Having a child. The ultimate wake up call. You realize that the world is not here to serve you. And we're here to serve the next generation.

Serving in the Marine Corps, traveling all over the world (and not luxury spots) is an awakening that everyone should experiance. 

I feel like a goober for saying it, but  I started using those swirl light bulbs just because I was moving out on my own and I heard they used less electric and gave off less heat.

They last longer too. It's great.

If you've ever driven by land fill, or read about one, you quickly realize that you contributed to the mess.  Your unused stuff has to go somewhere.  You either keep in your house and risking breaking your neck climbing around it, or you give it to the Salvation Army, or you chunk it in the garbage to let the rest of the world to deal with.  The only way to output less to stuff is to use less stuff by purchasing less stuff.  It's really annoying to purchase a $10 computer mouse (or some low budget peripheral) to have it stuck in a huge clamshell that you might cut your hand off getting to, and in the end you have to chuck the packaging onto the curb. Yay for capitalism, booh for sustainable common sense (and our children.)

Use less stuff!!!

After His miracle of feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus said "Gather up all the pieces.  Let nothing be wasted."  John 6:12.  In other words, even with the power to create something out of nothing, Jesus taught conservation.

I also realized it traveling to developing nations.  We are a part of a global community, and sadly, our excessive waste often has larger impacts on other nations than our own.  Our waste washes up on other beaches, or pollution causes smog over other communities' skies, which makes it easy for us to ignore, but it's good to see that others are becoming more aware.

My Grampa was organic gardening guru before I was born. Most of the vegetables and fruits we ate were from his beautiful garden. He also made sausage, etc., from critters that were locally grown within 40 miles of his home.  He only had chickens though, because of zoning laws..They were still very yummy,, and the eggs were Sooo fresh... He also made homebrew and wine. Grama made all our jellies and jams, not to mention tasty desserts not from boxes.

When I went out on my own, I too made the attempt to live as he did. It was most difficult were I lived. The resources were not the same, life got more complicated, and I eventually stopped growing my own, and canning. Still, I have always been hyper aware of how much we consume and the costs involved in the form of depleted resources. Been a big pain to other's for almost 30 years, reminding them of waste,, and all... Some are starting to get it.  I miss my grampa. He never spoke of anything much,, just 'did'. It wasn't until his funeral ( late 60's ) that I gained much knowledge. A copy of  "Organic Gardener" was on his chest. I never knew about it, but went right out and got a copy. WOW.. What a wonderful eye opener and great start to living 'with' this planet to the best of my ability.

Thank You Wal-Mart for your start on the higher road...

I purchased a couple of Walmart gift cards, and attached to them, there was a package of seeds.......what a wonderful Idea.....Congrats to whomever decided to do this...it's great.

I went this morning to buy Wal-Mart Earth bags at the Little Rock Wal-Mart like they were selling last weekend for 99 cents. The checker said they weren't doing that anymore. ; (

Was that a one shot deal?

Thanks

When I remodeled my house I made several trips to the local transfer station (collection location for the dump) and realized how much stuff people throw away that could still be used in any number of ways by any number of people.  It just struck em how much we waste...

I read your BLOG this morning and was pleased to see that Wal-Mart is so environmentally aware so as to highlight Earth Day.  My    I was disheartened this morning to learn at your store in Gurnee, IL that Wal-Mart does not accept it's plastic bags for recycling!   I entered the store with a number of Wal-Mart bags which I had picked up in the parking lot and asked the nice greeter where the recycling container is.   She replied that there was no such container and that I'd have to "take it up with management."

It's just the right thing to do.

I would have to say that it clicked for me, by living in a area that a large number of people have Wal-Mart jobs, so we could not afford to splurge on things like lights left on in rooms where no one was, unnecessary trips, eatting left overs etc...

So Wal-Mart made us 'Green" before 'Green" was cool.

It's great that since 1970, April 22 of each year has been designated as Earth Day. I think that is fine, but I would like to point out that every day is Earth Day for those of us who tend the land on a daily basis.

We should celebrate Earth Day, and at the same time, we should recongnize and appreciate our planet every day along with the people who are doing their best to utilize sound management practices and technology to make more food on less land with every pass of the bulldozer and dump of the cement mixer.

