by Texas Homesteader ~
It’s so puzzling to me – visitors often apologize profusely for not being as environmentally sensitive as I try to be. WHY??! My journey may not be the same as your journey – and that’s OK!
We All Have Different Gifts
We’re not all traveling down the same path of life. And that’s a wonderful thing! We all have different gifts to share.
I have a strong drive to lower our household waste. Others may have a strong drive to serve on committees or beautify their cities. All worthy causes.
But because I strive so hard to lower waste, sometimes friends & family feel they’ve fallen short when using disposable napkins or plates when I’m present.
But make no mistake: THAT’S NOT TRUE! My journey is simply different than theirs.
My Early Path To A Lower Waste Life
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my low-waste/no-waste journey. I’ve been on this path for quite a few years. I was environmentally sensitive since way, way, way before it was the ‘in’ thing to do.
I started off by reducing my trash and redirecting appropriate materials into the recycling bin instead of the landfill.
Then I started eliminating plastic shopping bags by taking reusable bags to the grocery store. Let me tell ya, that baffled many a cashier back then!
That was followed by learning to compost, cook from scratch and repurpose things.
Over the years I’ve worked into the stage I’m at now, purposely refusing single-use items when possible and pushing for PRE-cycling before recycling.
Each Family Has Different Needs
I’ve always felt that each family is in a different place along life’s path, with totally different needs than another family might require.
When I was a young mom I worried more about PTA meetings & homework schedules than figuring out how to get my groceries home without a plastic bag.
And I was more focused on getting my kids fed a well-balanced meal back then than trying to figure out how to repurpose a tin can.
I worked into my current level of environmentalness one step at a time. Gently as my life situations changed, I changed too.
Still, several friends & family members sometimes bristle with discomfort when they’re doing their own thing in their own home!
They often apologize for using plastic or disposable items when I’m visiting.
What? Do they think I’m judging them? Hopefully not!
We All Have Specific Limitations
Even now after all these years on this path, our home is certainly not waste free. I’m as limited as anyone else by either location, availability, financial aspects or something else.
We’re all just doing the best we can within our own specific set of limitations, right??
We’ve all seen ’em – those amazing zero-wasters who keep a year’s worth of trash in a tiny glass jar. That’s certainly not me!
Oh sure I’m encouraged and inspired by their journey, and there’s always room for me to improve. But I don’t obsess about every tiny thing.
I’m not gonna lose sleep because I had to buy bread this week or couldn’t figure out how to repurpose yet another bread-bag twist tie.
How To Have Impact In Your Own Area
Although I’d love to be able to bring NO trash at all into our home, living out here in the boonies means I don’t have a fantastic bulk-food store around the corner.
And driving to those places in faraway cities every time I shopped would do more environmental harm than buying what’s available from our local grocery store.
Plus, shopping locally also supports our tiny town’s small businesses. That’s important to me too!
So I typically grow as much as possible in our garden, preserve as much as I can from its abundance and buy the rest locally in as waste-free manner as possible.
My Home Is Not Waste Free
That means yes, I actually buy my milk in a plastic jug and my coffee in a plastic canister. I sometimes buy veggies in a can or frozen fruit in a plastic bag too. Heck when it’s too hot to bake bread, we buy it. In a plastic bag even!
We still have a recycling bin. And even though our tiny waste basket only needs to be emptied about once every 2 weeks, we still produce trash.
I Promise, I’m Not Judging You!
But sometimes when someone brings something to me in a plastic shopping bag, they stammer on about how they will be happy to take that bag away so we won’t have plastic in the house.
Their discomfort makes me uncomfortable as well.
I’d certainly never pooh-pooh a gift of home-grown veggies because they’re gifted to me in a plastic shopping bag!
Heck I’ve already got plastic in the house. Our toilet paper is purchased in large plastic bags. Those bags are carefully opened, then repurposed for wastebasket liners when empty.
And various things are gifted to me in plastic shopping bags which are also repurposed to wastebasket liners. Often those same plastic shopping bags are reused to gift veggies from my own garden to someone else.
