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Kermit said, “It’s not easy being green”. And though I’m not one to knock the Tao of the frog I must respond in my best Miss Piggy voice, “You don’t know the half of it, buster!” Being green has become something of a fashionable trend and I’m glad to see it. The only way for such a concept to become the norm is for it to become affordable, easy and popular. Unfortunately, declaring yourself ‘green’ is the fasted ticket to hypocrite-ville this side of throwing your hat into a political ring.
For example, you want to start recycling your food cans so you diligently set them aside as you cook dinner, rinse them clean and drop them in the proper bin. Good for you, or is it? How much water did you waste rinsing them? How much energy was wasted heating that water? Which act, recycling the can or wasting the water / energy benefited or harmed the environment most? More importantly how do we, the average consumer, know?
What about buying organic foods? There’s no rule that says a company selling you organic orange juice must pack it in an acceptably recyclable container. Most do, and some even package with materials that have already been recycled once. But some don’t, and unless you are diligently checking the packaging for the right recycling codes it’s a crap shoot as to what you are really getting. I’d dare say that even a granola-eating, earth-shoe-wearing diehard has problems with this little catch 22. The truth is that you just never know.
Even companies stumble. My favorite (but now defunct) magazine, Organic Style proudly proclaimed that they printed on recycled paper and used soy / vegetable based inks. Yet they wasted more paper than any other magazine I subscribe to with those darn subscription cards and renewal notices. The one thing that they did do right was to debunk some of the recycling myths, like paper or plastic. They compared, back to back, paper and plastic bags from production to end-use and it was the plastic bags that made the smallest footprint on our eco system. Surprised? I was too. It’s just not as easy as it seems…the obvious isn’t always the answer.
Another thing they did right was admit that not everyone was going to give up the niceties of life in favor of the environment. And better still, they offered suggestions for achieving balance. It’s a quagmire of difficult decisions, faulty logic and hypocritical pitfalls; for some the only option is to give up and go on, but for me it’s about that balance. I conserve where I can and don’t worry about where I can’t. I can’t afford a $200 pair of organic cotton jeans but I can carry my own bag into the grocery store.* I won’t deny myself a long, hot shower when I really want one, but I can shorten the one I take every morning. I’m not giving up the TV keeping me company when I’m cleaning or sewing, but I don’t have to have it going in three rooms. I will not let the ‘yellow mellow’, but I will run the faucet at a lower pressure when I wash my hands, and turn it off while I’m brushing my teeth. Personally, I’m a firm believer in ‘every little bit’ and this year I want my ‘little bit’ to be bigger.
Number ten… be, um chartreuse.
*Well, sometimes. It’s super easy to get the bags in the car … harder to remember to carry them into the store.