It's Not Easy Being Green

With St. Patrick's Day upon us, there are green reminders everywhere in the form of the shamrock. This got me to thinking about how I've always been green. No, not sickly green or green like Popeye would turn when he ate spinach. No, I mean ‘green' as in recycling and being environmentally aware. I've always been green, and that's not easy to be. Let me explain.

As a person who is concerned for the environment, and always trying to reuse and reduce, I find that I collect a lot of stuff and have trouble throwing ANYTHING away. To me, landfills aren't black holes that make our trash automatically disappear, they are mountains of garbage, sections of land wasted by our excesses. I would rather separate my garbage for recycling, and try to reuse anything I can. This may be good for Mother Nature, but not so good for my home. That's when I realized that it's not easy being green. How could I keep my home clutter free but still recycle? It's a fact of life now that everyone recycles. We have to, in the fight against disappearing resources on our planet. That means we all have to find space for the storage bins that collect our garbage. A bin for bottles, another for paper, more for plastic and cardboard. I keep another for miscellaneous items that I want to use for crafts. One of my favorite sites to get ideas for inexpensive crafts is:

http://www.mrsbunny.com/newsletter.htm

The most important rule of recycling is to reduce. Perhaps my problems of being green and having too much would be reduced if I bought less. I could buy more in bulk so I had less packaging. I could buy less processed food so I would be forced to use all those baking dishes I own. I could try growing some vegetables in container gardens. I have two nice motorcycle tires that I couldn't let my husband dispose of. They'll hold the soil for some tomato plants quite nicely I think!

I don't want to change my ‘green' ways. I think being creative and resourceful are character traits worthy of my collections. Instead I will continue my search for ways to reduce and reuse, and for ways to organize my stuff. Maybe this St. Patrick's Day it's time for another "R" of recycling:

Re-Education of the importance of being green.

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