I noticed a new brand of toilet paper at my friend's house.  It's made by Marcal® and branded Small Steps®.   It is made 100% from recycled materials.  The Marcal website explains the brand name, "Our name is inspired by those small changes that make a big difference.  Changing your paper purchases to the Small Steps® brand of eco-friendly products helps save trees, leaving a greener environment for future generations."  I was impressed by this name, "Small Steps".  I am often overwhelmed by today's green movement.  It seems impossible to be totally green in my daily living, so I feel hypocritical if I do a small green thing, which is dwarfed by all the big non-green things that I do.  But this idea of small steps is compelling.  If we all just take a few small steps, it's better than no steps at all.  Eventually those small steps will lead to bigger steps, and pretty soon, we'll be back to where we started 50 years ago, when recycling was the norm, not the exception.

 

I can't change all my bad habits overnight, but if I do one thing differently each year, my small steps will start making a difference.  I started composting kitchen scraps this year.  At the nursery, we devised our own rain barrel and offer it for sale.  We were asked to speak to the Lake Murray Association about plants that can be used in Rain Gardens, so we are educating ourselves about the idea of establishing landscape beds which will catch and filter water run-off before it makes its way to lakes and streams. Read more about it in the article below.  It was an intimidating idea at first. How can we promote rain gardens when we are not using them 100% in our own landscaping?  Think small steps.  Talking about it, thinking about it and investigating it.  That's our first small step.  What's yours?