The Tree Hugger Monster
My family always called me a “tree hugger” when I was growing up, because I insisted on recycling cans and bottles.
I didn’t do anything else extraordinary to earn this nickname, like limiting my trash an insane amount, joining protests, or cleaning up parks on the regular. I just always went out of my way to recycle. I would save everybody’s empty plastic water bottles on outings if there weren’t recycling bins around and pack them home to our recycling bin, where they’d soon sit on the street on Thursdays waiting for their trip to… wherever it was cans and bottles went after use. I didn’t care to think that far ahead- I was just doing what I thought was common sense. Why waste when the recycling bin is on the other side of the room? It seemed like the bare minimum effort to do this, so I bore the nickname they gave me with annoyance.
Now that I’ve taken this course and have become environmentally conscious beyond remembering my kindergarten teacher chiding our class to “reduce, reuse, recycle”, I’ve become a terror around the house.
I flip off lights the second someone leaves the room, I unplug electronics not in use under protests of family members swearing they’re about to use it again soon; I’ve insisted on trying to grow plants in the minimal space we have outside (turning the yard into a sustainable garden was apparently “off the table”), looked for ways our neighborhood can plant more flowers to attract and feed bees; and have insisted on carpooling whenever possible as one big, uncomfortably-squashed-up-in-a-car family.
While these small steps I’ve taken in my life (and have forced into my family’s life) won’t make any significant difference in our environment, it has made three more people become more environmentally aware in all the choices they make. And if I’m lucky, maybe my sister will turn around and start chastising her friends for not flipping off the lights, and then maybe her friends will do the same to theirs.
Life’s busy, and it’s hard to be a superhero and fight for the environment. You don’t have to be a superhero, I’m certainly not. But habits are contagious: If enough people start making a habit to go out of their way to remember small things that save energy or reuse items, then more people will join in too. Try starting out with being consistent with recycling like I did. If you want to do more, research. Find out where you can volunteer to help farms or clean up rivers.
Or, you can just make sure that empty water bottle makes it into the blue bin. Everything we do counts.
