There will always be those who don’t see things the way we do and no amount of explaining, educating, or incentives will change their mind. The post two entries above mine clearly attests to this.

It becomes a battle of wills. At that point, I think our efforts to convert that one person become “waste” in and of itself. Likely to never yield the change we hope for, as good intentioned as that may be, it actually works against the cause and becomes a rallying cry to go to war against environmental “tree huggers.” We can only hope we’ve planted a seed and move on. Like the parent who was recycling and hiding it, you never know exactly the positive impact we make on others, despite outward appearances. Maybe that guy will go home and actually think about what you said. Maybe five years from now he will make one small change. Or not.

Where we don’t seem to make much headway, our efforts will go twice as far in the areas and venues that do make a difference, so we can choose to concentrate our time and energy there.

For every reader that adamantly opposes something you suggest David, there will be tons of others who make little small changes that add up.

We have to remember the good we each do, and not let the one or two “failures” get us down. Move on, and keep doing what we can.

Is there tons more I’d like to do to make a difference? You bet. Do my family totally understand my stack of to-go containers that I don’t want to recycle so I can actually “reuse” instead? Not entirely. Do they use the water bucket to catch water while it’s warming? Not yet.

I try to focus on what I can do differently. If someone else throws something in the trash, there’s not much I can do about that, that choice and its consequences are on them.

Can we all do more? Absolutely.

I’m excited that this Earth day seems to be gaining a lot more momentum than prior years. I even got my husband and sister to join an invitation to use no lights between 2pm and 3pm all week!

Small victories? Yes, but they are still sweet.