it’s the little things

I’ve been thinking a lot about creation care. For the uninitiated, it’s a movement within a lot of churches that emphasizes taking care of the earth and all the things living in/on it. Basically, don’t be a dick to nature. It’s pretty simple stuff.

I’ve been having this conversation with myself and others around me for a long time: How an everyday person should take care of the earth. It’s really easy to tell people they should reuse, reduce, and recycle, and I would argue most reasonable people, if it’s easy, will do that anyways. Reusable water bottles and reusable straws are pretty low hanging fruit. Unless you’re some monster who carries around a stack of foam cups and never uses a mug for coffee, or buys only plastic water bottles and throws them into the street when they’re done, most people meet this baseline. The question I ask is, “Is that enough?”

I’ll lay out exactly what I do for the environment:

• I recycle what I can in my house, taking care to clean out the glass and plastic bottles before placing them in my recycling bin.
• I take time to break down cardboard boxes I get in the mail and try to recycle what packaging comes from inside those boxes.
• I try to walk when I’m downtown to reduce congestion and air pollution, and try to take public transit when convenient
• I avoid single-use plastics when I can (I use a reusable water bottle and cup at work)
• I don’t accept straws at restaurants
• I try to bring reusable bags to the store and if I forget, either refuse to take a bag or recycle/reuse the plastic ones I get
• I donate my old clothing to Goodwill or to friends when possible

I’m sure I’m forgetting some stuff I do without thinking. This isn’t meant to be a flex, because a lot of these are really simple and easy to do, so they shouldn’t be a flex. However, here’s a list of things I do that don’t do the environment any favors:

• I drive my car a mile to work every day (instead of walking)
• I consume prepackaged soylent every day instead of mixing my own in a pitcher
• I let starbucks give me cups for my coffee instead of bringing a reusable coffee mug (I don’t own one)
• If I’m unsure about something being recyclable or not, I tend to throw it away
• I buy new clothing often instead of thrifting
• I use plastic utensils at work every day for lunch and throw them out after my meal
• I eat red meat, dairy, chicken, and other animal products regularly

If you read the second list and forget about the first, I start to sound like a monster too. But what I think is important is that most of the stuff on the second list is pretty normal stuff.

I think it’s hard to take time out of your day to think about the environment when you have work/class/hobbies. It’s normally an afterthought for most people and I completely understand. I didn’t think about most of this stuff until this past year when I became friends with a lot of sustainably-minded people. I used to make fun of people who went thrift shopping and wanted to do river clean ups and stuff like that, but now I feel differently about it.

Here’s what it boils down to, and the whole point of this blog: It’s less about the actions and more about the mindset. I probably won’t stop eating red meat, but I now think about if that cow was grassfed and sustainably sourced. I probably won’t stop buying new clothing, but now I think about how that clothing was made and if it was recycled material, etc. I think when people think more sustainably about their world, it’ll be easier to change habits, because it really is about the little things you do.