Green also happens to be one of my favorite colors, but that's not a prerequisite for being thrifty. However, good management of resources is, I think, a definite requirement for thriftiness. And whether those resources are found in your kitchen or in a national park, a thrifty attitude -- conscientious, not wasteful, not extravagant -- serves us well.
According to official reports, the world's population was one billion in 1803 and reached the six billion mark October 12, 1999. If you find it hard to relate to such huge numbers, try this: imagine your family growing six times its present size and still using the same bathroom. And eating out of the same fridge. In my house, that would take lots of adjustment.
And that's where the Three R's come in.
Of the three basic environmental skills -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- reducing our consumption may be the best place to start, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If you acquire less to start with, there will be less waste to worry about later. The reduce principle also reminds us to purchase goods that are durable, to find multiple uses for the same product, and to pay attention to kind of packaging that's used.
The second of the Three R's - Reuse - has to be my personal favorite. There have been some weird and wonderful things created by people trying to reuse what, to the unimaginative eye, is just a piece of junk. But if you repair items, donate them or even sell them at a yard sale, it still counts as reuse. The idea is to keep the stuff out of the dump for as long as possible.
And then, of course, there is Recycle. Lots of communities around the world have implemented recycling programs, places where you can drop off clean recyclables, like glass, paper, plastic. But even if your community doesn't have recycling facilities, you can still be part of the solution rather than the problem. Focus on Reduce and Reuse, and you might be amazed at how much less trash you're throwing out every week, not to mention how much money you may save.
Like any basic skills, the Three R's can't, and shouldn't, be learned in a day. It takes practice, practice, practice. The Care2 - Be Green Guide has some excellent ideas for using the Three R's in your daily life, and they even warn about chameleon shock, which they say can happen if you try to turn green too quickly! The process needs to be gradual, and even the smallest effort can have a significant impact on preserving and protecting our natural resources.
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