As I took my garbage out this morning, I thought about the concept of “living lightly upon the Earth.” I know that it goes beyond me having a low flow shower head, recycling and driving a Toyota Prius. I own a unit in an over-55 mobile home park which I rent out and it’s under some nice big oak trees. Every fall, the leaves cover the ground and the neighbors get on my tenant for not raking them. They want her to do what they do: rake all the leaves up and put them in a plastic bag and put the bag out to the curb for the garbage pickup. What?? Why not just leave them where they fall to do the job of mulch and nourishment as nature intended? I just can’t sanction putting them in plastic bags, and since it’s not a homeowners’ association rule, we just don’t do it.

I was walking in a small strip shopping center today, and passed by a bar. Littering the sidewalk and parking lot was a mosaic of cigarette butts. I have friends even now who smoke and think nothing of tossing a butt out the window, or on the ground, anywhere. To me it’s no different than throwing down a used tissue or crumbled piece of paper. It’s trash and belongs in the trash. So one way I have of walking lightly upon the Earth is I don’t litter.

I try not to do anything that would make someone else have to pick up after me. I don’t like causing unnecessary work for anyone, and that extends to being mindful when I listen, so I don’t need to ask anyone to repeat themselves.

I don’t purchase too many things that have a lot of packaging. I can go to the grocery and buy a week’s worth of produce and fish and bread and end up with less trash from packaging than I’d have if I drove through Wendy’s and got a salad, a drink and a baked potato. I just can’t justify buying something that has so much packaging. I’m not an activist, but that’s another way I have of walking lightly upon the Earth: not creating excessive waste.

I separate trash from garbage, I shred paper trash.

I try to be mindful of people’s space and privacy, so I don’t blare my music with the windows down at a stoplight, or at home. Well, ok sometimes, but rarely.

There are a lot of things I can do to live a little more lightly on the Earth, to help make things flow a little more smoothly for everyone. I look forward to discovering more of them.

And you know what they say about Mother Nature: when Mama’s happy, everyone’s happy.