We’re getting towards our implementation inflection point here at Copiosis. That means making sure everything we do contributes to our mission. That means every Copiosis team member reflect in their actions and decisions what we’re creating.
Doing so requires each person carefully looking at how they’re moving through the world. After all, we take seriously being the change we want to see. If we want a regenerative society, on a healthy, restored planet, each individual must role model that change. Role modeling brings challenges, change and, in some cases, doing things in ways that cost more.
Matching my walk with my talk
For example, I’m looking at how I can eliminate all waste I create. I’m also looking at what stores I patronize and packaging things I buy come in. Considering how to minimize packaging waste presents interesting challenges. Particularly because my next home will be a 250 square foot travel trailer. That travel trailer may be my final home on Earth.
Since 2019, I changed how I poop and pee. My landlord says “If it’s yellow, let it mellow”. I agree. In other words, I don’t flush after peeing. When I use the toilet, that is. At night, I pee in a bucket rather than getting up and walking to the bathroom upstairs. For some reason too, I hardly poop at all. I think that’s because I don’t eat much.
All that saves a ton of fresh water. Literally. Americans flush over $5 billion of water every year down the toilet.
According to the article at the link above, the average American uses 90 gallons of water each day. And only 2 gallons of that we drink or cook with. Washing dishes uses four gallons a day. Laundry: 8.5 gallons per person per day. Then we use 25 gallons each day, per person, watering yards and filling and refilling pools.
American toilets flush between 1.5 and five gallons of FRESH DRINKING WATER down the toilet per flush. Think about that. We use fresh drinking water to push bodily waste out our homes. Combined, that’s 24 gallons of fresh drinking water each day. A gallon of water weighs eight pounds. Do the math.
Petal transportation over combustion
Three years ago, I gave my ex-wife’s daughter my Honda Accord. She took it to college. That left me with my bikes. Biking around fulfills me. And where I live, getting places by bike makes commutes fun. So riding bikes or walking moves me around when I need to get around. Foot or pedal makes moving around so easy, when I get in a car on rare occasions, it feels…weird.
But bike and foot transportation takes chunks out off my planetary impact. Neither my bike nor my feet use fossil fuels. They don’t pollute either. Furthermore, the US government says increasing pedestrian and bicycling trips corresponds to decreasing automobile trips. Reducing car miles driven by one to three miles on average saves a lot on carbon emissions.
With moderate increases in bike use, the government says, we could avoid putting six to 14 million tons of CO2 into the skies. And 700 million to 1.6 billion gallons of fuel could be saved. By walking and biking, I’m doing my part.
It takes everyone every day
Why am I sharing all this? Because Copiosis creates a better world. But that world emerges from actions people take. My team and I lead that emergence. So we must lead from the front by showing others how creating the future we want happens.
It happens when each person looks at how they’re living, then does something productive about it. Something that creates less impact on the planet, and helps others do the same.
A Copiosis strategic partner introduced me to criteria I now use. Comparing myself to this criteria shows me how I do each day. Am I creating the world I promise with Copiosis? Little by little I think I am. But this criteria at Future Fit Business will help take my commitment up several notches. I’m encouraging my team to use them too.
If we’re going to create that regenerative, global gift economy Copiosis promises, then we must start, as people, doing our part. That means showing others how it’s done. Not with talk. But through our daily acts.
Only then can we maximize our results.
Our inflection point looms on the horizon. When it comes, we’ll be ready.
