How Green Are We?
I don’t think of myself as a fanatic in the “environmentalist” category.
I absolutely care, don’t get me wrong… But I think people can get a little nutty with that stuff.
Like the impression I got from the woman in front of me in line at the health food store last week: Crepe-y mumu type dress, Birkenstock sandals, re-usable (purchased) shopping bags, buying granola, organic overpriced everything, drives a Smart car – when not riding her bike, vegetarian, doesn’t shave, wirries a lot about Global Warming…
I just don’t see myself in her.
And then I got to thinking about it some more.
Of course we turn off lights when we leave the room, hang laundry to dry, use Tupperware over plastic baggies, and turn off power strip to kill “vampire” draws… But everyone does that stuff, right?
People who are “environmentally conscious” use paper towels that are made from recycled paper, and they make sure to put them in the recycle bin whenever possible.
But we use cloth for everything, and don’t buy paper towels at all. (I do keep one roll in the house for a few exceptions – like bacon).
Sure, I have to wash them, but tossing a few “un-paper towels” in with my regular wash doesn’t seem like it’s an awful lot of “footprint” compared to the manufacture, packaging, shipping and disposal of a roll of paper towels (plus cardboard core, plastc wrap outer, etc.).
Skating on the daring edge of TMI, I’ll just allude to the fact that we also use cloth for personal hygene matters, eliminating the need for disposable feminine products, and greatly reducing our consumption of toilet paper.
Those cloths all go in with the diaper laundry… Oh yeah, cloth diapers…
It is so tied in with my feelings about being a good steward for my family’s resources, that I often don’t think as much about the environmental impact.
Hey, green’s my favorite color. I’m glad our cloth makes us Greener than I thought!
I love reading your blogs. I was cracking up at the part where you talk about women who don’t shave and worry so much about global warming. That’s my sister. She is a super go green freak, big time. It’s pretty bad. She gets so mad at me cause I don’t eat everything organic. She says she will let her kids starve before allowing them to eat anything that is non organic. And she has proven that. My mother tried giving her 4yr old a pretzel at the mall and she was not having it. My sister is very disturbed. Talk to you later Sweet T.