Use Less

UseLess T-shirtPeople Tree sell a T shirt with USELESS on the design. Strangely, my husband is keen to get himself one. Not that he suffers from crushingly low self-esteem. On the contrary, he definitely has enough self-confidence to carry it off. Me and the kids haven’t knocked it all out of him yet. No - he’s amused by the double entendre and wholeheartedly supportive of the message.

Use less. Use less ketchup. Use less toothpaste. Use less diesel. Use less energy. Use less paper…….

Definitely use less paper. That’s what our world needs to hear. I took my recycling buddy to the recycling depot on Monday with a van full of paper and cardboard. Piles of packaging. Mountains of junk mail. Magazines and newspapers that looked as if they had hardly been read. Recycling is great, but how much energy does it take to turn our discarded offering into something useful again?

Use less. We now buy the Guardian Weekly as my husband was so distraught at having newspapers around the house that he had the desire, but never the time and lack of interruption to read. We limit the reams of paper that our budding artists devour. White A4 sheets with a tiny speck of a pencil mark in the middle are discarded in the pursuit of artistic perfection. It drives me to distraction. It can be bought so cheaply by the ream in the supermarkets - but at what cost to the world’s dwindling forests? At least buying the more expensive recycled alternative serves as a reminder of the two-sided cost.

Maybe our Andy Warhol of the future will slate us for stemming his creative talent. On the other hand, maybe he will enjoy still having a tree of two to draw.

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