Hit 1,000 plastic water bottles saved on my app today and honestly it just made me angry

I've been tracking every single bottle I didn't buy for two years and hitting that number should feel good but all I can think about is how many billions more are out there. Has anyone else felt worse after seeing a big eco milestone instead of proud?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jennifer3d ago

That number is a HUGE deal and it sucks that it just feels hollow. I totally get the anger instead of pride because it's like, Great, I did my tiny part, and meanwhile some corporation dumped a million bottles in the ocean today. You're staring at the magnitude of the whole mess and it just drowns out any personal victory. I hit a similar milestone with my reusable bag count and just felt this heavy sadness instead of any joy. It's like eco guilt has this way of turning every small win into a reminder of how far we have to go. Your frustration is completely valid and you're not alone in feeling this way.

sandra_bennett593d ago

Did your friend ever talk about it? I had a buddy who was super into composting, kept a little bin in his kitchen for years. He got real proud of himself and started weighing his scraps. One day he hit a hundred pounds and just sat there staring at the scale. He told me later it hit him that all that food he saved was just a drop in the bucket compared to the grocery store dumpsters full of spoiled produce down the street. He said the milestone felt like a punch to the gut instead of a pat on the back. I think that's the nasty side of caring about this stuff, the scale makes you feel tiny.

stone.lisa3d ago

Gosh, this actually makes me totally rethink my stance on this. I used to be one of those people who would get all cheerleader-y about any small eco win, like "every bit counts!" and "you're making a difference!" But your friend sitting there staring at the scale, realizing his hundred pounds of compost is just a tiny fraction of what gets wasted daily, that really hit me. I remember feeling smug about my own little recycling setup, but then I walked past a construction site where they had a whole dumpster of brand new lumber just tossed in. That moment of "what's the point?" is so real and it's not just about guilt, it's about the raw unfairness of it all. It's like the scale is a trick, it makes you feel like you're fighting the whole ocean with a teacup.