Turns out, Mom Knew Best About Sustainability
- Rural Ariziona Engagement (RAZE)
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Celebrating the low-waste traditions many of us grew up with.
There’s a universal truth in many of our households: Never trust a yogurt container in the fridge. Odds are, it’s not yogurt… It’s last night’s leftover rice.
In many homes, especially in working-class, immigrant, and rural communities, we’ve grown up practicing sustainability without ever calling it that. We didn’t have a name for it; we were just trying not to waste (and save a buck). These habits, born from creativity and necessity, may not appear in fancy Earth Day campaigns, but they’ve always existed and mattered.
This Earth Day, we’re reflecting on the small but powerful practices many of us grew up with, ones you might consider incorporating into your own routine:
Reusing plastic containers.
Empty yogurt, butter, or sour cream containers weren’t tossed. Instead, they became storage for leftovers or craft supplies! Opening one in the fridge was always a surprise.
Repurposing grocery bags.
Plastic shopping bags often had a second life as trash can liners, lunch bags, or even storage for toys and loose items.
Saving glass jars.
Glass jars like Doña Maria's mole sauce became drinking glasses, or you can use them to propagate vegetables and plants like celery or pothos!
Making DIY planters.
Old paint buckets, large cans, and even tires can be turned into planters, sometimes painted with bright colors and turned into yard art.
Air-drying laundry.
Clotheslines in backyards, on fences, or even indoors helped save electricity.
Conserving water and electricity.
Phrases like “¡Apaga esa luz!” (turn off that light!) weren’t about carbon emissions but about keeping the electric bill down. Water from leaky faucets was collected in buckets and later used for plants or cleaning.
Turning old clothes into rags.
Torn t-shirts, towels, or sheets were cut and reused as cleaning cloths, reducing the need for paper towels or store-bought products.
Shopping secondhand.
Whether it was browsing the racks at a local thrift store, finding hidden gems at yard sales, or swapping clothes with family, secondhand shopping was both common and practical. Today, platforms like Facebook Marketplace have made it even easier to give furniture, clothes, and baby items a second life.
These practices weren’t about being perfect or political. They were about making the most of what we had. Now, looking back, we can recognize their environmental impact too.
As Marshall Morgan, Rural Arizona Engagement’s (RAZE) Environmental Justice Organizer, puts it, “Our ancestors were taught to love our planet as it provides for us, and we are one with it. While this message has changed for many over the years, as a community, we continue to hold its meaning in the daily values and practices we live by. Our culture is one heavily ingrained with the environment, and for that reason, current and future generations will continue to be the stewards of the planet and its ecosystems.”
His words remind us that these everyday habits are more than practical. They’re part of a deep-rooted tradition of care, connection, and responsibility.
Many people may not have grown up with these habits, and that’s okay. But if you’re looking for ways to start living more sustainably, the tools might already be in your home. Sustainable living doesn’t have to start with big changes. It can start with small shifts: saving that jar, not throwing away that shirt, turning off that light.
In honor of Earth Day, we invite you to try one of these habits or reflect on your own. The truth is, many of the answers we're looking for are already in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our family traditions. Let’s keep learning from one another. Let’s keep doing what we can with what we have. And let’s remember that sustainability can be simple, shared, and rooted in everyday life.
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