I changed the world yesterday, in a small way, by buying a broom. We DO own a vaccum cleaner which was give to us and only use for cleaning the interior of our truck. Our house? All 2 storeys of our no-windows-shutters-only Thai teak house gets carefully gets swept and mopped every day. Cos living a more natural life means "stuff" blows in - a leaf here and there, dust, bugs that die in a day, the odd feather. And so brooms are a traditional Thai way of life. And it's common to see monks sweeping the temple grounds every day, as a meditation. Using hand-made twig brooms.
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I DO have the full range of electro-static dust-attracting rubber-plastic Made in China production line brooms available at the local Costco-equivalent, at a very reasonable price. But I chose, instead, to use my Thai baht in the way that matters: as a vote for the kind of world I choose. You see, I wasn't just buying a broom - I was supporting the environment, supporting a local farmer who uses his time to make brooms for cash while the rains fall; I was down-voting plastic and factories, and I was supporting fair trade and our local Thai village economy. Using a plentiful natural resource instead of damaging the world to make a plastic broom? That makes SENSE to me.
I opted this time for one with NO SPECIALLY MANUFACTURED PLASTIC bits at all, and one that uses upcycled plastic pacing bands. .
They're a bit sturdier than the other all-natural style:
The handles use local grasses:
And they have a little loop for hanging it behind the kitchen door. š
The price? 45 THB - on today's exchange that's USD $1.43.
I chose to buy it from a funny little Thai shop I pass on my way home most days. It's run my a lovely lady in her probably late 50s who clearly has had surgery for throat cancer and has difficulty speaking. We don't know her name, but since she always wears a scarf tightly knotted around her throat to hide most of the scarring, we affectionately call her, The Throat Lady. She needs our cash far more than the well-funded supermarket does.
We CAN make a difference, not only to the Earth, but to each other, by spending our $ with awareness and choice.
The old broom?
It will be relegated to outside for sweeping up half-eaten snakes, the odd rat, cat vomit and the like. š WE believe in using things up. When it's really finished the bamboo handle will be used for a garden stake, the left over broom bits will be composted and the plastic bit will go in the recycling.
Happy to have eliminated one more bit of plastic by buying the more natural version of the Thai broom this time! The last broom gave us flawless daily service for well over 2 years. Grateful. š
How are YOU positively impacting the environment? Tell us about it!! Use the #earthdeeds tag as your first post tag, and add your post link to the weekly #earthdeeds challenge post, which is published in 
on Tuesdays. The winner gets a VERY juicy upvote from the Tribe!
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