Personal Come-uppins
Whenever I write an opinion piece I hope it might affect a change. Not to change an opinion to jibe with mine, but to encourage contemplation, to wonder how one arrived at that opinion, perhaps look at it from a different point of view. It’s healthy for us to do that. And that’s what’s happened to me. I read my own opinion piece on the pile of poo, and accepted that I personally have contributed to this problem, not with diapers, but with my little water bottles.
I need to change something. I’m going to keep using the convenient bottles since I’ve got a bunch, but I’m going to refill them with my tap water and use them until I wear them out and they leak. I might save the landfill about 2500 of these little bottles every year.
It’s the little things, isn’t it? The things we take so for granted without thinking of the consequences. It’s personal stewardship. We’ve got to stop expecting others to take care of our poo. My water bottles are not the responsibility of the government, ours or any other. No one else should have to invest money or resources so I can enjoy the convenience of these little bottles. No amount of money, no number of governments, not our president or our neighbors are responsible for the number of bottles I discard. I am.
We carry on about climate change and global warming brought on by emissions. We want governments to take care of this, write climate accords, blame the president. But the answer, my friend, is personal stewardship, thinking globally, and self-denial. When Self continues to be the center of everything we do, the collective pile of poo grows. Every person is the blame. Signing an accord will not change anything. It’s us who must change. We already know that. We don’t need a document to show us that. And a document will not affect that change in us. Only we, every single American, can accomplish that.