So I wrote this post about shopping bags and was all set to buy some more reusable ones – and then I found myself in the checkout line last night without my shopping bags and bins.  I now have 56 plastic bags under my sink.

A friend recently told me that he gets annoyed with us environmental types because our expectations are unrealistic.  He said, “you can’t fix things overnight”.  I don’t know about you, but I kinda figured that part out.  I’m not expecting to wake up tomorrow morning to find clean air and soil.  I don’t think that the plastic particles in the oceans will suddenly disappear.

What I do believe is that each journey begins with a step.  For the mountain climber, his quest to the top of the mountain begins with one step.  The campaign to freedom might start with one woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus and defying centuries of prejudice.  Our efforts towards a clean earth and eco-friendly lifestyles start with one person.  That person becomes two and they become four and on and on it goes.  Sentimental?  Maybe.  Idealistic?  Definitely.  But it’s what I believe.

Our earth is the only constant.  Species evolve, religions come and go, morals and belief systems change with each generation, but our earth is always beneath our feet.  Our earth is our home.  It gives us the water and food we need to survive.  There is nowhere else in the universe that we have yet discovered that can give us these same things.  How can we not respect that?  How can we not strive to take care of that?

I’ve spoken to people who believe that as we are at the top of the food chain, the planet is our to rule, so to speak.  They haven’t said that in so many words, but their actions and attitudes speak volumes.  I wonder if they’ve forgotten that with power comes responsibility.  Just because it’s in our power to strip the earth of all it has to give, does that mean that we should?

and what of future generations?  What kind of a legacy will we leave for them.  Will they be free to enjoy the natural resources and beauty as we do.  I remember going to a park for a school project sometime during elementary school.  We played for a while and were then asked to help clean the park by each picking up a few pieces of garbage.  I distinctly remember my teacher telling us that it was always nice to leave a place “a little nicer than how you found it”.  Elementary school lessons…and yet so many of us seem to have forgotten.  Maybe we need to go back to kindergarten.

So I’m feeling a little sappy today, but it’s sincere.  No, I can’t change the world.  But I can change my world – and maybe influence somebody to change theirs.  Saving the planet begins with me, one small, green step at a time.