Environmental Issues

     It's something I think about a lot. I've never really considered myself an environmentalist ("a person who is concerned with or advocates the protection of the environment." - brought to you Oxford Dictionaries from Bing). By definition, though, I am. I am concerned with the environment. I've never written about it before because I've never really known what to write. For the past few years it's just been a lingering issue in the back of my mind - I do what I can, but I haven't come up with any good ideas for how to change things on a grand scale. However, I realized that 1) I don't have to reinvent the wheel and 2) the things I do do are not common - but if they were, we'd be better off than the path we're currently on. What do I mean when I say these things?
     First off, I realized that I didn't have to come up with some large-scale, completely novel solution to the issue. Sometimes I forget (and I think you all forget as well) the power we have as individuals. In a world with 7 billion+ people, I don't blame you. I'm here to remind you, though: you can and do have an impact on the world. It might be great, it might be small, but I guarantee that you do. And the best part is, no one has to do anything that's really amazing - the answer's been right in front of us this whole time. So what are we supposed to do? It's simple:

1. Reduce - "make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size"
2. Reuse - "use again or more than once"
3. Recycle - "convert (waste) into reusable material"                     (All definitions drawn from Oxford Dictionaries as suggested by Bing)

It probably sounds lame to you if you've been hearing those three words since childhood (like me). However, that shouldn't keep you from looking at them as solutions to the issue of environmental waste. It's like running a mile or doing push-ups. Everyone (or almost everyone) knows how to do those things to stay in good health - most folks just don't actually do it. Similarly, it's not like the solutions to environmental waste are unknown or far out - we just got to do it!
Here are some examples brought to you by the EPA (bold text from the EPA, sub-bullets are mine):

• Buy used. You can find everything from clothes to building materials at specialized reuse centers and consignment shops. Often, used items are less expensive and just as good as new.
• Clothes are cheap, at least monetarily. It's not difficult to find plenty of articles of clothing for <20 bucks. Think about that - 3 hours of minimum wage work could buy you jeans. Or maybe a few t-shirts. Or a couple pairs of shorts. Here are some examples I just pulled from Amazon so you don't think I'm making things up: 
• Fruit of the Loom t-shirt 4-pack
• Dickies Pants
• One of those is a FOUR-PACK of t-shirts that costs <$12! I know that's cheap, but it's like the dollar menu at McDonald's - just because it's cheap doesn't mean you need it, and if it's so cheap, it's probably bad in some way or other. With fast food, the cost is your health. With clothing, the cost is our environment. Check out this picture I found (from http://www.ecouterre.com/infographic-how-many-pounds-of-textiles-do-americans-trash-every-year)
  
• "Nearly half of us still trash perfectly reusable textiles." & that's just for the things that do get wasted - it doesn't take into account the clothes that currently sit in houses and storage units that remain untouched - sometimes for years.
• So, what's the take-away? Even though the market is over saturated with cheap, new products, the bottom line is that they're (almost?) entirely unnecessary. If we took to our own closets, thrift stores, and other stores/websites that sell secondhand, we'd find enough clothes to last a lifetime without (barely) ever having to buy new (thus diminishing the demand for production and its corresponding impact on the environment).
• Look for products that use less packaging. When manufacturers make their products with less packaging, they use less raw material. This reduces waste and costs. These extra savings can be passed along to the consumer. Buying in bulk, for example, can reduce packaging and save money.
• I think this boils down to "Shop at Costco." Even if you're single and it seems like everything is just too big - figure it out. You can still shop at Costco.
• Buy reusable over disposable items. Look for items that can be reused; the little things can add up. For example, you can bring your own silverware and cup to work, rather than using disposable items.
• Something that kills me is the great amount of disposable items people go through. Cups, to-go boxes, plates, coolers, and so on & so forth. Whether they're made of plastic, paper, styrofoam, or other materials, people produce a ton of waste that could be reduced. Solutions? You've got plenty of options: use reusable things and wash them (like at family parties). I know it seems inconvenient, but think about it: you're saving junk from piling up into landfills.  If you don't like that, you could even reuse disposable items. I know that defeats the purpose - you just wanna use it and throw it out. But think about things like plastic red cups - all those need is a soapy rinse and you could keep using them instead of going through a gazillion of them for every single gathering. & if that sounds really stupid to you - go back to the first option and just skip disposable products altogether!
• Maintain and repair products, like clothing, tires, and appliances, so that they won't have to be thrown out and replaced as frequently.
• This one's simple - when you take care of things, they last longer. The longer they last, the longer you can go without unnecessary replacements. In addition to the things listed, they even apply to other things such as technology and cookware. Seriously - maintenance and repair (especially because a lot of maintenance and repairs can be DIY) go a long way, if you're willing to use google and youtube to your advantage.  

So, there that is - some solutions for addressing environmental issues in completely do-able ways. I hope it was easy to digest these, and I hope you see that these actions are so simple that you could easily make a difference on the environment if you just put forth the effort to. I've always adhered to the practice of leaving some place better than I found it, and I think sharing this with you all is my way of applying that practice to our planet. Thanks for reading - & go be more of an environmentalist than you were before!