Progress, Not Perfection
My friend turned to me, empty can in hand, his face probing. I recognized he was asking where to put it. Pointing, I reply “the recycling bin is in there.” We live on a cozy, little boat and it would be silly for him to squeeze past me to deposit it appropriately, so I take it from his hand and put it in its proper place.
He screwed his face up in a question and looked at me again, “You keep a recycling bin on board?”
Knowing my friend sees eye to eye with me on environmental concerns. I say “Of course I do. Don’t you?” Does he really not separate his recyclables from his trash on his boat?
He replies “There’s no place to put it in the Marina.”, as if I didn’t know that.
I tell him, “We bag ours up and take it to …show more content…
A great many of us used to do the same thing. We all called it a healthy glow. But as time passed many more of us than not have gotten the message to wear sunscreen and hats. This is a societal change that is still in progress but has been in progress for 20 or 30 or more years. Now, I wear a wide-brimmed hat that shades my face, neck and shoulders. I sit under umbrellas and, taking my cues from cultures that of grown-up in the worlds desert climates, I cover up with a light airy long-sleeve shirt. It’s taken this long for our society to come from the point to where we are now and we’ve still got a ways to …show more content…
What made people start recycling? And start carrying reusable grocery bags to the store? And start driving lower emissions vehicles? What makes climate change deniers not change? The cynic in me believes that’s motivated by financial gain. They’re saying “I’ve made a bunch of money from living unsustainably and I’d like to continue making money so that I’ll be very rich and powerful. The future be damned.” Years ago, there was a small but vocal minority of granola-eating, hairy-legged, Birkenstock-wearing treehuggers speaking up and making sustainable choices. As time passed “those crazy hippies” ideas became more and more mainstream and our numbers have grown by leaps and bounds. Even some of the most die-hard conservatives I know are putting a recycling bin on the curb next to the trash bin. Or making other sustainable choices that they would not have even considered 20 or 30 years ago. I’d like to think people are seeing that we need to make some changes in the way we treat our Mother
My friend turned to me, empty can in hand, his face probing. I recognized he was asking where to put it. Pointing, I reply “the recycling bin is in there.” We live on a cozy, little boat and it would be silly for him to squeeze past me to deposit it appropriately, so I take it from his hand and put it in its proper place.
He screwed his face up in a question and looked at me again, “You keep a recycling bin on board?”
Knowing my friend sees eye to eye with me on environmental concerns. I say “Of course I do. Don’t you?” Does he really not separate his recyclables from his trash on his boat?
He replies “There’s no place to put it in the Marina.”, as if I didn’t know that.
I tell him, “We bag ours up and take it to …show more content…
A great many of us used to do the same thing. We all called it a healthy glow. But as time passed many more of us than not have gotten the message to wear sunscreen and hats. This is a societal change that is still in progress but has been in progress for 20 or 30 or more years. Now, I wear a wide-brimmed hat that shades my face, neck and shoulders. I sit under umbrellas and, taking my cues from cultures that of grown-up in the worlds desert climates, I cover up with a light airy long-sleeve shirt. It’s taken this long for our society to come from the point to where we are now and we’ve still got a ways to …show more content…
What made people start recycling? And start carrying reusable grocery bags to the store? And start driving lower emissions vehicles? What makes climate change deniers not change? The cynic in me believes that’s motivated by financial gain. They’re saying “I’ve made a bunch of money from living unsustainably and I’d like to continue making money so that I’ll be very rich and powerful. The future be damned.” Years ago, there was a small but vocal minority of granola-eating, hairy-legged, Birkenstock-wearing treehuggers speaking up and making sustainable choices. As time passed “those crazy hippies” ideas became more and more mainstream and our numbers have grown by leaps and bounds. Even some of the most die-hard conservatives I know are putting a recycling bin on the curb next to the trash bin. Or making other sustainable choices that they would not have even considered 20 or 30 years ago. I’d like to think people are seeing that we need to make some changes in the way we treat our Mother