Twenty Steps to Trash

We live in a disposable environment.  It wasn't always like this and we're working to make corrections to our habits.  But habits die hard some times. 

My husband and I met my mother for lunch yesterday after picking up the children from school.  We decided to go to Subway because they have food that works for each of us well.   We met there at about the same time, all stood in line and our food was piled up at the cash register for us to purchase it. 

This was a complicated procedure, not for the people behind the counter, but for the adults who were trying to get two hungry children to wait and not touch everything and not run everywhere and not yell and not hit each other and not do, well, I forget because right about that time it was time to pay for the order.

I grab the food, walk over to the table and start to serve things to my children.  But in order to be able to do that, I have to unwrap and unload the food from the packaging it's been contained in.  Each sub was in a bag.  Inside the bag was a big wrapper and then there was a smaller piece of paper on which the sandwich was crafted.  Plastic bag...trash, big wrapper...trash.  I had to go to the trash can to throw away things just to clear off space at the table so the five of us could start eating. 

I had taken twenty steps from the counter to where we were going to eat, and we had generated trash just from that short trip.  It made me a little sad to think about how much went into making those items, just so we could instantly discard them.

We are getting better and more mindful as a society.  There are some fast food restaurants who serve your meal to you on reusable plates, but we have a long way to go to rethink our throw-away society into one of sustainability.

The Big Boy Update:  "Daddy, there's a rock in my pants...I didn't put it there."  (It was poop.)

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has figured out how to climb up the shelves in the closets.  I was surprised to see her three feet up the other day, looking at daddy's change container.  I asked her to show me how she got up there.  She climbed down and back up with ease.  I called daddy in, showed him her new trick and told him if his change was missing, his daughter might be off buying candy or juice boxes with it.