By Charlene Lange, reprinted with permission, first printed
in the Iowa City Press- Citizen, 10/23/18
To the Future Generation:
I wish you peace and joy. Yes it is the time of year to
start preparing for the madness of the holidays. This year will be different. I
am going to change, to help give you clean air and water. It will be hard but I
can do this.
I am going back to Christmases I had growing up, where less was
more and my identity wasn't based on the amount of presents I got or gave.
Generations of Christmas traditions and buying during the holidays create vast
amounts of landfill and carbon waste. Besides, with all the presents being
given, kids cannot even remember what they got or who gave what. I will:
1. Give of my
time, laughter, and guidance.
2. Give the gift
of a trip or experience, take them to explore the town, county, state.
3. Give a gift
of adventure, give them another world—give books, magazines
4. Buy
ecofriendly products…. Examples: reusable shopping bags, newspaper
subscriptions, reusable lunch containers, organic food wrap, reusable straws…
etc.,
5. Buy local,
make gifts, re-gift things others want
6. Buy wrapping
paper without glitter or metal, make my own out of newspaper or paper, decorate
with crayons, etc., and recycle when used; make gift bags out of old T-shirts
7. Take the
recyclables with me when I leave if the place I am visiting doesn’t recycle.
8. Take clean
bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts to Mail Boxes of Iowa City for them to
recycle.
9. Write or
email a company and ask why they don’t use recyclable plastic in their
packaging.
10. Donate to
charity and give food and help a neighbor, join Facebook Free Trade - Give
& Get- North Liberty & Surrounding Areas
So no shopping until I drop, and no stressing that this or
that has to be done a certain way. Receiving or giving one small thing can make
you happier than receiving a ton of stuff. Instead I will be spending time with
those I love, planning trips, playing games, helping others. Yes, saving
Christmas and the Earth for you.
Charlene Lange is a great
grandmother and retired school teacher wanting to help save our resources.
Five difficult things to do to make a better world
By Charlene Lange, reprinted with permission; first printed
in the Iowa City Press Citizen 9/14/18
To the future generations: I am doing some easy and
difficult things to make this a better world for you. I will do more. Here are
five hard things to do:
1. Check out a restaurant — Do they have recyclable cups,
silverware or containers? If not, ask if they could provide them. If given
plastic straw, say no straw please.
2. Check out my place of work — Do they recycle the metal,
paper, plastics? If not, take home to clean and recycle.
3. Check out a product I bought — is the packaging marked as
recyclable? If not, text/email the company expressing your wish for recyclable
or reduction of packaging.
4. Reduce shopping therapy. Buy wisely. Buy locally. Reduce
buying — everything we buy will eventually end up in the landfill. Just because
we have the time to shop, or the money to shop, doesn’t mean we have to buy.
How many latest, greatest products have we bought that collect dust?
5. Eat better. Have one meatless meal a week or one meatless
day a week. Eat less meat and dairy. Animal agriculture contributes more to
climate change than cars.
I will speak up and educate.
-Charlene Lange, Iowa City
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