Monday, June 15, 2009

Conveniently Green

I thought I was pretty committed to the green movement. On a scale of 1 to 10, I thought I was about a 7 on the eco-friendly charts. I recycle all the paper, plastic and aluminum my trash hauler will take. I re-use lots of stuff. Meals at my house aren't served on paper plates. I enjoy second-hand shopping at yard sales (http://1079thelink.com/events/detail.cfm;jsessionid=a630ce1caf7f2d1c47fd5b466541164a451f?ID=1607) and thrift stores. All of my unwanted clothing, electronics and housewares go to Goodwill, The Kidney Foundation or my church.

What has smacked me in the face is the realization of just how conveniently green I am. At my nephews graduation party plastic water bottles were tossed in with the regular trash. A friend of the family, who bleeds green, wanted help separating the recyclables. I took one look at the muck in the trash bags and felt a little queasy. Mary Helen would be driving right by a recycling center on her way home. She was willing to do so much. Me? I like my recycling projects to be a little less.... yucky.

Yesterday, I got to spend some time with my little cousins. The youngest, just 3 weeks old. His mom is a fan of cloth diapers. Yikes! My eco-friendliness has limits. Cloth diapers and re-usable sanitary napkins? Not unless I'm threatened with death or lifetime incarceration in a maximum security foreign prison!

Paper plates at cookouts, air conditioning, daily showering... sorry Mother Nature. While Julia Roberts is rumored to skip showers for days to conserve water (http://showhype.com/story/julia_roberts_is_a_stinky_hippie/) I just can't do it. I'll try to balance my anti-green behavior by planting a tree, buying some eco-friendly dish soap and shopping with my new re-usable grocery bags (http://www.seql.org/100ways.cfm). Not much I admit, but its better than nothing. Right?

2 comments:

Julie said...

Unfortunately it's not about "sorry Mother Earth" but more about "sorry kids!". I have 2 small children and one more on the way. I want to protect their future here and not just leave them with an uninhabitable wreck because it's just not "convenient " for me. We've made a big mess here and it's about time we started taking responsibility. I believe convenience has gone a long way to get us in this mess to begin with.

Lerin said...

I agree with Julie. Ramona, I thought so much better of you. "Man's" conveinences are what have made a mess of our planet, and incase you haven't noticed, it's the only one we have. I have 2 kids as well, and my biggest concern for them is the future of the planet we call HOME. I'm sorry it's inconvenient to be green. It's a sacrifice that I am willing to make for my kids future. I willingly dig thru other's trash to seperate the recyclables for them. I happily take my own reusuable plates, napkins etc. to cookouts. I might get some strange looks, but it's a great tool to teach others about sustainability.