Our family enjoys playing Monopoly Deal. It’s a simplified version of Monopoly. A quick 15-minute game, which includes three “Just Say No” cards. We love these cards!
If a player wants to take away your property, and you have the “Just Say No” card, you can whip it out and block that.
If that same player has a “Just Say No” card too, he can block your “Just Say No” card. Exciting!
In our journey towards sustainable living (SL), we’ve learnt to “Just Say No”.
Single-use plastic and waste are so ingrained in business practices that often, we don’t even realise it.
Over the past three days, you found your “why”, chose your Small-and-Easy action and will place it there every day.
Today, your task is to find a common situation to “Just Say No”. Some examples we use often:
– Buying drink: “No straw, thank you”
– Shopping: “I don’t need a bag, thank you”
– Lunch: “Half portion of rice, thank you”
– Food delivery: Click “No need plastic cutlery”
– Online purchase: Put in note “No need plastic wrapping”
Just think of something relevant to your life.
I’ve used a stopwatch to check that it takes about 0.4 seconds to say “No need plastic”. Told you it takes less than 1 second to implement, right?
Our 6-year old has mastered saying “No need plastic” when bringing food to the weighing station at the grocery store.
IMPLEMENTATION
1. Find a common situation to “Just Say No”
2. Rehearse it mentally or with someone close
Continue to keep things Small-and-Easy in the beginning. This is how you run the marathon towards sustainable living.
In the next email, you’ll explore ways to look good, reduce waste while saving money. Talk next time…
Carol @ owl future
P.S.
We were having dinner at a restaurant, and the waitress noted that she has given us noodles instead of rice.
“I’ll get you some rice as replacement.”
“Thank you, just a small bowl will do.”
She brought out a full portion of rice, which we were sure we couldn’t finish.
“Could you please return some of the rice?”
“It’s ok, it’s free.”
“No, thank you. We don’t want to waste food.”
She looked quite surprised and did return some of the rice. We’re glad to have spoken up.
>> Go to [SL] Part 5
