Day 15: Track One Day's Consumption

I remember the first time I heard the phrase "waste not, want not." I really didn't understand what it meant the first few times I heard it. It didn't resonate with me at all. It wasn't until I was in early high school that the phrase made sense to me, but it was really only in theory that it made sense, not in practice. In my own life I never felt like I wasted anything that I wanted; I only threw away the things I didn't want. Furthermore if I saved something, like a shoebox or some spare change, I didn't see how it would ever help me get the playstation or roller blades I wanted. Once I came to understand the meaning of the phrase I realized that it gave people like me too much credit. It should really read something like this "If you don't waste necessities then you'll be less likely to be in want of necessities." My entire life I have never really known what it was like to be in want of necessities, in fact I have always had an over-abundance of necessities, that's why I have no trouble wasting things like food, clothes, gas, electricity, and water.

It's not just me though, it's our whole culture. I often share stories about my experiences working in the food industry to get this point across. A couple years ago I had a part-time job at a deli in the local grocery store. Every night when I closed up, we would throw out anywhere from 4-10 rotisserie chickens...that's just chickens! I won't even begin to go into how many other things were tossed out on a daily basis. I marvel at the fact that with the eggs and additional chickens that can be raised with just 3-4 chickens a hungry family in India or Africa can be fed for years and years. How is it that we can have such an abundance in this culture that waste has actually become an intricate part of life, and yet we still find ourselves in want? Why haven't our deep desires been met by all the wealth we have, and if the things we have aren't meeting our deep desires, why do we still cling to them so strongly?


Personal:
Be honest, do you eat everything on your plate...I promise I won't tell your mom :)
How much do you waste on a daily basis? Remember to consider more than just what goes into the wastebasket, think about electricity, running water, gas, etc... How much does that add up to in a month? A year? How much do you think you will have wasted in a lifetime?

Action:
1. We all have heard the saying, "eat everything on your plate, there are starving children in such-and-such-a-place," to which we usually want to respond "what do you want me to do, mail it to them!?" Obviously the point is often lost because of the immediate feelings of guilt and lack of power to change anything while sitting at a dinner table. What would be a better way to challenge people about how much they waste? Has the damage already been done by the time the overstuffed plate has been mostly carved out?

2. Okay, you don't have to carry your trash around with you all day, but take a look at the top layer of some trash cans and list some of the things you see. What does this tell you about what we waste? Would any of it be useful to people elsewhere? Could the resources or materials in the waste can have been put to better use somewhere else?