there. So it wasn't a big deal to add a plastic tote bin next to our kitchen trash can, and get in the habit of putting recyclables in there instead of the trash. But when we moved to Maysville, we lived in the County at the old house and of course now at the farm, and the recycling service doesn't come to the county. So, it fell by the wayside and until last month, I didn't think much about it. We have been saving our aluminum cans for the last several months, as there is a recycling center a few miles down the road that takes metal only. So, we started saving cans and storing them in big black trash bags down in the barn, and when we get enough for a truckload we'll take it down. But I started to feel like we should be doing more, even if it is inconvenient for us. I had noticed a big dumpster in the Wal-Mart parking lot for recycling only, and a few weeks ago I called the recycling center number on the dumpster to ask if I had to sort, what type of things they took, etc. They take pretty much everything paper, plastic, metal, cardboard, and you don't have to sort it! Just pitch it in and they do the rest. Well, the green bug had bit and I was hooked. I set up another black trash bag hanging in the trash closet - yes, it is a closet next to the fridge that everyone thinks is a pantry but there is only one small shelf, and we have always used it to store the trash can and broom/mops/light bulbs/batteries, etc. So now we have a can trash bag, a kitchen trash can, and a recyclable trash bag. When the recycle bag gets full, I pull it and within a day or so take it to Wal-Mart. We are in town often enough, and certainly at Wal-Mart often enough that it really isn't out of the way. I rinse food things like milk jugs and cans so it doesn't smell and isn't leaky, so it can go in the back of my SUV. I also take cardboard boxes that before I would have just pitched. Asher loves helping put things in the big recycling dumpster, and also is learning what is and isn't recyclable. John gives me somewhat of a hard time, to which I reply, "You have to 'be the change that you want to see in the world'!" Now that we've started, I don't foresee us stopping, and we are making a difference, we are one less family throwing things in a landfill that takes can be recycled instead! Did you know that... ...an aluminum can that is thrown away will still be an aluminum can 500 years from now, yet if it is recycled can be part of a new can within 6 weeks and there is no limit to how many times it can be recycled? ...that approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the USA? ...recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4100 kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough energy to power the American home for five months? ...the energy saved by recycling just one glass bottle could light a 100 watt light bulb for three hours? ...Styrofoam is un-recyclable? ...leaky faucets that drip at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year. !!! ...the average baby uses 10,000 diapers before toilet training. An estimated 1 billion trees a year are required to produce disposable diapers (too bad they aren't recyclable!) These are just a handful of recycling facts that just blow my mind every time I read them. I get so frustrated that our government doesn't make more of an effort to make recycling a priority. Yet there comes in my fav quote: BE THE CHANGE THAT YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD. Instead of complaining that someone isn't making it easy for me, I'm going to do it anyway. I want to set an example to my children and the people around me that you can make a difference, that recycling does matter, and that we can't continue to waste like we do and think there won't be consequences in some way, at some point. So! That is a pretty big change in our lives and our thinking recently. I hope reading this has inspired you in some way to make a difference, no matter how big or small, in your life today.