Doing our part

Everyday I see another lot cleared of trees; to build a new subdivision. I see completed subdivisions and notice all the lights turned on inside the houses. Not to mention the lights that are turned on outside! These houses are placed on lots with acres of grass that will need mowing (using gas), fertilizing (using chemicals), and watering (wasting water).

I have to ask myself.... Are we doing our part to take care of the earth? Are we aware of what society is building and destroying? What would it take for all of us to be a little more conscious of what is around us, and what is not around us anymore.

Take a glimpse inside your garbage can. What do you throw out that could be replaced with something more effective? For instance, the Styrofoam cup (that sits in landfills and takes years to decompose) you bought your coffee in this morning? Maybe now, would be a good time to dig out that plastic mug you bought last winter? Often times you are given a discount for bringing in your own cup. If you are not a coffee drinker, maybe it was a cup of cola or a bottle of juice that you paid too much for to begin with. Again, you may save money by taking a plastic cup and filling it from home. When you go out to eat, do you bring leftovers home in a container? What happens to the container? I try to carry a small plastic container in the car, just in case.

Now look at what you buy. Do you go to the store hungry? How many companies promote their products with colored pictures, health benefits, and free prizes inside? Try to eat before you go to the store, even if it is just a quick snack on the way. Try to remember that these companies are using these marketing techniques to sell you processed food, sprayed with pesticides, probably from another part of the country, that you really don’t want to serve to your family. Are your children caught up in this marketing technique?

What you buy from these companies sends the message that you want more. If you were to stop buying the products with the chemicals and the fancy marketing techniques, these companies would have to change.

I am beginning several series of articles that I hope will increase the awareness of the impact we have on the environment, for the sake of our children and our childrens children. Within these series, I will include ways that you as a consumer can make important choices, as well as awareness to the cycles of the earth and the beauty of the nature around us.

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