trying to organic-ify
So we're looking at ways to organic-ify our little home/lifestyle.
Included in this is our attempt/desire to purchase things that take a step in the direction of sustainability or carbon-neutrality. I like to think of it as "Living Better", however, 'better' has an awkward judgement to it that most people would be uncomfortable admitting. I'm not uncomfortable with it. I have different priorities than most people. I also judge. It happens.
It seems like organic-y people are poor-ish pseudo farmers. Weird that I have this awkward, judge-y stereotype.
It's a bit at odds with our actual lifestyle- I do enjoy gardening and I do enjoy baking/cooking/crafting, but it's not something I could/would do and buy nothing else. Up here gardening is a luxury/hobby, and with the amount of water needed it'll always be that. I very much don't think that hand-made = eco-friendly. In some rare cases, yes. Like the pretty Etsy crafter who makes lace out of hair from her pet bunnies.
So I suppose we're more into the idea that technology can help us to be more efficient with using natural resources for goods and etc.
At this point in our adventure, we consume 90% organic foods/drinks and 20% organic toys/material goods (including pet food/goods).
I'm trying to think of ways to up that last number.
We're vegetarian, which fits into the organic-y-ness and our reasons for adopting this lifestyle.
I recently purchased a Kindle and have not been buying paper books which breaks even (carbon-consumption wise) after you buy 40 or so ebooks rather than paper-books, and saves carbon/trees from that point on. We have a Prius (and carpool), we have fancy lightbulbs, we use eco-friendly laundry/dish soaps. We have reusable coffee mugs, lunch boxes, we compost, etc. We're in the process of transitioning our media into digital copies and we're buying digital for about 80% of media (movies, tv shows, music). I don't buy anything but conflict-free jewelry and recycled gold. I'm looking into organic/cruelty-free makeup and crafting supplies (yarns, embroidery floss, fabrics, scrapbooking supplies, paints, etc). We recycle everything but glass because our complex doesn't have a glass bin.
I think the next step is just continuing along these lines- snot being lazy and recycle glass, using recycled trash bags, doggie pick up bags, sandwich baggies (the Little One looses every tupperware container we send to school.....we've learned to pick our battles), hair care supplies, toiletries and then I want to make the jump for organic cotton/sustainably made clothes (we'll see)! We want to transition to LED lights for the aquariums which will consume less energy, give off less heat and will evaporate less water from the tanks. That will be a slow (expensive) process, but a meaningful step. Then, furniture! But that is very, very far in the future.
I think the battles I can't win/make (at this point) are: toilet paper, toys for the Little One, video games, shoes, winter gear, aaaand water/energy use. We've minimized as much as possible, but as long as we have aquariums we will consume more water/energy than normal people. But as far as hobbies go, this is a fun one. I actually really like our menagerie of pets :)
Any suggestions on next steps? What do you do to live better?