Earth Day Is Every Day For Agriculture   (Thanks Trent)

I live in Bay City, Texas and I have never been more proud of the local Wal-Mart.  I was driving down the street that runs behind the Wal-Mart when I saw a crew a people with trash bags in hand picking up trash in extremely hot weather.  When I got closer, I noticed it was the crew from our Wal-mart store including the store manager! 

How wonderful is that?!  Later I discovered that the crew from Wal-Mart planted flower beds in the Matagorda Nature and Birding Center and picked up trash in our local parks throughout town. 

Thank you Bay City Wal-Mart and the crew from Wal-Mart.  You really do care about our community!

I have a question - while I applaud Wal-Mart's commitment to sustainability, when will they realize the checkout areas are not geared to people bringing their own bags? The little "merry-go-round" bag holders only work adequately with plastic bags and there is no other space to use with one's own reusable bags. This is an example of dedication to efficiency that is directly in conflict with the idealistic goal.

having kids and just lookingaround and realizing there is no throwing away- there is no away.. everything goes some where- so you really have to get your head around that- and some things are just so easy, changing your light bulbs, energy effecient appliances, buying organic re-usable bags, (and using them) I take pride that I have not used a plastic bag in over a year- and I am an avid recycyler....those are the easy things!

I wonder why Wal Mart hasn't banned the use of plastic bags yet- it seems like the resposible thing to do...

I want to  know why our local walmart (Wisconsin) has gotten rid of the paper bags and now only uses plastic!!! This drives me nuts, the cashier said it was to cut down on the use of trees...to be "greener" am I missing something here??? So instead we have a million plastic bags floating around and so few people actually recycle them. Not to mention that we live in a paper mill community where a huge number of people in the community depend on that mill for jobs and there is a huge paper recycling portion of this mill!!! I am so ready to boycot walmart! 

Mr. Rand,  I hope you have a sense of humor.  Up until just now, I thought sustain-ability was a character trait of Wal-Mart Associates:  ability to withstand, in spite of circumstances.  I tried to write a recycling feature as a volunteer for Public Affairs at Reese AFB, TX many years ago and realized, I am not in favor of "re-cycling".  Here's why:  I think about things like - how much ink did it take to print "please recycle" on all these products?  My new peeve is having to rinse the buttercreme buckets in the Wal-Mart Bakery.  What a lot of water!  My Mama used to re-use the tin foil...  so, it's not that I am for waste.  Thank goodness Wal-Mart has you to sort this out.  Let's really analyze what is beneficial and what is making us sound good in our recycling practices.  Tupperware may have created America's love affair with plastic, but I think paper and glass are probably more earth friendly options.  Do you agree?  My teen-agers privately boycotted the Raeford Road (Fayetteville) Super Store for (4) months, because they missed the evergreens on the lot.  Is it (4) or (5) Super Stores that the Fayetteville area has now?  Anyway, that is another question to analyze...  are the gas / transportation conservations  outweighing the operation wastes of these stores?  Like a middle-schooler's science fair project, research needs to get to the nitty gritty.  We all give a hoot and don't want to pollute.  So, let's be careful about polluting our minds with what constitutes true recycling.

I guess it is a personal decision to start a very personal journey of awareness, most of the time it is not necessarily a pleasant ride.  I believe everyone of us has its own field of action, and its own field of responsibility, but at the end I guess that what matters it is to make the conscious decision of becoming really aware, of starting the journey and then act consequently. It is a common journey to find exactly what does sustainability really means, but I guess that most of the ones that are reading this, already have started, so lets keep moving, eventually more of us will be walking in the same direction.

Other mommies like myself have been scouring the stores for organic clothing, organic domestic textiles, etc. and it's been very frustrating because the organic wears are mixed in with the conventional products, so we miss buying them!  Very frustrating for busy moms who don't have time to read every clothing label on every piece of clothing.  PLEASE, please differentiate organic with some kind of signage to help us buy more of your organic clothing.  I bought so many of your earthday shirts at my local Walmart store when i realized they were transitional cotton.