There’s an Awful Lot of Good Energy at My Home

Personally, I have anxiety attacks when I see perfectly good materials get thrown in the trash. I believe this disorder of mine is mostly due to the way I was raised. And I’m very thankful for it.

You see, my family (mostly my Dad) has Pack Rat Syndrome. It’s a very mild case, but it’s still there none-the-less. Open a cupboard in their house and you could enter the never–ending world of glass jelly jars. It’s quite beautiful if you tilt your head a little to the left and the light shines at just the right angle. And that’s only the beginning.

My Dad also used to collect the unused biohazard zip-lock bags from the hospital he works at. They’re perfect for packing your lunch in. However, I remember getting very strange looks during lunchtime from kids at school when I was younger… I wonder why?

And then there’s the garage/woodshop/home to every abandoned piece of wood my Dad could get his hands on…and a mountain of sawdust to go with it. He can turn the ugliest log into a beautiful lamp in just a few hours. And with all that wood… who knows. He could probably build another garage to house all the glass jelly jars, plastic biohazard baggies, more abandoned wood, and probably even his truck.

So the point of all of this pack rat talk is that, while, maybe my family has some things they need to work on when it comes to choosing what to save and what to recycle, they’ve raised some very conscious minds when it comes to conserving what’s still useful. The energy my parents spent on telling me why something was worth saving was some of the best advice I’ve ever received.

I noticed their ways of conserving passed on to my sisters as well. Write this term down if you haven’t heard it before. It’s one of my favorites.

“Awful Lot” – one who immediately turns off any form of energy when it’s not in use. This includes running water.

My older sister came to visit over the holidays and told me to turn the water off nearly every time I turned my back to the sink. She said, “I’m an awful lot.” Or maybe that’s “off-a-lot.” Either way, the term stuck. And now her good habits have been passed on to me.

And props to my Mom for always donating our used clothes to charities. This is something I will continue to do for the rest of my life.

Where do you get your energy to conserve and how do you pass it on?

Read about how Joe Laur invests his good energy here.

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

GREENOP4887