Be Brave Not Safe

Would we bury someone prior to their death? Of course not. That is murder. Why do we bury “stuff” when there is still life in it? This, in a way, is contributing to a “slow death” of the earth…

As a whole, we as a society are wealthy (compared to the rest of the world) and — INCREDIBLY WASTEFUL!

More specifically, we are loading up our landfills with stuff that still has life in it. Can we please stop!?!

Realize that what we may consider “junk” or “no longer required” is someone else’s treasure. Alternatives to unload this stuff include donating to charity, having a yard sale, eBay, craigslist and/or putting it by the side of the road (on our own lot 🙂 ) marked as “free.”

In the last 2 days I observed 2 scenarios which prompted the writing of this post.

The first was a person who was moving out of his rented home. No longer needing his working refrigerator he was going to ditch it. I asked him if he thought of craigslist’ing it. His response: “I haven’t the patience for that.” I said: “Can you please turn the light on in here, I’ll take a few pictures and get it up on craigslist within the hour.” That same day we had 3 people respond and the fridge sold for $75 in less than 24 hours. This impatient person was undoubtedly happy with his $75 score.

The next day I learned that our church intended to trash 2 old, large and working AC units that were no longer required. The line was “oh, no-one wants these ole things.” It was time to head to church and take a few pictures. After posting the ad on craigslist an email blast was sent to fellow church-goers. Within 24 hours we had numerous inquiries and the units were claimed for pickup the following day!

Over the last several years my family has sold cars, tires, bikes, refrigerators, dehumidifiers, iPads and, I can’t remember what else, on craigslist. Most of the items sold within 24 hours of posting!

The process takes less than 10 minutes. Simply take a few pictures, create the ad, upload the pictures and submit. That said, don’t just put up an ad saying “AC Units” with the description “these ole things.” It is important to “pitch” what you are selling (what is good about it, etc.) and share why you are selling it. Be open and honest; never greedy. Price it to sell.

By taking just a few moments, chances are you can unload the unneeded item in short order, make a few bucks and KEEP IT OUT OF THE LANDFILL – at least until it is officially dead!

Building on a prior post “Just Say No To Paper” I’m continuing to identify and promote ways to curb the senseless use of paper. In response to an earlier post on this topic the youngest of my 2 brothers let me know what he and his wife do with junk mail they receive.

Upon opening junk mail that includes a postage paid return envelope they stuff it with pizza coupons and send it back to the “marketer.” Nice gesture, especially if the recipient is a pizza lover!

Building on this idea, I now do something similar. I can’t say “we” because my wife thinks I’m a whack-o on this.

After opening useless snail mail and finding a postage paid return envelope I now simply take all the paper they sent me (the original envelope and all the marketing collateral), pack it into their return envelope and send it straight back to them. This is much better than filling up my recycle bin with THEIR paper. This way they can pay for the cost of shipping the junk mail back to them, and for its disposal. In addition, this supports the US Postal Service’s cause by generating additional revenue 🙂

I realize that if there are only 2 of us doing this (my brother and I) it will probably not make a big difference. But, just think what would happen if thousands upon thousands of people did this. I believe that the marketers would “wake up” and “cut down” on the use of paper as it would become an increasingly expensive proposition yielding decreasing results…

Please feel free to leave a comment sharing steps you are taking to curb the senseless use of paper and the killing of trees.

My wife and I are from Maine. When we are in our home state and decide to eat out for lunch we’ll often order an italian sub. Quite a simple process, really!

In New Hampshire they don’t seem to know what an italian sub is, even though it is clearly offered on the menu. In numerous cases (many different sub shops) I’ll order my favorite sandwich and the response is “What do you want on it?”

My brain goes spastic. Are you kidding me? It’s like, where do I start…This is when my wife will grab my hand to make sure I don’t jump across the counter and make it myself 🙂

Maybe its just that we are Maniacs (and proud of it)…

So, for those sub shops (outside of Maine) that aren’t clear what is on an italian sub, the ingredients include:

• Ham and/or Salami
• Cheese
• Onions
• Green Peppers
• Pickles
• Tomatoes
• Black Olives

Starting with this commonly known foundation (in Maine, at least) I’m ONLY asked (potentially) 2 questions:

1. Would you like any oil or mayo?
2. Is there anything you don’t want on it (although, this is NOT usually one of the questions)?

In both cases, my response is “Nope.” And then, BLAM-O, there it is! Nothing magical, really.

To this, the italian sub connoisseur might add a Coke or Pepsi and a bag of Humpty Dumpty BBQ chips. Man, am I getting hungry! We’d better head to Maine to make this an easy process.

In closing, being asked what I want on my italian sub is like asking me what I want on my pepperoni pizza.

They just don’t put up with that crap in Maine. The Way Life Should Be!