To me, there are very few good reasons not to recycle. This year I am daily reminded of it; I live right on the end of the hallway, so the recycling bins are basically right outside my door. After becoming more conscious of our throw-away society from one of my summer jobs, I realized that the clear cups that Java Junction uses for its smoothies and other such products are recyclable. While I don't purchase very many things from Java, that is one small way that all of us here at Goshen College can reduce our garbage footprint.Recycling is not the only important thing to teach our children, the other steps of the process are just as crucial: reduce and reuse. People often chuckle about the thriftiness of Mennonites, but there is something to be said for it. My grandmother and my mom both wash and reuse plastic Ziploc bags. It's not a hard and fast rule; if they store raw chicken in it, they'll just throw it out, but if you're just storing pretzels in the bag, why not wash it?
Growing up, my small school did not have a cafeteria, so my brother and I packed our lunch each day. Rather than buying individual packs of cookies or Lunchables, buying in larger quantities tends to be more cost effective and reduces the amount of unnecessary packing materials.Another way that I have become conscious about being a role model has to do with how I spend my weekends. I have made the decision not to drink until I am of legal age at 21. While there are quite a lot of reasons behind my decision, part of it is a simple awareness of how I am viewed by my younger brother and cousins. To varying degrees, they imitate my behavior. When two of my cousins were younger, they wanted to dress like me and wear glasses like me and just generally do whatever I was doing. I do not want to be responsible for encouraging them to drink. Also, I am aware of the consequences. If I were to be arrested for illegal alcohol consumption, there would be ramifications on my ability to get a job in a school.
No comments:
Post a Comment