The Ripple Effect
On a recent warm spring day I took my young son down to the banks of the James River here in Richmond. The water was up and he wanted to see what the river looked like when it was “angry”. After a mile or so of churning brown water we came around a bend and found ourselves facing a calm pool at the edge of the river. I searched around and finding a smooth, flat stone gave it a toss. “Plink, plink, plink.”
“Dad, what did you do?” he asked.
“I skipped a stone” I told him.
After seeing me toss a few more he searched around and found a large, round rock and gave it a mighty heave. “KERPLUNK!”
“Dad, that one skipped right to the bottom!”
We laughed and watched as little ripples of water made their way across the pool towards us.
I was like many of you and watched in dumbfound horror the recent events unfolding in Japan. I later watched in amazement as that massive displacement of energy manifested itself on the shores of Hawaii, California, and lands half a world away. It caused me to reflect on my son’s rock and the ripple it caused and made me ponder the ripple we cause in our daily lives. What if we could channel the ripple and turn it around?
My friends are habitual recyclers and I often find myself enjoying their company. The Mrs. follows us around collecting bottles, cans, paper and into the bin they go. It made me much more diligent about my own behaviors and even changed the way I buy my goods and how they are packaged. Ripple.
I live in downtown Richmond and share a quiet patio with my neighbors. I enjoy the occasional cigar and have a table and chair on my corner of the patio. The neighbors smoke and I often found myself hunched over collecting butts to preserve my little Eden. I found an extra ashtray and put it on the little table on their side of the patio and, Eureka! No more butts. Ripple.
Commercial farmers use chemicals to encourage growth and deter pests. These chemicals end up in our rivers which go to our oceans. The chemicals end up in feeder fish which are eaten by larger fish. Big fish eat the larger fish and then we eat the Big fish. We wash down the big fish with high fructose corn syrup grown by commercial farmers…..you get the picture. A recent dinner with friends presented me with a stunning array of colorful vegetables. “Organic” I was told. It made me look a little harder at the grocery cart as I shopped. Ripple.
Keep Virginia Beautiful recently posted the factoid that a tree will absorb a ton of carbon during its lifetime. If I planted two trees that would be two tons. If I got two friends to plant two trees that would be six tons! We could create a wave of carbon absorption!
As we creep into spring take a look around. Take stock and look at opportunities. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. All it takes is a ripple.