Friday, June 30, 2006

The "Wasteprint" Concept

Lately as I've thought about the resources that we use, and how we use them, I've come up with a general concept cloud of ideas that I've started to call my "wasteprint" concept. The concept includes some of the following ideas:

-There are many resources on this planet which we can and do use. Some of them are more scarce than others, and some more used than others. But what do we actually "use" and what do we "waste" instead?

-Although that question will probably be a bit different for everybody, I think there are some generally accepted forms of waste: Stuff that goes in the landfill, electricity that we waste (like leaving lights on when we don't use them for anything), using excess gas in our cars, heating and/or cooling our homes inefficiently, etc.

-All resources that we use have been made available to us by God, our Creator, by whichever name one chooses to call him. As such, I think He is pleased when we use them wisely and correctly, and saddened when we waste them or use them for evil purposes. As such, the less we waste, the closer we can be to God.

You can think of a wasteprint as a footprint of waste. Or, how much impact does my individual waste make on the world around me? I may put up a web site to explore and define this concept further, as well as to solicit input from others around the world.