CC BY by pureplanetrecycling

My Granny reused so many things. She was a child of the Great Depression, and it showed. My mom was definitely better than I for reusing, but not as good as Granny. Then there was me, the tale of two cities. I grew up respecting nature and eventually really getting into environmentalism, but also LOVING luxury. I would always go to the fancy malls in Houston, and I subscribed to luxury magazines when I was a working teenager with my own money. I did not like to reuse, I liked to replace and buy new for a lot of things or at least I planned to do that when I became rich. Now, I did love to thrift shop because I was a hippie wannabe (can you say paradox??) and Houston had some amazing thrift stores down town.

Then I started going to other countries. I saw in person what lack of infrastructure and city services like trash and recycling did to other countries. In Guatemala, I saw rivers loaded down with washers, fridges and all kinds of trash. It never occurred to me where does all that stuff go? We hide ours here. I began to see the impact of materialism on countries of lesser resources!

One summer I went to Mexico, and I saw the most amazing sight. A house powered by a car battery. They only used electricity when they needed it. This was a tiny house, but beautifully decorated and orderly. This family was so proud and the husband delighted in showing my group his ability to power a blender or turn on a light with the car battery. I will never forget how convicted I was of my double standards and duality of philosophy of life and worldly desires! I can’t say I have made too much progress even living all over the world, even respecting the poor and the simplicity that comes with it all, but I am trying!

I went on to live for one year in Hungary and began to learn about European values. How they will just have two or three really nice outfits and mix and match. They sit in cafes and hang out with friends instead of shopping as recreation or re-doing their houses for fun. They were not like consumers in America! They also only replaced appliances (which were limited) when they needed them because it was 1995 and Hungary was still recovering from a communist government. I felt like I was living in the U.S. in the 1950’s and I loved that!

Then we lived in Uganda and I never tired of seeing the creativity of re-using. Necessity is the mother of invention! Bicycles powered many machines and they have foot pedaled sewing machines in the tailor shops. People still sew and patch and repair! I thought so many times of my Granny! I bought bags made of reused plastics and plastic bottles are reused for every kind of container. They even have sandals made from old tires! My friends there had an artist friend that we ended up buying a lot of paintings from. In fact, he bought our car and we traded a painting for the last car payment! In this picture, you can see the ubiquitous vegetable oil container being used for bathing. Ugandans know how to reuse!

So, my fellow Americans, why are we lagging so far behind the rest of the world and how can we be careful in the way we live and export our materialistic endeavors? Each of us will have to answer that question, but I believe in the WHOLE formula of reduce, reuse and recycle. We put recycle first and forget about the other two elements. We are the land of the free and home of the brave. We have squandered our freedom and become cowards. I am including two articles and I do find hope in the millennial and Gen Z folks who are shifting. I hope and pray we can use our freedom as a blessing to others and have courage to take personal responsibility and make radical changes. We have a lot to learn from our global friends. Let’s humble ourselves and get back to creativity in an updated and twenty first century way!

For some reason, I can’t link these articles—sorry, you will have to google them :).

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201113-why-gen-z-and-millennials-go-wild-for-vintage-clothes

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210128-right-to-repair-how-the-french-are-fighting-avoidable-waste