In the background, my garbage-art installation in blue and turquoise from Belize beaches. P.S. The tiny superman (forefront) was picked up on a beach in Costa Rica.
I'm not a perfect green citizen. But every year I add a new green activity. The trick, I think, is picking an objective that is easy to fulfill, like losing one pound vs. trying to lose forty pounds in six months. It's easy to lose one pound and keep it off. The latter is extremely difficult to master long term. So it goes with green efforts. I'm certainly not going to save the planet, but at least I can sweep up some of my dirty footprints.
a) I use small cloth napkins that I made from old scrap material. No more paper.
b) I use newspaper to wrap all gifts. Or used brown paper bags with smiley faces. I do buy bows, however. But I reuse the-heck-out of them.
c) I use reusable straws. No more plastic throw-aways.
d) I use 95% of all leftovers, freezing scraps for soup and making bone broth. The key is to go through your fridge and freezer regularly, pushing older items to the forefront. The most important factor for me is to never waste meat as an animal gave its life for me.
e) We compost and recycle. Duh.
f) I make Christmas ornaments out of paper scraps. Sigh. Sorry fish. I do use glitter. I bought the glitter year's ago and I don't buy anything unless I'm going to use it. I glitter over paper and pour the unused glitter back into the container.
My paper chewbacca and minion are favorites.
g) We keep a picnic pack in the car and don't use extra plastic silverware from restaurants. Now, if restaurants would stop filling the oceans with unwanted plastic silverware! Ugh! My biggest take-out pet peeve. Did I ask for plastic silverware? No!
h) I don't use facial scrubs with plastic micro beads.
i) I use minimal harsh chemical cleaners. Vinegar works best!
So what's my next green objective? I'm considering using bar soaps instead of shampoo. What about you?
I didn't pick up trash for an art project during our Belize, 2020 trip, but I couldn't resist a sad photo safari of yesterday's treasures...
It's a bird face.
This is an excellent rum! We brought home rum and gin.
Have a fruitful and productive Earth day. Go green!
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
17 comments:
There must be offshore dumping of garbage for all that to be washed up on shore? Sad to see.
Here, bags of dog poop are often left along trails. People think or say they will pick them up on their way back down the trail but usually, they don't. It's becoming a big problem.
I hate seeing trash when we hike...especially when it's thrown into the swamp or river and impossible to retrieve. Some people just don't care about making the world more beautiful. I like finding new ways to do things right. I have a washable straw now in my travel mug (for water). Enjoy your day and thanks for all the extra things you do!
I don't like anywhere near a beach but it's sad to see all that being found on the beach.
It is sad to see so much discarded litter left behind.
very sad... plastic contaminated many beaches in the world...
What gets me is the masks that are everywhere, even in the deepest woods. (Who needs to wear a mask so far from people?)
Really sad to see this litter. But your pictures of the discarded items are lovely though.
Sharon - wow, I am impressed with all that you do, and also inspired to adopt some of your practices! Over the last two weekends, I organized a group of neighbors to collect trash along a five-mile stretch of our nearest highway. 120 bags of trash, not to mention items that were too big to put in a bag. It gets a little depressing while you are doing it, but is outweighed by the satisfaction of the accomplishment. Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday!
Thanks for sharing your earth day ideas for helping the environment. There are some things on that list I don't do, but easily could. If each one of us would pitch in just a little bit, our planet would be in much better shape. The beach photos are just sad!
Hi,
Awesome photos...I can't believe people leave all that
"stuff" on beaches. I really like your Christmas
decorations..have a great day!
It's truly a shame that others don't clean up after themselves. You have to wonder where it all comes from! Out of desperation, I started wrapping gifts in newspaper about 50 years ago. Did you know that little strips of it curl just like ribbon?!! But I guess newspaper isn't as plentiful any more.
Your link at 'My Corner of the World' this week is a wonderful addition!
You are way ahead of me. It helps remind me that there's a lot more I could and should be doing. Thanks for this post!
have a nice weekend
I think it’s so important to realize that each of us just has to do our part and I really like the clever way you put that. Excellent and practical reminders and hints (reminders to keep on with what we already do and hints for things to try, thank you!) . I hate to see any and all trash people just toss wherever they are p, but I hate seeing trash on the beach beach worst of all. I like your collage though and thank you for picking all of it up in the first place. (The last part I could do, the creative re-use not so much!)
It irks me to see so much garbage left behind. Some people are so selfish.
Have a great weekend, Sharon!
I love all the things you do to Reduce and Reuse. I do a lot of the similar things. I especially never waste food. That's a huge one with me. I wash out all my plastic sandwich bags and other plastics and keep using them until they get a hole. I don't give a lot of gifts, so the same bows, tags, and bags get reused year after year. I use cloth bags for shopping. It drove me nuts during Covid when we couldn't use our own cloth bags for awhile. These are just a few examples of my Reduce and Reuse and frankly, a lot isn't just to save the planet but to reduce spending for myself. A bag of plastic baggies can be almost $5.00 so of course I want to reuse them so I can avoid buying new ones as much as possible.
This post makes me sad - we are ruining the planet. Sounds like you are doing your part - I try my best too. Hopefully we can turn things around.
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