Last month I went on an extended trip to the mainland U.S. and Canada and took this picture flying over the mountains of Washington State. Such beauty! I was on 10 flights over the course of the trip, and in 6 airports with some HUGE lay-overs, so I had lots of time to observe people coming and going. I became so aware of how when people travel they tend to abandon the things they would normally do at home to care for our planet. At least I HOPE they care more when they are at home! There really is no way to travel by plane and do no harm, but there ARE ways to do less harm.I know people who are fairly conscious when they are at home, but that just goes out the window when they are "on the road". Why? Eat out rather than pack a lunch, buy a drink rather than bring a water bottle, buy a magazine rather than bring one with you, and then throw those single use items out. The same goes for food and drink on the plane too. Why is this o.k. when you are away from home? Of course some people do this at home too. Picking up take-out and buying a drink with it, and then throwing it all out. I know some people who get single use take-out EVERY DAY. Sigh. But I digress.... There is an astronomical amount of waste produced in airports every day all over the globe, and I got to see some of it first hand. I talked to one of the women whose job it is to pick up other people's trash, and was commiserating with her on how astounding it is that people throw so much. She changes the trash bins SEVERAL TIMES A DAY! So please pack a lunch and bring a bottle with you to fill at the water fountains.
Meanwhile there is more of an effort by municipalities to put recycle bins in airports which is fantastic!...if people would USE them. I watched over and over as someone would walk up to the bins and just toss something away without even LOOKING at the recycle bin right next to it. Of course some travelers might not read English, but most of the ones I observed were speaking English while they tossed their trash. There was one adorable child of about 7 who made me smile, spending a LONG time reading all the labels on the 3 side by side bins before deciding which one his trash should go in. SWEET!!! Let's have more of that! I was very sad to see that at my own Kauai airport the recycle bins that had been there on other trips were GONE, and when I asked about them I was told they were just putting all the trash together now. Why go backwards once you have started to care????
When I got back home and went to the post office to pick up my mail I was so HAPPY to see they now have a recycle bin for paper where people pick up their mail from the p.o. boxes! YAHOO! Progress for this island. But guess what? There was a woman emptying the trash bin next to the recycle bin and it was completely FULL of paper. So I asked her whether the recycle bin was full and that is why so much paper went in the trash, and she took the lid off the recycle bin and showed me an almost empty bin with 3 pieces of paper. How can this be when they are right next to each other???? She said it's not her job to put the paper in the recycling bin from the trash can, so she just throws it out. So guess what I do now? Every time I go get my mail I take all the paper out of the trash bin and put it in the recycle bins. Why is this so hard people? I just don't get it. I don't go into town much though so it only gets transferred about once a week. I think they should just remove the trash bin and FORCE people to recycle the paper! But then I suppose they would throw other things in there too like their take-out containers! Ayah.
How can we change this? Talk about it for one thing. Talk about what you see with your friends and co-workers. Bring awareness where there wasn't before. One friend of mine is on a campaign to eliminate paper plates from the place she works when people bring in snacks to share. YAY!
If you want to go that extra mile and try to compensate for jet fuel emissions as you travel, this site will guide you to purchase carbon offsets in various ways based on the distance you travel. http://www.terrapass.com/
So I ask you, whether you are just going to the post office in town, or on a long plane trip, please take all your care for the Earth WITH you and GO LIGHTLY. Someone may be watching, and learn from your example!
Thanks for listening.
