A letter, the first in a four-part series…

My Kin, I think often about your quality of life and health as I live my own with joy. What we do now will affect you and I’m trying to be aware and base my actions with this knowledge. I’ve worked hard to save natural resources by recycling and preventing our precious planet from filling up with garbage. Turning food waste back into soil has been helpful, but we humans still waste too much and not everything can be reused. My family–your ancestors–has been able to usually succeed in generating one small bag of garbage a week, but I know over time that adds up, and I’m trying to waste less. 

My Kin, we strive to reduce what comes in by taking our own cups, cutlery, bags, and containers to stores, restaurants, and potlucks. I hope you’re not reeling from the repercussions of our plastics, that once amazing invention from the early 1900s that later proved to be environmentally destructive. Can you believe they’re even finding remnants of it in our bodies? Our family tries to avoid this nemesis by using toothpaste tabs, shampoo bars, and metal and glass containers, but it’s challenging–plastics are so convenient and seem unavoidable. We’re decent at not buying special drinks in plastic, drinking our clean tap water, and buying foods unpackaged. Our paper products, like TP, paper towels, and copy paper from our treasured trees are usually made from post-consumer content, and when we can, we try to avoid using them at all (except the TP!). 

My Kin, we sometimes need or like to buy new clothes, shoes, gear, and furniture, and we prioritize thrift stores over buying something new, but it can be challenging. We rarely order anything online, as that results in packaging waste and trucks, boats, or planes polluting our environment to deliver them. When we buy cars, electronics, and homes–immense resource hogs–we try to buy them used, but our generation seems to thrive on consumption, and the responsible choices aren’t always available.

My Kin, I think often about what I have now–clean water and air, trees, wild animals, land and food–and I can only hope you’re experiencing the same. Please know we are all trying… 

By Mary Closser