Who Turned Out the Lights? Part 1

Recently, Hurricane Eduardo struck the Gulf Coast and many of the locals had de ja vu thoughts of a repeat of Katrina, one of the most devastating storms in the history of the United States. In preparation, they stocked their homes with food, water and alternative sources for cooking.  Fortunately, the damage sustained from Eduardo was minimal and within 24 hours of landfall, life was pretty much back to normal.

As we plod through life, our Eduardo or Katrina is a threat to us whether we live near a coastline or much farther inland. In our case, our own personal disaster is not a Hurricane that will attack our land and destroy our homes, cities, and lives, but the empty hole that is sucking away the resources of energy that we enjoy on a daily basis.

Every day, we travel to the grocery store and purchase the fares for that day or evenings meals. The clerk at the store kindly packages our purchases in a semi durable plastic bag, possibly walks us to the car with our treasures and away we go to our happy home. Once home, this same semi durable plastic bag finds its way into the trash or a stash of more plastic bags, which we anticipate using to line the bathroom trash can or take our lunch with us to work the following day. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all about recycling; however, there is one minor problem with these little bags.

Every day, we travel to the grocery store and purchase the fares for that day or evenings meals. The clerk at the store kindly packages our purchases in a semi durable plastic bag, possibly walks us to the car with our treasures and away we go to our happy home. Once home, this same semi durable plastic bag finds its way into the trash or a stash of more plastic bags, which we anticipate using to line the bathroom trash can or take our lunch with us to work the following day. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all about recycling; however, there is one minor problem with these little bags.

Have you ever noticed how you bring more of those silly little plastic bags into your home than you could ever use up by lining the small trash can in the bathroom or your bedroom? Did you ever notice that a standard trip to the grocery store actually nets about 10 of those cute little white bags with the big red THANK YOU stamped on the side?

Well, of all of the things that we use in our day to day lives, the plastic bag is one of the worst things we can possibly throw in the garbage. Why you ask? Well, the composition of the white grocery bag is plastic and plastic is like a cock roach, it’s going to be around oh – forever! It just won’t ever go away, or at least not in our lifetime.

“So,” you say. “How am I supposed to get my groceries home?” “My favorite market doesn’t carry the old standby paper grocery bags!” To which I say, “No, you’re probably right. But, I’ll bet that you have a fabric tote that you have picked up at some event you went to. And, if you don’t, most all of the grocery stores sell them for about a buck a piece.” Now, after reading this and thinking about it, you will acquire about 10 of these on your next shopping trip. Your only challenge now is to remember to take them with you the next time you go shopping. Now, with all of that being said, you have just taken one more giant step in decreasing your carbon foot print.

I suppose you’re wondering how this all ties into today’s title, Who Turned Out the Lights?

Well, the next time you bring home a white plastic grocery bag think about how much energy the earth must spend to cause the decomposition of that bag. That, my friend is energy! In layman’s terms, we need to limit the things that take away from our environment and move forward in increasing the things that restore good to our planet.

A wise man once said, “What is a government without energy? And what is a man without energy? Nothing _ nothing at all. What is the grandest thing in “Paradise Lost” – the Arch-Fiend’s terrible energy! What was the greatest feature in Napoleon’s character? His unconquerable energy! Sum all the gifts that man is endowed with, and we give our greatest share of admiration to his energy. And today, if I were a heathen, I would rear a statue to

Energy and fall down and worship it!” The wise man was Mark Twain.

For more information about how you can work towards a greener lifestyle, go to www.Regeneration.org

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