What if we focus on reusing and making things instead of purchasing more?
In the Allegiance to Gratitude section of the book, Braiding Sweetgrass, has many insights that stuck out to me. There was one sentence that kept repeating in my mind and that was, “Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives on unmet desires.”
The idea of making gratitude a priority is an everyday practice. The media loves to bombard us with a problem and then a solution. Being problem focused creates a feeling of helplessness and that we need a savior for the solution. That savior could be a person or an object. It can keep us locked into this never ending cycle of not having enough. But when does that end? How many new dresses, cars, toys, and other things can we consume before they end up in our landfills?
How can we be like the eagle and lead the change with our wisdom or actions that we take? I would recommend starting our day with writing down what we are grateful for and consciously practicing the mindset of abundance.
In my personal life, instead of throwing items away I no longer want to use, I will make an active effort to take them over to the donation center. I have been guilty of throwing away clothes instead of putting them in the donation pile. When donating the clothes, I am not not only giving back to the community but I am not contributing to more pollution by filling up our landfills.
The main complaint I have is how much plastic is used for almost everything.
I am horrified at how much plastic is used at the grocery store. The plastic that is wrapped around the cucumbers, the plastic in the grocery bags, the containers, the packaging in general.
These items end up in our ocean, in our landfills, and tossed on the side of the road which causes it to seep into our soil.
Why is plastic so bad for the environment?
- Plastic bags can block sewers and waterways and encourage mosquitos. Mosquitos might carry diseases like malaria.
- Turtles and dolphins mistake plastic for food and eat them. This cuts off their airways and kills them.
- Microplastics have been found in our soil, water, and even salt.
How does plastic harm the environment?
Then an idea came to me:
What if we purchase these organic food items once and then use them to regrow other food?
This would cut down on the amount of plastic we are buying because we are growing these items ourselves. I have seen a lot of videos of buying living lettuce in the stores. You can put the lettuce in water for a few days and sprout new roots. Once the roots are sprouted, plant them in soil, water them and you have more lettuce. This results in less trips to the stores and less contribution to the plastic build up.
I am going to experiment with this, this week. I encourage my clients to have fun with this and to invite their friends and family members in on this.
Have you tried to grow vegetables from scraps? Which ones did the best and which ones struggled a bit more?
The truth about growing vegetables from kitchen scraps
I get so emotional thinking about the destruction of our planet, but when I see this type of innovativeness it gives me hope for our future. I know that if we can do these types of changes every day, we will create a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come.
