Start the Wave

I once asked my now-wife if she had ever had a recycling bin. She lived in London at the time, and they had larger bins, but she never really recycled because, “I never really had the room for another bin.” Living in such a populous city, her space was limited, and recycling was the last thing on her mind when it came to her very small kitchen. While I lived in Midwest, recycling was second nature to my family when the opportunity presented itself in the form of large blue bins, and an elimination of the city’s imposed trash bill. We gathered up our beer cans and old newspapers and filled it to the brim with cardboard boxes. “We’re helping the planet,” my dad would tell me. But what else could we do if others were not able?

When my wife and I finally got married, I had to teach her how to recycle using the green bin I had bought that fit nicely in my moderately sized kitchen when she moved, and how to separate each item making sure no leftover food was scattered on anything we put in the container. She shrugged as she threw out an old letter and moved on with her day. Her lack of excitement in the topic began while living in a place where recycling wasn’t an option. Not due so much to lack of caring, but lack of resources. So, I began explaining all the other things we could do together to limit our waste, and what she could suggest to her brother, mother, and all her friends back home.

Helping mother Earth is not just about recycling. It’s a day-to-day routine of changing our habits to something a little cleaner, to something a little greener. I told her my habits of carrying around a reusable lunch bag, containers, and utensils. We talked about reusable water bottles, and when we wanted to purchase our next car how efficient it would be for the environment. The more we talked, the more open she became about practicing these new habits. She carries her bag around with her and takes her water bottle everywhere. Helping the planet doesn’t just start with turning the water off when you brush your teeth, but building a human connection with actual humans, and starting a conversation about how to take care of the place we all live in, regardless of where we are from. My communication with her, spread to communication with her family and friends back home, and what they could do to limit their overall waste with what they had in front of them.

Her family now recycles more, and we are more conscious of the products we buy, and even how much online shopping we do to limit transportation carbon emissions. By building a connection and mutual understanding, communication of these loaded topics become easier. The hard controversial issue of climate change becomes less about, “Well what does the science say?” and more of, “How can we do this together to make the planet a little cleaner?” By enacting non-threatening small changes to our daily lives, the planet has a chance of being cleaner, and we have a better chance of building connection.

We can start the wave of change if begin to meet people where they are. Understanding their limitations and interests and capabilities, we can provide practical and real ways of reducing plastic waste, water usage, carbon emissions, and even just how to increase recycling habits. Even just by giving you love a metal straw as a gift can spark the smallest conversation to bring about the most change. By talking with others in the simplest form, we can make a change to the place we all call home.