Low Impact Lingers On

Low Impact Week certainly had an impact on me. Some new insight pops up two or three times a day. I see how I could do something differently, just some small thing. For example, last night I set a pot of water on the kitchen stove and turned on the heat. I needed the water to come to a boil before I dropped in some shrimp to cook. (More about that tomorrow.) Remember the saying that a watched pot never boils? I was impatient, waiting for the boil, when a voice in my head said, “Put a lid on it, for Pete’s sake!”

And there you are, an insight. Keeping a lid on the pot hastened the boil and I had saved both time and electricity usage.

It happened again today when I tried to open a little drawer in the bathroom. Something was caught, so I began to pull things out in order to find the obstruction. Gadzooks! No wonder the drawer wouldn’t open. Where did all this stuff come from?

It’s true I had three different facial moisturizers in there, but after I sorted things out, the real culprit emerged. When I have my teeth cleaned the hygienist always hands me a plastic bag full of dental supplies – a small container of floss, a toothbrush, gum stimulators, and a little tube of Crest toothpaste, a brand I never use. Actually, I never use any of these things.

Here’s the insight: I don’t have to accept the dental goody bag. (What is it about human beings that causes us to accept things just because they are free, even if we don’t need or even like them?) If I say “No, thank you,” my bathroom drawer will remain orderly and I’ll have less trash to dispose of. 

Maybe I’ll go a step farther and ask that the cost of the things in the goody bag be deducted from my cleaning bill. I wonder how that will go over?

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

Stewardship

Low impact week is over. Did it change our habits? Did it make a difference? Did it save the environment?

Yes, our habits have changed in many small ways. Dennis turns off his computer when he isn’t using it. We don’t run water full blast, and try to use only the amount necessary to clean ourselves and our kitchen. I’ve realized, too, that  I have good shoes and clothing I don’t wear and that I should pass these things along to someone who needs them, instead of leaving them in a closet  gathering dust. I could name more little changes, but one principle sums it up: take only what you really need to live a decent life.

Whether these small life-style changes will make a difference I cannot say. I know only that if all of us made an effort to use fewer resources, human beings might be able to survive into the 22^nd Century. We will do what we can and hope that others will, too.

Low impact week certainly did not save the environment. In the end it comes down, not to individual sacrifices, but to our societies’ choices. Can we be good stewards of Earth? Are we willing to try?

For example, if we are willing to do what is best for Earth, we will pump less oil.

And build more wind turbines.

We have hundreds of such choices to make. Future generations depend on our making them.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer