Once upon a time, we taught the 3 R’s of sustainability: reduce, reuse, recycle. Seemed simple enough, right? If you do an internet search of the “R’s of Sustainability” today, you’ll find up to fourteen R's! And if you search in another year, you’re liable to find another dozen on top of that. Let’s go over the definitions of the current R’s and then we’ll discuss each one in detail later on.
Reduce: to use less. This can mean reducing the number of items we own, reducing waste and non-recyclable trash, and / or reducing water and energy usage. Think of it as “living lightly.”
Reuse: to use again. This includes purchasing or sharing previously owned items. Furniture, cars, clothes, etc. can be purchased used to save not only money, but also to cut down on the waste created and energy consumption tied to manufacturing new items.
Recycle: to rework an existing item to create a new usable item.
Rot: more commonly known as composting, refers to the natural, biological breakdown of items such as food scraps, plant trimmings, and a huge range of paper products. Composting is nature’s way of putting what might be considered waste back into the system.
Replant: to plant again. Trees native to our ecosystem, home gardens, and community gardens can be extremely beneficial, both for your wallet and the environment.
Respect: to advocate for sustainable living, we should have respect for the choices of others in our community. There should be no shaming as to how a person chooses to lead their life. Instead, we should strive to provide individuals with resources and create a welcoming feeling that fosters their desire to take sustainable actions.
Refuse: to decline to accept items or materials that we don’t truly need. Examples include refusing a plastic bag at the store for a single item or saying “No, thank you” when offered freebies at events.
Replenish: to regenerate where our actions actually serve to increase the supply of clean and useful resources rather than reducing them. When you use wood-chips on your landscape, you replenish the soil. When you capture rainwater, you create a supply of water that would have made its way into the storm-drain otherwise.
Rethink: sustainability is much more than a set of actions or even a change of lifestyle, it’s also a state of mind or way of thinking. By rethinking or changing our state of mind, we can inspire creativity in others and redirect ourselves towards our goals.
Repair: to extend the life of an item by fixing it rather than replacing it.
Reinvent: to use new methods or actions that make possible sustainable living. Solar power is an example of reinventing our fuel source and energy distribution paradigm.
Recover: to capture and use materials that are byproducts of other processes, especially in the process of recycling.
Responsibility: to acknowledge that our actions affect the planet, whether they are positive or negative.
Restore: to fix or heal something that has been damaged. For instance, the Ellis County Indian Trail Master Naturalists remove invasive plants from Kachina Prairie so that native plants can thrive.