My cousin Helen sent me the picture on your right last week. My brother and I are in the photo with my maternal grandparents in their home in Rangoon, Burma. I kept thinking about this picture the past week -- with some local-global connections. The world has changed a lot in the 37 years I changed countries -- from Burma to the U.S. The local-global connection I want to share has to do with resources. My parents recycled (and reused things) in Burma four decades ago because resources were scarce. We moved to Minnesota in 1972, where there were fewer recycling options back then than there were in Burma.
Like people in poor countries, we reused as much of any material as possible in Burma. And when we first came to America, we were poor, and continued our ways of careful use of resources -- until we became part of the American dream. I have seen a lot of people change habits with increased wealth and availability of resources throughout my lifetime. As far as I can tell, it is an innate human trait to go with societal trends, and hence, generally, people from all cultures have adapted to the consumption lifestyles of Americans when they come to America. (Always exception to every general human behavioral rule.)
It is easier to buy things you can afford rather than mend things that can be reused. It takes time to figure out the recycling and reuse options in your community, but we need to change before we are forced to change. I know humans will change in crisis as we did in WWII, and as much of the world does today with every crisis that occurs locally. The question I have is, will we be able to change before we are forced to change?
