Sunday, July 24, 2016

Confession Time

I feel simultaneously triumphant and completely ridiculous about my little recycling excursion earlier this afternoon. But more on that in a minute.

Let's do a little "wasting month" recap first, shall we?

5 months ago, I looked ahead at these 7 fasts and thought "Oh, month 5 will be the easiest, no doubt." I've grown up in a home where we recycled each week. And I like to think of myself as a person already very eco-conscious and not prone to wasting. Yes, college and the first year post-college has made it difficult to recycle (it's not like the truck comes to the second floor of my apartment building). But I thought, no big deal, it'll take a little more effort to recycle this month. But I already rock at everything else. Smooth sailing, right?

Consider this me officially eating my confidence-laden words. Emily, you're not alone my friend.

Apparently I cannot help but take 2 paper towels every. single. time. I wash my hands. No matter how many times I coach myself beforehand. It's like an automatic compulsion. Why? I wish I knew.

Apparently it is completely necessary that I have the TV on, but muted, while I'm 100% focused on something else. Because why not waste the electricity for absolutely no good reason.

And apparently I'm a little more hesitant about the whole recycling thing when it means half my sink is almost always taken up with empty cans, bottles, and plastic containers while they dry.

I have no problem using reusable grocery bags, though. So I got that going for me.

But really, so much of this month has been harder than expected. And more mentally taxing than anticipated. I learned very quickly that as much as my eco-friendly intentions had me believing I was the queen of not wasting, I had been letting things like water and electricity go completely unchecked. Overlooking them as there's nothing tangibly being thrown away.

God has convicted me, though, of wasting these luxuries that a huge percentage of the world doesn't have access to. Clean running water. Light with the flip of a switch. Easy access to food. God has blessed me with so much, and who am I to just throw away these gifts like they mean nothing? Who am I to carelessly waste and pollute the earth with things that could easily be recycled and transformed into something else?

So today I loaded the car with all my glass, plastic, paper, and cardboard and set out. After 30 minutes of searching for these fabled, 24-hour recycling outlets around town, and only finding a wannabe bin that I managed to cram most of my plastic into, I finally stumbled upon the holy grail of recycling. There were 8 different categories and each one was the size of a dumpster. Only to come home and see another one of these approximately 0.2 miles from my apartment.

Awesome. You live and learn.

Guess I have no excuse now to stop recycling even after month 5. But what's an extra trip every other week to throw away a few things? If it means I'm being a good steward of the resources God has given me, then that's worth it in my books.

- Morgan

p.s. pretty sure the guy who saw me take this picture thought I was certifiably nuts.






Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Bllleeeehhhcckkkk

Month number five here we go...

And I already hate it.

We made a long list of lofty things that we would be putting into practice this month. They were great things like not using paper towels, sorting plastic and paper, using less water, not using plastic silverware, preserving electricity, taking reusable bags to Walmart and monitoring food waste.

So far I've put forth just about -12% effort. This is officially the worst month ever. 
- I don't like recycling, pretty sure it's a scam.
- Paper towels are scientifically more sanitary than cloth rags or towels.
- There is no real silverware at work.
- Fine, I'll turn off the lights.
- I have like 2 reusable bags, and Garrett is doing the grocery shopping this week anyway. No chance of that happening.

So there's really just one thing I can get behind here: food and water waste.

I love you Morgan, I'm sorry.

When I first read this chapter of the book the topic of food waste was what stuck out to me most. We are terrible at this - if you ask my husband, I'm just really terrible at this. Fresh food goes to waste a lot around here. Also, I leave cups half full of water all over the house like I'm that little girl from the movie Signs.

This is the internet, so of course I'm going to be honest: reducing my food and water waste are going to be my main goals this month.

It's okay, you can hate me. Just try to keep in mind that a few months ago I was surviving on sweet potatoes and greek yogurt. 

All of that being said, this week we're eating out of the pantry in order to prove a point - that we have way more food than we think we do. So there's still things being learned.

Bear with me, Morgan's inspiration blog is coming soon.

Emily