Nothing Goes To Waste

  Back in the day, I was taught never to waste anything.  If something broke, you repaired it.  If something was not longer needed as its original purpose, you made it into something else.  You repaired, reused or repurposed everything.  Items were saved because money was tight back on the farm.  Nowadays, we live in a throwaway society. People cringe at the thought of reusing items or remaking items but that was not the norm years ago.  Now, as garbage dumps are overflowing, folks have a toss it attitude even when things can still be used.  I guess I still cannot break the train of thought that "Put it up. Some day, you made need that!" drilled into my head.  To this day, waste is a pet peeve of mine.  Use it until it is gone.  Make it over to be useful again.  Give it second life.  

  Critters on the Bayou are much the same.  They make do.  They use what they find.  They do not waste.  Just this afternoon, I noticed critters making use of something that others had tossed the wayside. The family of otters are great scavengers that will crack open and eat the mollusks that are embedded in the marsh.  It only takes a second for them to crack the shell, fish out the tasty treat and go on to the next one.  Once they drop the (almost) empty shell, others that cannot crack the shells, feast upon the remnants.  I observed as a small crab was pulling the shreds of mollusk from the now opened shell.  The little crab was a happy camper at his good fortune.  He would not go hungry tonight!  Once the crab had gotten his fill and buried down in the mud for a rest, a school of bull minnows raided the shell.  The shell was flipped, turned, uprighted and twisted.  Every tiny tidbit was being pulled from the mollusk shell. The minnows were in a feeding frenzy! Dozens of the wee fish fought over each and every scrap until the shell was pulled clean.  Nothing was wasted.  The shell sat empty.  That empty shell, itself, will not go to waste.  Algae will grow on the shell and Olive Nerites will harvest this as their food. Over time, the shell will slowly sink beneath the mud and give stability to the shoreline.  The marsh grass will become better rooted because of the presence of the shells making erosion from tides and storms less likely.  As the shell eventually deteriorates,  calcium is returned into the soil.  Nothing goes to waste.

  If only people could follow the example set forth by Mother Nature, this world would be a far better place.  There is no need to constantly replace what can be used again.  Waste is a terrible thing.  I think I will stick with the teaching of those long ago.  Reuse, repurpose, repair or recycle. My critter friends are onto something good here.