There’s a little teriyaki restaurant about three miles from my house. Sometimes when I’m out doing errands on my bike, I’ll stop at the restaurant and order the wonderful lunch special chicken teriyaki, then sit outside in the sun, enjoying the food and the day. Life feels good--until I’ve finished my meal and am standing there, holding an empty styrofoam container and my used plastic fork.
As Kermit The Frog would say, “It’s not easy, being green.”
Consider one day in the life of that one restaurant, the number of styrofoam containers and plastic forks that go into the trash and are then trucked to the landfill. Consider these things. Right across the road there is another teriyaki joint and they too sell carryout food in styrofoam containers. Consider the waste from that second restaurant.
There’s got to be a better way.
Yesterday I called in an order of chicken teriyaki. I asked if it would be okay if I brought my own container (a metal pie plate) for my meal. The woman on the phone hesitated--English is not her primary language, so she went to consult with someone else. When she came back to the phone, she said “Yes, bring your own plate. No problem.” She giggled when I showed up and handed her my metal plate, but she dished up the chicken teriyaki. She offered me a plastic fork and a paper napkin. I said no-thanks, I’d brought my own fork and a cloth napkin.
Is it a silly thing I did, taking my own plate? Was I spitting into the wind, one lone individual, hoping to lessen our societal waste? Even worse, was I making a show of my greenness? I later told Leah about my take-my-own-plate exercise, and I mocked myself, saying I was a “Silly Green Man.” Leah thought for a moment, then reminded me of something Gandhi once said:
“Be the change you wish to see.”
