Thought on sustainability, while waiting on my seed order

I think that we have a good start the education is out there in the media, schools, and those of us who drop subtle hints to our friends and family. I recall helping my neighbor’s child with some research on recycling for a school report; she in turn wanted to start right away recycling at their house. When talking to her parents about this "idea" of hers, their take on it was that it would take up too much time. After WE separate all this trash it all goes in the same truck, so to be truly effective, we have to haul it to a collection site ourselves. Sadly the way our trash hauler works that is true. I see their point, already they have paid to remove the trash and then they need to take the recyclables to a different location.

When I asked the question the other day “When you hear sustainability, what does it mean to you?” the responses that I received were amazing, every keyword topic in the media came up, and I was saddened only one person said “The ability to sustain”.

All of this takes time, when greater than 60% of American households are strapped to overwhelming debit and working every hour they can, still trying to be a good parent and make the school play on time. How can we expect our neighbors to separate their trash, show up on the river clean up day, or even take the afternoon to go for a walk in the woods with their children? The point we need to drive home is that sustainability is the ability to sustain. Now my credit card company doesn’t want me to say this, but by my calculations if I didn’t have that payment I could take 1 day off EVERY week. That is 52 days a week that I personally could walk in the woods, pick up a bit of trash, and drop my recyclables off at the collection site… and stop for an ice cream all the while still ending up at the end of the month more sustainable and a lot more relaxed.