Is Going Green Worth it?

Hello, friends.

Why don’t you take a break from all the studying I’m sure you’re doing this fine morning, relax with a nice cup of joe, and read this weeks post on RecycleMania. I would like to share an anecdote about my “green” experience.

It has been about two weeks now that I have stopped use on plastic lids and straws at the dining halls and taking plastic bags when they’re not needed. Yeah, I’m doing my part to save the world...

Well, last Thursday I decided, hey, why don’t I stop using lids on my tea cups as well? It’s bad enough that they are using Styrofoam cups, so why don’t I reduce the waste here. This so happened to be the day a bee wanted to chase me, causing me to spill hot tea all over my arm, leg, and backpack. Ouch! I cleaned up and got over it.

Later that night while getting dinner I only bought a sandwich, a drink (with no lid or straw, as usual), and a bag of chips. It was certainly not enough to warrant use of a non-biodegradable plastic bag. So I took my meal and started to walk to my room. Guess what? It was pouring! So my drink got watered down and my food wet. I was so mad.

So is “going green” really worth it if you’re going to be extremely inconvenienced and waste the food you spent your hard earned money on?

UH, YES. By limiting the waste we make now, it is leaving more resources for the future. I’m just a klutz and have to be more careful not to spill things or bring a reusable bag for those wary weather days. If we don’t, imagine this conversation with your future children:

“Mommy, why are there no more resources left? And why is our entire neighborhood and river filled with garbage?”

“Well sweetie, it’s because when I was young, my generation was too lazy not to do anything to help it.”

--j.a.