Holding On To A Lot Less
As you may have read very early on in my blogging I have always been interested in lessening my footprint on the Earth. It is something I am passionate about and have been working very hard to apply to my everyday life. I have, in a past life, been a hoarder and a keeper of all things. I think I get it naturally though as my Momma has a collection of a lot of stuff. It is even something that I look for in my relationships with others. My girlfriend is obviously aware of this in me and doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, as a missionary and a world traveler, she owns about 1/4 of what I own even. I should be taking advice from her. So in the pursuit of how others apply this lifestyle I have been reading some new blogs and gleaning information from others. One of those people is Sara of Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. Not only does she share great spiritual insight about her life but she also finds some great info from other sites and sources and regularly posts them. The other day she posted these stats and I felt they were totally worth of reposting.
1.4 million
Americans who suffer from hoarding or clutter.80
Percentage of things Americans own that they never use.300 Million
Number of shoes thrown into landfills in the U.S. each year (donate them to www.Soles4Souls.org instead).11
Percentage of retired personal computers that were recycled in 2001 (visit www.techsoup.com for info on donating computer hardware).75
Percent of employed people of recycle at home (yet only 49 percent recycle at work).5
Number of items needed for “zen-cleansing” (baking soda, borax, lemon, salt, and white vinegar).25
Percent more headaches experienced by pregnant women who use air fresheners and aerosol cans at home.92 Billion
Number of plastic bags grocery stores and pharmacies go through each year (San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban large grocery stores and pharmacies from using them).Sources: treehugger.com, soles4souls.org, techsoup.org, Rastad USA survey, The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing, New Scientist, Newsweek.
