God I hate waste!

This thought occurred to me at 11:00 last night as The Hubby and I were finishing watching "Psych" on USA Network (great show, by the way). The next step for the basement remodel is to scrape and paint the walls. So the hubby is talking about how he's got to put plastic up so the scrapings don't fall into the new interior french drain and clog it.

"Okay, put up the plastic, scrape, move the plastic, scrape, etc. Tedious, but not complicated," I say.

He looks at me in wonderment. Seems he was planning to ring the entire perimeter of the basement with plastic and then scrape. "But you're way just seems less..."

"Wasteful?" I supply. Uh, yeah.

To me, waste is an affront to God and Nature. Think about it. What other animal on Earth is as wasteful as humans? No other animal kills more that it can eat, or drives ginormous vehicles, or builds ginormous houses that cost hundreds to heat, or throws away food the way humans do. It's disgusting.

Throwing away food is actually emotionally painful. While I've never actually used the "There are starving kids in {fill in a third-world region}" on my kids, their habit of taking two bites and announcing "I'm full" drives me crazy. This disdain of waste is what keeps me eating the spicy fries that came with my Smoked Turkey wrap long after I'm still hungry. (Okay, you've got me. That's not the only reason. I'm a sucker for good french fries and these were really good.) It just seems so wrong.

Pulled up to the pump at my local gas station yesterday. The previous customer had racked up $50 in gas. Fifty bucks! And I thought my $25-$30 every 6-7 days was a lot. What kind of vehicle sucks $50 in gas? And just what is the practical purpose of a Hummer or a gargantuan SUV? Contractors with large F350 pickups I get. It's a business expense; how else do you haul around equipment and materials? But soccer moms driving H3s? Give me a break. Now those who know me might say this is the pot calling the kettle black. And in a way it is. We drive a Dodge Grand Caravan and a PT Cruiser, neither of which can be described as "excessively fuel efficient." But they get better mileage than a Hummer. And the van is up for replacement within the year. One of our criteria is that the new vehicle must get at least 30 mpg. So cut me a little slack; we're working on it.

Look at a new housing development. How much gas does it cost to heat those monsters? And come night time, every light bulb is on. My kids, young as they are, are already familiar with the "I'm not a stock holder in Duquesne Light - turn off the lights when you leave the room!"

And money. Oh God, don't get me started. One of the most annoying things about this whole car debacle (oh, and somehow my reservation got botched, so I have no idea when I'll ge the rental - that's topic for another post) is that my kids will now miss swimming lessons today. I paid $80 for the two of them to take lessons this summer. They were going to miss at least two, but that's because we are going on vacation, and I was cool with that. But now they're going to miss a third! I think there are only 8-9 lessons total! Argh!

(The Hubby, by the way, does not feel this way about money - at least spending or wasting it. He will have nightmares about writing the $8,000 check for the basement, which I will not, but he'll think nothing of spending $4 per day for a pastry and a coffee on his way to work, or $15 for a lunch out. Meanwhile, I'm eating homemade grilled chicken salads that average $3/each. Then he asks, "Where did all the money go?" Grrr.)

But waste goes beyond physical things like money, natural resources, or food. Think of the astronomical amount of time and effort we waste on a daily basis. Meetings that go on for-freaking-ever and nothing gets done! I am a Doer - I need to be accomplishing things. Ask me how many meetings I spend doing nothing but doodling hearts, moons, stars, and flowers on a piece of paper. (Side note: I do not draw these things because I am cutesy by nature. I just can't draw anything else. My best friend is a terrific artist. I can't draw a stick figure.) A co-worker of mine was stuck in a 3+ hour one of these time wasters yesterday. I'd rather slit my wrist with a butter knife.

Does this sound familiar? You spend 3 hours and a lot of effort tracking down information or a decision for someone. And as you report your findings/progress/whatever, the person on whose behalf you are expending all this effort says, "Oh, I changed my mind. I don't need it anymore," or "So-and-so got that for me 2 hours ago." Gee, thanks for telling me. Because you know I have nothing better to do than spin my wheels for you.

I guess at my current age this should not surprise me. After all, it's human nature and that hasn't changed in millions of years. But it still seems so fruitless. Think of what we could accomplish if we'd just stop and think about the impact of our choices and activities. We could have solved world hunger, global warming, AIDS, and cancer by now.

God I hate waste.