It’s a slippery slope.
Once you find yourself going down the what’s-good-for-the-planet train of thought, you find that there is no easy stopping point.
- Well, if I care about waste from k-cups, why don’t I care about the waste from that bag of shredded cheese?
- Look at all this packaged crap…
- How much trash have I created in my 30 years?
- Maybe the only way to stop it completely is start “swimmin’ with the fishes”.
Man, that slope was slippery! Completely lost my footing and everything. How embarrassing.
All my roads of thought, if I stay on them long enough, seem to lead to me hurling myself into a ravine to be eaten by scavengers, vultures, and bugs that crave a taste. (A conversation my husband is not comfortable discussing.)
Don’t get me wrong; I am not suicidal. But, how can you “hug trees” but stop yourself from obsessing to the point of worry, lost sleep, guilt, and eventual ending it all? Moms are given enough guilt trips over parenting choices; I don’t want to have eco-guilt trips, too!
Or we have the other (much more common) end of the spectrum; how do you keep yourself from deciding that making changes in your life is not going to produce a big impact anyway, so you might as well give up trying?
How does someone find the balance? Where do you comfortably draw the line?
I may have been a little rash with my coffee post yesterday (something about the look on my husband’s face upon reading it told me so.) Giving up coffee seemed like the only real solution to my dilemma. But, then I started looking around my life in other areas, and it seems harsh to pick on coffee this way, but not about other things. It’s like I was being prejudice to the coffee. Sorry, Joe.
Unless I plan to be vegan, eat only things grown locally with organic practices, walk/bike everywhere, and stop using electricity… but fat chance of living up to such high standards.
And, I’m kind of a picky eater. Eco-fail.
I don’t have a solution, yet. But, maybe by asking, the universe (or readers) will send me some answers.
I would say that the best way that I find to cope with my destructive choices (Chocolate and Coffee among them) is to try to make them at least do some good… Hence the Fair Trade stuff. I’m not 100% consistent but I try to get Fair Trade whenever it’s an option so that at the very least the farmers are not being kept in poverty by my choices.
Beyond that, some self reflection on the impact of your decisions is always a good thing. You won’t be perfect and you’ll always have some negative impact on the environment (even the dinosaurs may have farted their way into climate change), but you’ll have a level of awareness that helps you to hopefully make some better decisions.
I just recently went through a why does what I do matter because there are tons more people out there that don’t care. What can one measly person do? But a couple measly people can add up and make a difference in whatever they do. I’m not ready to spend extra money to get solar panels for the house right now but the little things do add up. I recycle as much as I can and try to bring my reusable bags to the grocery and other stores…or just say I don’t want a bag and carry my stuff out. We also got a soda streamer which actually cuts back on plastic..and flat soda! Maybe in a few years when we are better off (hopefully), maybe I’ll be ready to splurge on solar panels, etc. and reduce my carbon footprint even more:)
Take it one step at a time. It’s not going to happen overnight, but if you start with one change and then build on that every week, month, quarter or whatever, eventually you won’t even have to think about it. That’s how I started. I think about the same things when I have to go to Safeway to buy shipped from Mexico organic something or other instead of sourcing it locally. But, it’s the small changes that add up over time, just like saving pennies.
Here is a link to a good article I read when I first started trying to live greener. http://simplehomemade.net/because-sometimes-i-get-tired-of-healthy-natural-living/
Wow, great article. Thanks!
I can totally relate! Every decision to be more green takes me down another path where there’s more to do. I simply do what I can and add to it gradually. I have backslid a bit since moving from a house to a condo because I haven’t been able to figure out if they recycle here and my composting area is much smaller. On the plus side, I’m using WAY less power. If each of us becomes more conscious and makes decisions from that place of consciousness, the overall result gets better. Just do what you can.