Day One

I cannot save the world, but I can walk instead of drive to the coffee shop, take my own re-usable mug, and fill a bag with trash on the way home.

I saw a "challenge" post on Facebook this morning that encouraged people to pick up three pieces of trash every time they go to the beach. Wouldn't it be great if everyone actually DID that? I don't really like the beach, but I go to plenty of other places that sadly have a problem with litter. So I was inspired by the Facebook post, and since I had plans to walk to South Street Under to meet friends for coffee, I decided to take a bag with me so I could pick up trash on the way home. And since I was doing it anyway, I figured "why stop at three things?" and I filled up the bag. Oh my gosh, so many beer cans!!! Anyway, it was easy, took very little time, and made a tiny positive impact on a tiny part of the world. And to be honest it was kinda fun. For sure, Daphne is the kind of kid who would get excited about picking up trash, so I think I'll try to work that in from time to time this summer when I start hearing the inevitable "I'm bored."

I also took my own coffee mug to the shop, which I have actually never done, but will do from now on. It's such a no-brainer little simple thing that lots of people do, and just requires getting in the habit of remembering to take a clean mug, so this should be an easy bandwagon for me to get on. For some reason, I was all nervous to ask the coffee shop lady to use my mug. I don't know why...it was no big deal. I guess I thought she might say no and then I would feel like a dork. I let the dumbest things keep me from doing things sometimes. She of course was fine with it, and then I felt like a dork for being nervous!

If you go on the internet, you will find hard core people who go completely Zero Waste. Admirable, but not practical or sustainable for most of us in the real world. But we can all do little things. Today, I challenge anyone who actually reads this to do one little thing. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you do, and I will cheer for you!