… one small step at a time.

I recently re-read the simple story of a young boy saving starfishes on the beach by picking them up and throwing them back into the sea. An older gentleman asked him why, when there were so many starfishes on the beach, did he think that he could make a difference.  And as he threw one more back into the ocean he said simply – “It made a difference to that starfish”.

I often wonder what difference I could possibly be making by collecting my one bag of bottles weekly and taking them to recycle.  Why do I continue cleaning up my favourite little beach when the ocean continues to bring debris from all parts of the world every single day, not to mention those indiscriminate beach goers who could care less.  Why should I go the extra mile to conserve energy by switching off unnecessary lights.  Why should I take the extra time to seek out locally grown food when I can just as easily buy foreign stuff in the supermarket all nicely wrapped in plastic.

Because, the truth is, every single small step makes a difference.

One set of bottles recycled can offset the use of precious raw materials.  One garbage bag of beach litter results in one bag less of trash floating around in the ocean harming our sea life.  A healthier electricity bill, less bulbs purchased and less energy being consumed are good reasons to turn off our lights. Helping grow our economy while limiting the use of plastics, seems good enough reasons for me.

Everything we do has a ripple effect, for better or for worse.  Your one tiny step to saving the environment will make a difference.  So go ahead and take that step.  Your grandchildren will thank you for it.