If something has served its purpose & is destined for the landfill, you know I’ll do my best to repurpose it first that’s for sure!
My Journey May Not Be Your Journey
But this push toward waste-free living, it’s my journey, but maybe not a journey for those closest to me.
I certainly don’t expect them to be forced onto the same path I’m on just because they’re my friend! (Any more than I want to be forced onto their path due to our friendship.)
We’re all different, and isn’t that a wonderful thing?? I’ve often said many different flowers makes for a more beautiful bouquet of life…
Using Your Gifts To Better Your World
You’re interested in the school board? Children’s summer camp? Adult literacy? Opening a dog park? Awesome – what great causes worthy of personal action.
My energy is funneled elsewhere but it takes all of us living the life that speaks to our hearts to make the world go ’round.
We each need to pursue those causes we’re passionate about & offer our efforts & talents to those causes to make the world a better place #amiright?
Live The Life That’s Best For YOU!
So if I come to your house for supper and you reach for a paper towel – really there’s no need to stammer an apology or think I don’t approve.
Your home is your home, and your journey is yours too. I’m just happy to be joining in for a great meal, wonderful conversation and more importantly the special personal connection.
I promise I’m not judging your level of environmentalness based on my own journey!
~TxH~
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Like you and the previous folks who have responded to the post about minimizing our impact on this earth through re purposing, re cycling, re using, we here at “the ranch” try to do the same. As you say it’s not perfect, but we keep trying to be better. The commenters are all doing some great sounding things, some of which we do as well. I had to chuckle at the comment about the bread sack twist ties. I keep them in a little jar in the pantry and they do come in very handy some times. I have used them to secure tiny Christmas lights to bushes for one. Not that tiny Christmas lights are all that good for the environment from what I hear of the process and chemicals used to manufacture them. Awareness and effort – they both help.
Oh I believe you about the bread ties, Candace. I have a small spice container tucked into a drawer in my kitchen where I stash used bread ties. And you’re so right, they really come in handy sometimes! ~TxH~
Good Morning Tammy,
Your post was a very thoughtful one, one reason I say this is you are thinking of others feelings along your journey . This is also another reason I follow your blog postings.To me that’s important to think of others feelings. Not to worry about others feelings but to take into consideration how we may be effecting their lives. This puts you into a special category and one that people notice and appreciate. It’s your caring and treating your neighbor like you would want to be treated. This world we live in is no where close to being perfect just like we are no where close to it here on this earth. That will change one day if you know what I mean and I think you do.
We were all different for a reason ….thank you God. I like the ” many different flower make for a Beautiful Bouquet “. Some of us are seed planters and some of us doing the harvesting. We have all been given gifts some more than others. The things I do are not the same things that others do and I don’t expect that they should do exactly what I do. I am only an example for others to see, I only hope it’s a good example. We are given the ability to make choices for our lives , they are not easy because they effect not only the environment we live in but others around as well, and we will be accountable for those choices one day.
Thank you for being a caring person in this mostly uncaring world. Thank you for being thoughtful of others feelings.
You are appreciated Tammy and I’m sure not just by me.
Wow Greg, such thoughtful words. I can’t tell you how it humbles me to read them. Thank you!! ~TxH~
I try to do a lot of the stuff you do, don’t always succeed, but I’m comfortable with the efforts that I can accomplish. Like you said, we’ve all got different skills sets at being environmentally responsible, along with the availability of resources in our area. We don’t have a recycling center here for glass, plastic, etc, but we do have a couple of scrap yards that buy all kinds of metal, so I collect aluminum cans, tin cans from veggies, whatever I can find when I walk or if I use canned goods in the kitchen. I help others declutter their homes, and I haul off anything that is usable they don’t want to mess with. I keep and use what I can, and the rest is either taken to a consignment store for resale, or donated to a local mission to be given out to folks who need it. I keep a LOT of stuff out of the landfills that way, plus it has furnished my home and kept me in clothes for years. Great post.
Good for you Evelyn! I love that you’re helping others at the same time you’re helping the environment. You GO girl! ~TxH~