On caring without despairing

This a guest post by Beth Terry, who blogs about not using plastic at Fake Plastic Fish. If, by the way, you're an international reader, don't think the absence of new posts on November 22 and 23 means I'm dead. It's a holiday here in the USA. Happy Thanksgiving!

My dad asked me the other day how I can blog day after day about plastic and not get totally overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the problem. I think part of my coping strategy, and it might be yours too, is selective attention.

I guess I allow in as much information as I can stand in order to understand the problem and then shut it out and focus on what I can do and how I can have the biggest impact and do the most good I can without caving under the pressure. The things we do as individuals do matter, but the things we do that others see matter even more.

There's no more hiding our lights under bushels.

I was thinking about this today as I was picking up plastic trash from the sidewalk as I walked to work. I was hoping others would notice... not so they'd think I was a good person but to plant the idea in their heads that picking up trash (and maybe not making so much trash in the first place) is something to consider doing.

Keep doing what you're doing and don't be overwhelmed by what others are not doing. In the end, we might all fail. There's a good possibility that all our efforts will come to naught. But that's no reason not to do what we can in the present, if only because it makes our lives so much better now!