On being green.
"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish caught will we realize we cannot eat money."
--Cree proverb
I'm a terrible environmentalist. Just recently I read an article about how killer whales and polar bears far way in the Artic now carry man made chemicals and pesticides around in their fat--because these pollutants (which are not produced anywhere near the Artic) have traveled via air and water from industrialized countries. Yes, it seems we have turned a pristine place most of us will never even lay our eyes on into yet another toxic sink. Reading this fills me with anger and frustration, till I remember that I am not exactly living as green as I would like to; not by a long shot.
My mom still tells people I was the only 6 year old she has ever seen that would cry about the deforestation of the rain forest on a semi-regular basis. We recycled aluminum cans and newspapers when I was growing up, and reused anything that could be reused. We had a 1/2 acre organic garden, raised our own eggs and meat(which horrified me having always been a vegetarian), and turned our leftover garbage into mulch. Hell, we even cleaned the house with apple cider vinegar and used a snip of an aloe plant for practically every bug bite and scrape of my childhood.
So when, exactly, I would like to know, did the change take place to my mindless disposing of Starbucks cups and Taco Bell wrappers? When did I become okay with tossing empty water bottles on the regular, and using household cleaners? I don't even remember the last time it occurred to me to put something in the recycle bin.
Yes it's true, I've become a mockery of my formal ideals. The truth is, I was always envious of kids who didn't carry a bucket of slop out to their pigs every night after dinner, and who didn't have signs in their front yard that said "Brown Eggs for sale! Just knock!" When I took off for the city after growing up, I eagerly embraced convenience living. No, I reveled in it. I loved buying Clorox and having Pizza Hut delivered to my very door!
At the very least, these days the pendulum has at least made it's way back towards the middle for me. I still religiously turn the water off when I brush my teeth. I have a lo-flow shower head (though I probably take 2 steamy hot bubble baths for every water saving shower) and I buy organic produce and free range, vegetarian fed eggs, soy milk and recycled paper towels. I worked a campaign for Sierra Club, I write letters. It's a start back in the greener direction, right?
Quite simply, I never realized the value of my upbringing until I left it all behind. I exchanged nights with stars that went on forever with smog and airplane lights, backyard magnolia trees for faceless young professionals crammed on the other side of paper thin apartment walls. But still I love cities. I love the dynamic, synergistic creative force that drives people to live in urban environments, I just resent not being able to have a vegetable garden and my very own red hen, like when I was a pigtailed little girl in overalls.
Do any of you live green? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? What steps do you take to help the environment and to live simply?
I'm looking for suggestions, tips, etc. that I can possible adopt, any info would be appreciated.
--Cree proverb
I'm a terrible environmentalist. Just recently I read an article about how killer whales and polar bears far way in the Artic now carry man made chemicals and pesticides around in their fat--because these pollutants (which are not produced anywhere near the Artic) have traveled via air and water from industrialized countries. Yes, it seems we have turned a pristine place most of us will never even lay our eyes on into yet another toxic sink. Reading this fills me with anger and frustration, till I remember that I am not exactly living as green as I would like to; not by a long shot.
My mom still tells people I was the only 6 year old she has ever seen that would cry about the deforestation of the rain forest on a semi-regular basis. We recycled aluminum cans and newspapers when I was growing up, and reused anything that could be reused. We had a 1/2 acre organic garden, raised our own eggs and meat(which horrified me having always been a vegetarian), and turned our leftover garbage into mulch. Hell, we even cleaned the house with apple cider vinegar and used a snip of an aloe plant for practically every bug bite and scrape of my childhood.
So when, exactly, I would like to know, did the change take place to my mindless disposing of Starbucks cups and Taco Bell wrappers? When did I become okay with tossing empty water bottles on the regular, and using household cleaners? I don't even remember the last time it occurred to me to put something in the recycle bin.
Yes it's true, I've become a mockery of my formal ideals. The truth is, I was always envious of kids who didn't carry a bucket of slop out to their pigs every night after dinner, and who didn't have signs in their front yard that said "Brown Eggs for sale! Just knock!" When I took off for the city after growing up, I eagerly embraced convenience living. No, I reveled in it. I loved buying Clorox and having Pizza Hut delivered to my very door!
At the very least, these days the pendulum has at least made it's way back towards the middle for me. I still religiously turn the water off when I brush my teeth. I have a lo-flow shower head (though I probably take 2 steamy hot bubble baths for every water saving shower) and I buy organic produce and free range, vegetarian fed eggs, soy milk and recycled paper towels. I worked a campaign for Sierra Club, I write letters. It's a start back in the greener direction, right?
Quite simply, I never realized the value of my upbringing until I left it all behind. I exchanged nights with stars that went on forever with smog and airplane lights, backyard magnolia trees for faceless young professionals crammed on the other side of paper thin apartment walls. But still I love cities. I love the dynamic, synergistic creative force that drives people to live in urban environments, I just resent not being able to have a vegetable garden and my very own red hen, like when I was a pigtailed little girl in overalls.
Do any of you live green? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? What steps do you take to help the environment and to live simply?
I'm looking for suggestions, tips, etc. that I can possible adopt, any info would be appreciated.