Gratitude and Waste

Waste is a human thing. 

I’m not aware of any other species on the planet that has landfills and intentional recycling centers. Things recycle naturally in the wild. The garbage in the ocean doesn’t belong to dolphins and tuna fish. Streams don’t get polluted because of an over abundance of trout.  This is a purely human phenomenon. 

I know a homeless lady in my town who buys two chocolate croissants at a local coffee  every time she gets money to do so. She eats 11/2  croissants at the most and throws the rest away. Someone asked about her peculiar habit. Why not just get one? Why not ask for bag to save it for later?   

Her explanation is strange and ridded with flawed logic. She doesn’t finish her second croissant because there are others who don’t have anything to eat, and she feels it would be wrong to eat the whole thing herself. So she throws out half a croissant as a kind of thank offering.  Gratitude. 

Today is Thanksgiving Day in America. I’m suspicious today American humans will throw away more plastic wrap and waste more food and add more to landfills than any other day of the year. 

Gratitude is a human thing. 

I’m not aware of any other species on the planet who is capable of actually expressing gratitude. I like to think of my dogs as being ingratiated to me for giving them food and shelter, a couch to sleep on and daily walks. And I do think there is a bond between us because of this. It’s human/dog interaction. But their affection isn’t actually gratitude. 

Not in the same capacity that we can show gratitude. 

The irony is that on the day we (possibly) waste the most (at least here in America), we are also (possibly) most grateful. 

Efficient living would decrease our consumptive waste and increase gratitude and generosity. 

That’s the only way we sustainably scale.