Last night I attended a focus group about climate change, presented by a group based at K-State. We had a great moderator, a retired political science professor, which was a good thing, because this is a topic that has a great propensity to get testy.
The point of the focus group wasn't to decide if climate change was occurring or not (although it was very hard to stay away from that argument!), but rather to brainstorm ways that folks could be educated about climate change.
One of the ideas that came up over and over again was how important it was for people to learn about small, doable, inexpensive or free, ideas - things they could do without feeling like they had to completely change or rearrange their lives. Things they could do without spending a lot of money, too.
Another point that came up was how almost everyone lit up over the idea of wildlife and nature. There was basically no disagreement that helping nature was a positive thing to do.
It struck me this morning that many, many people - whether they "believe in" climate change or not - already do things to help care for nature. So I thought it might be interesting to share some of those ideas, looking for ideas that we can "steal" from each other to make the world a little healthier for us as well as for animals.
I'll start the ball (hopefully) rolling: I pick up bags of leaves left out for the trash and bring them home to make mulch for my flowerbeds. By doing this, I hope to keep some trash out of the landfill and to make the soil in my beds moister and healthier. It's also essentially free! And the flowerbeds look really nice with a fresh layer of chopped leaf mulch on them.
So that's my first idea. What do YOU do???
Leaf Rustle...that's great.
ReplyDeleteWe trash as little as possible. It is composted or recycled if we can. I take our blue recycle bags on vacation and we bring home recyclables if we can't find a place to put them on our road trips.
You're way more organized that I am, Sherlock! I sometimes grab a trash sack and collect recyclables from a party, but then I'm likely to leave it in the garage and forget about it! (And remember to take a bag??? I can't even remember to take a bag for my groceries, unfortunately!)
ReplyDeleteYou're challenging me, though. I know I can do a little better....
I hate watching plastic bottles and worse aluminum cans go into a trash can. Aluminum is money. We've been know to asks party hosts if we can have the cans for our local (insert your favorite charity here) "if they aren't already saving them for an organization." I often sneak some plastic stuff in the bag too. But, I have collected plastic at different events and left with out the bag too. Sigh. It happens.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have canvas grocery bags. A good sturdy one (not the flimsy kind everyone is trying to give away free these days) can hold a good sized watermelon. I feel more secure carrying the watermelon that way because I always fear I'll drop one. They can be slippery when you're juggling groceries, a purse, keys, etc. I still forget the bags when we make those quick stops at the grocery store. I remember when we do our weekly stock up.
Well, I feel a little better! At least I'm not the only one who forgets the bags at least occasionally! LOL!
ReplyDelete