Putting Reduce/ Reuse Before Recycle

I have always recycled. Sounds fabricated, but my hippie parents were before their time in this regard. But my shift in thinking about "reduce and reuse" is very recent. I am probably not alone... after all, our psyches have been inundated with a consumer society for so long that we should not be too hard on ourselves if it takes some time to completely change our paradigm.

I think the roots of my consumerism can be found in the saying "time is money". Any time wasted doing something that was not a leisure pursuit, after all, could be spent working (how our nation got into that mentality is an entirely different article!). So why cut up apples for your snack when they come "pre-cut" in little bags? Why spend the time cleaning those dirty lawn chairs when we can buy new ones? Thus began our slide into a pre-packaged and disposable society.

Last year we hung inexpensive faux bamboo blinds on our screened porch to add privacy and shade. After a very windy storm a couple of days ago I went outside to find little remnants of the shade... the bottom slats had torn off. The blinds were cheap... why not throw all that plastic in the trash and get new ones? Of course you know what I did. I cut off the bottom of each blind, string by string, took off the damaged slats and re-tied each one. It took a long time. And then I made some "slow food" for dinner. And you know what? It felt really good.

For more on reducing consumerism, visit one of our donor partners, http://www.newdream.org/.