What I can't see..

Hello my name is Charlotte.  I am a resident of planet Earth (most of the time :)).  I understand (or at least think and pretend that I do) a lot of things that I have never seen.  I have never met a dinosaur, but there is enough evidence out there that without meeting one face to face, I am certain they once roamed where I now live.  I have never been to outer space, or to the very depths of the ocean, but I know there is a lot of cool stuff out there and down there, and there is a need to continue exploration so that maybe one day if we are lucky we can experience those places (for fun and not because we are forced to find other places to live, been watching too many movies!).  I do not have to see everything to understand that humans don't know much (nice segue right!).  But we do know some stuff, we are not completely unintelligent beings, so why it is so hard to comprehend and combat what we are doing to the planet. Here is my thought,  we cannot see it, at least on the day to day.
Right now on my small section of the planet there is a massive drought.  I do not see it though, because I go to turn on the tap and I have water.  However I get that what I can't see does not mean it is not happening so I try to turn on the tap as conservatively as possible (cool tip compost so you do not have run the water for the disposal).  There are people who really have experienced drought, those who do not have access to taps to just turn water on and off as they wish.  They can tell you droughts are real.  I know there are farmers who grow the food that I eat that are struggling.  I cannot see it, since I walk into a store and there is food.  But those farmers know how precious the water is.
I hope that I understand just a little the value of water and other things that my own survival is dependent.  I hope that even though I cannot see it, I do all that is possible to conserve and protect the resources that I and the rest of the people on this planet rely upon for life.  I hope that the rest of the world understands that you do not have to see something to help change what is happening.  I hope that we all start thinking long term rather than short term, and of others rather than ourselves.
I know that so many things are different now than say just 10 years ago.  We see so much with social media, smart phones, and the interwebs (trying to sound old and funny at the same time, not sure it worked) and whatever else helps us put out there right away the images and thoughts of our daily lives.  Nothing seems to go unnoticed, so why is the planet??
But just because everyone cannot see what is happening does not mean there are people out there who are not already struggling due to what we are all doing to ourselves.  I hope that we all take every action that is required, big or small, to help out those who can see the damage already and especially those who can't.  I hope those who have enough power to change laws do so, and are less easily bought by short term thinking companies. And most of all I hope we all realize that we are doing this to ourselves.  Denial, it ain't just a river in Egypt!
Here are a few tips that you can do to help conserve water

Be a Yes!

I was blown away the other day, I was expecting the worst, and was shocked to hear an answer I so wanted to hear.  Let me explain.  I am obsessed with this food stand at our local farmers market.  They serve the best veggie coconut curry ever.  The downside was it was served in styrofoam.  Well that was a bit off putting for me.  So I asked the guy working as I was walking by if I brought my own container would he still be able to serve me.  Expecting a big fat NO or that is against some sort of stupid regulations, instead I got a big fat YES!   How thrilling to hear a yes every once in a while.  And not only that but I was told many people do it that way, oh there is power in numbers!  And so hear we come full circle back to Leftover Love, the incentive: the delicious curry (in moderation of course, for no other reason than my wallets sake) and the perk is not having guilt of throwing styrofoam into the landfill.  I am telling you this can totally work, we just have to work together.   The win for the food stand is, as the gentleman serving me mentioned, that he knows the spoon/serving size so he can charge me accordingly without having to use his containers as a form of measurement, and he mentioned he does not have to use his containers!!! (Not sure what it is called in writing when you repeat yourself, but thought it would help drive the point home) that the gentleman realized the cost savings when he does not have to use his containers (did I say that already).  

So go out there, ask questions, you may actually get the answer you want, and be a yes (as my old yoga studio used to say) it may surprise you have effective being positive can be.  

Goodness I am so hungry now!