Things that are hard to dwell on

 I've been reading the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and marveling how clear her thoughts, feelings, and emotions come through centuries later (and via translation!). She would have made a great blogger. She writes in snippets of her life, but also in lists. It inspired me to make a list of the things that can bog me down with environmental guilt...and also spur me forward.

Things that are hard to dwell on, Trash Edition:

• Every time you place an object in the trash, you are making a decision that will last at least a hundred years.
  
  
• Every time you litter or leave litter lying out (even biodegradable things) you are making a decision that may last a hundred years  and will probably sicken or even kill an animal or a child.
  
  
• Trash is not inevitable. It starts with every purchasing decision.

Environmentalism can bring you great joy and crushing, crippling guilt. I think all environmentalists enthusiastically love the natural world, but the vast majority of us use fossil fuels on a daily basis, and most of us make plenty of non-compostable, non-recyclable trash. However, the solution isn't for us to all move to the country and live off the grid. The solution is to change our point of view.

Aerial photo taken somewhere between South Dakota and Minnesota

Take this photograph: Productive farmland, useless crops that spread disease, a ravaged, severely endangered ecosystem, and a great heaping opportunity. I'll get more into the grass vs. corn debate in a later post, but seeing trash as treasure (or even consciously seeing trash) is an important first step.

Trash is a choice, that we, as individuals and as a society, don't have to make. So go forth, pick up litter, say no to excessive and non-recyclable packaging, and maybe even think about composting. Worms are your friends!