Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Interesting piece over at the Tork Better Business Center.

I was raised by parents who lived by the rule "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."  My Da actually made a big deal of how many squares of toilet paper to use!  Most likely this was to do with money - a hangover from being raised during the Great Depression - but as the 70s dawned and my Mama got the "Earth Day" religion, the emphasis was placed more and more on "saving the Earth," as we said back then.

So I am a scrimper and a saver.  I wash my plastic bags, and re-use twist ties, and store leftovers in old pasta sauce jars, and in general drive my husband crazy with old yogurt cartons falling out of the cupboards and paper towels left carefully to dry on the edge of the sink.  (Not the ones that have wiped up chicken juices.  I am frugal, not disgusting!)


Lately, I have been thinking that sweeping, people-driven, government-led/legislated action is the only realistic and viable way to tackle climate change.  But the small stuff has to happen, too.  Tiny changes, summed over large numbers, can produce big results.  I've known that all along, but have lost sight of it.  Have you?

Bassett, Iowa