“’We’re on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we’re saying: We know how nice you’re being. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, and we’ll try to be good guests.’
‘Like a note you’d send somebody after you stayed in their house?’
‘Exactly like that. ‘Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn’t your favorite one.’”
― Barbara Kingsolver
How do you try to be a good guest on this earth?
As a youth, I was a member of the Boy Scouts where I learned conservation skills and a respect for nature. The Scout Master taught us to always leave the campsite in better shape than what we found it. I have tried to carry that lesson forward with me and apply it to my daily life.
We recycle, we try to use cloth shopping bags, we vote for the best green candidates, we try to cut down on driving, we contribute to environmental groups and organizations and we don’t use weed killer or pesticides on our lawn (’cause after you mow it, it’s all green anyway.)