Saturday, March 17, 2007

Changing our habits

Flora and Amelia raised some good points in their posts regarding why we don't do more to change our habits and the fact that we often throw recyclable things away because of convenience. I've been thinking a lot about the price that we pay for convenience. I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to convenience. I loved it when those Lysol disinfecting wipes were invented and I use convenience products all the time. My mechanical pencils are going to the landfill when I'm done with them and on and on and on. I personally did not think that this project was going to affect my life as much as it has and I'm sure that others would agree with me when I say that one of the most important issues here for students and for those who come to our Bag Festival is that through awareness of the issues we can all make small changes to our daily habits that add up to big changes. Composting isn't for everyone and I most likely will not give up all my convenience products, but yes, I can reduce the amount of trash I generate by eating less fast food, decreasing the amount of junk mail that I receive, using reusable bags, etc. It's overwhelming if you think about having to change all your habits and your lifestyle, but if we just commit to making one small change at a time, it makes the environment better for everyone.

4 comments:

ChantelleStacy said...

I agree. I am guilty as well, but the heightened awareness and the group enthusiasm has increased my sense of accountability. At the grocery store, I found myself thinking, "Do I really want to buy that?" or "Wow, my favorite gum isn't packaged in the most environmental manner... I should write the company."

The really cool thing is that because many of us are participating, I feel like I am part of something that is making a significant impact. You too?

Unknown said...

Chantelle,
I am with you on the whole grocery thing. I now like on the bottom of the containers to see the number for recycling. Our Wal Mart ketsup was a 5 but the others stores brand had a 2 so we bought that just because of the number. And I said in another post I don't buy yogurt anymore because all the container and brands have the numbers that we can not recycle in this area. And that brings up a good point. How can we recycle all the numbers. San Fransico was recycleing for all the numbers why can't the rest of America do this too. I know the money would be a problem but we as a nation need to find the money this is a problem now, that we need to fix.

Unknown said...

Here is the link on San Fransicos recycling. Clink on the ban and see the list of everything that they can put in them. This is a great idea and I think every city needs to do this and it would be easy and save so much from the landfill.
http://www.sfrecycling.com/recycling.htm

Unknown said...

OK, so I found a great website on everywhere that you can recycle anything. Earth911.com