“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.”
Today is Earth Day. The first was forty years ago, and I missed it. Not long after, I read about Earth Day in the weekly review section from the New York Times. The Peace Corps used to send it to us so we could keep up with the world, but I already knew Earth Day. I was living in Ghana where Earth Day was every day. Nothing went to waste in Ghana.
If the soles of my sandals wore out, I brought them to the market where the shoe man re-soled them using old tires. The treads were worn, but those soles outlived the sandals. A friend gave me a year’s subscription to the New York Sunday Times. Four or five papers would arrive at once. When I had finished reading, Thomas, my house boy of sorts, took the papers and sold them to make extra money. Mine was the only market in Ghana where rice was sold wrapped in a cone made from the New York Times. Bucket baths were common especially during the dry season when water was turned off for days at a time. One whole bucket of water was good for a bath and a toilet flush at the end of the day. Even when I could shower, there was only cold water. I learned to shower quickly to make use of the first water from the pipes as it had been warmed by the sun. None of the chicken ever went to waste. The head and feet were boiled together and made great broth and a tasty base for cooking rice. Ghanaians sometimes ran out of beer because they were out of bottles in which to put the beer. Green Star beer bottles were sold in the market filled with palm or groundnut oil. During the spring rains, termites were fried and roasted, or made into bread. I was never a fan of bugs, cooked or uncooked.
Ghana was never paradise. It had trash heaps and open sewers. It had public toilets which were walls around holes in the ground and smelled God-awful. People tossed things anywhere. Mammy lorries spewed smoke and were never inspected. I saw accidents and people lying in the road. I saw Ghana in the best light and in the worst light.
I saw it all, and I brought the best home with me. Like the Ghanaians, I recycle. I save cans, plastic in all colors, newspapers, magazines, cardboard and bottles. I live by the maxim that you always leave a place better than when you found it.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Earth Day, Ghana, Peace Corps
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 22, 2010 at 11:26 am
I looked at a tv program the other day. It´s people with ideas but without money that shows their ideas for people with money to get help with the economy. They showed shoes that had soles made of tires 🙂 🙂 Not such a new and original idea I understand now 🙂 🙂 🙂
When i lived in my cottage without hot water I used to take a shower in my garden during the summer. I had hung towels towards my neighbours so they didn´t have to look at me. What I didn´t know what that there were a road not far away from my garden, that couldn´t be seen from my direction. So when I opened my gardencentre two lady customers said: So it was You we saw naked every summer when we were out walking 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
April 22, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Christer,
Not so original but still a good idea. They last forever!
I had a great laugh at your expense when I read the last paragraph.
April 22, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Happy Earth Day 2010 Katry.40 years has formulated awareness of just how fragile the earths eco-system is and yet our efforts & strides have only made a simple impact upon earths resources and conditions.
We ALL,as caretakers of this only liveable world that we know,should be conscious of what we use and reuse.Which the basis of it all,is how we produce those things.But sadly it seems, it is the pursuit of money that we forget what we do and take from this world and the impact is what we ALL endure.
Take note people of earth,what other planet is inhabitable for our species?
April 22, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Morpfy,
In forty years we have learned so much about the damage we are doing to our world, but we still drag our feet in passing stricter laws to protect the Earth.
You are so right-money and commerce drive us.
April 22, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Rebecca had similar descriptions about Zimbabwe when she served there as a Peace Corps volunteer. She even continues today sucking the marrow from the chicken bones. They consume the entire chicken. It is an event for them. Every village had a chief and he was the go to guy, deciding everything from who got married to what people can or can’t do. It was he who approved of Rebecca turning an old warehouse into the Villages first Library. It’s still thriving there today.
April 22, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Z&Me,
I remember sucking on the chicken bones, not wanting to waste a single morsel, but I haven’t done that in a while.
Most towns and villages in Ghana had a chief, and he too was the go to it guy. When we first got to Ghana, we all walked through the village of Winneba where we were staying to greet the chief. The Ashanti chiefs speak only through linguists who carry staffs as a sigh of their positions. You talk to the linguist who speaks to the chief then it is reversed when the chief speaks. .
April 22, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Happy Earth Day. A good friend of mine made me a pair of sandals in 1972, I still wear them…Why does no one today build things to last? Has conspicuous consumption gone totally mad?
April 22, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Happy Earth Day to you too, sblake,
It is so true about conspicuous consumption. It is far easier and cheaper to replace than to repair. So many jobs are now obsolete like the television repair man.