My husband and I just returned from a glorious trip to Europe. We spent 10 days between London, England, and Mallorca, Spain. I'd been to London several times and it is still raining and gloomy but we had fun visiting tourist sites via "The BIG Bus Company." We visited the London Dungeons, a haunted house of sorts; The London Eye, the largest ferris wheel in the world that lets you view the landscape for I don't know how many miles (it takes over 30 minutes just to revolve 1 time); and Madame Tussaud's wax museum where we got to take photos with faux likenesses of some of our favorites: Samuel Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and The Rock.
Mallorca, Spain is where I renewed my spirit though. The weather was perfect - mid 70's and sunny every day and low humidity. The sun seemed to always be shining, even at night. Gorgeous sunsets, and turquoise Mediterranean water surrounded us daily. I could live there eeeasily. We ate, we shopped, we even had a day trip on a yacht complete with lobster, shrimp, salmon and Thai Chicken curry. It was like a beautiful dream. I counted how truly blessed we are to be able to experience something so wonderful -- to be floating in the sea with nothing but the wind pulling us and being able to just relax and enjoy. The rock formations of the mountains, the open ocean, the sandy beaches: sights that much of the earth's population never get to witness.
We were blessed by my brother in law, B, who arranged the trip to Spain in celebration of my sister's (his wife's) birthday. He arranged the flights, the hotel, the yacht, and our dinners in the evening.
While there, we were surrounded by people who had money - my sisters' and B's friends who had come along to celebrate. Money was easily thrown around on cigars, countless bottles of wine and more food than any of us could put away. The sensational stories that were told of trips to the south of France, Thailand, other parts of Spain, Greece, and wherever else you can imagine were common conversation. While it was inspirational and lead me to dream of future exploits, I was reminded again of the excessive lives we live. I had lately had these thoughts as I'm going through self-exploration, that we truly don't need all the things I have, nor do I need most of the things I want. We could live much more cheaply and save more.
Don't get me wrong... I would travel the world and eat fine cuisine, drink fine wines, and shop 'til my luggage exceeded the weight limit... IF I had it like that. But with the economic times being what they are, that is not an option, nor would it be prudent even if funds were of no object. Aside from the political mess going on in the U.S., we face a global fight to save the environment, which 
in the scheme of things, is way more important than the economy or the face we see in the White House.
I haven't been everywhere, but it seems to me that the U.S. is one of the most wasteful countries. We also seem to not respect our rivers and streams or even our neighborhood streets. We throw litter wherever it's convenient (especially in the lower-income neighborhoods), rather than waiting to see the next garbage can. We use enough plastic to make a 20 oz cup and more cardboard than a jewelry box to package a half-ounce, 1-inch square memory card. Trucks have to pick up our grass clippings and yard waste on a weekly basis, and we leave water running like it is worth nothing. We are dying from cancer and viruses, our water is becoming undrinkable, and now even drinking from plastic water bottles can cause health problems.
So upon our return, Hubby and I made some promises. I want to record them so that I can ensure we stick to them. We want to do our part to help Mother Earth renew and repair, so that she will take care of our children and our children's children when it is time. Here is our list to help conserve resources, which in turn will also save money...
- Use less chemicals. This includes using more user-friendly cleaning chemicals, but also using less of the things that pollute our water, like shampoos, conditioner, soaps, etc.
- Recycle more. We already participate in the county's recycling program but we're going to be better about putting everything that can be recycled in the correct bin -- this will entail putting recycle bins in other parts of the house and not just the kitchen.
- Don't leave water running unnecessarily, such as when brushing teeth or washing faces, dishes, etc.
- Only run the dishwasher and clothes washer when it is full.
- Donate more. Rather than just "trash it", give it to charity where someone else may be able to use it. And you get tax write offs!
- Turn off unnecessary lights and don't pump the A/C or Heat so much. We already do this for the most part, but there's always room for improvement.
- Switch to fluorescent bulbs wherever possible. We've done this already.
- Turn off computers, monitors, game consoles, cable boxes, TV's and any other electronics when not in use, and especially at night.
- Use less toilet paper and paper towels. You just don't need so much. Especially out in public where the tendency is to use big wads of it.
Please feel free to help me add to the list! We're open to ideas on how we can better conserve and make the world a better, cleaner place.
