Being “Green” is pretty much force-fed to us on a daily basis through the media and anyone else that professes to be concerned about our planet. And, although I agree that we should be good stewards of our planet, our communities, our lives; I’m a bit underwhelmed by the idealism that living this kind of lifestyle forecasts.
So bear with me as a ramble for a bit…
So, I read this piece from the Washington Examiner
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/special-editorial-reports/Portrait-of-a-Big-Green-activist-who-scares-your-kids-1038384-104011958.html
And the corresponding video from Annie Leonard
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Then I got dressed and thought about how I spend my consumer life. NEW non-consumable items I have purchased in the last two months include:
• various home improvement things like flashing, a couple of 2x6 boards, lawn fertilizer, fence sections
• dividers for our utensil drawers
• underwear
• a birthday gift for my husband (no I’m not telling you what it is – he reads my blog)
• Home school curricula
• puppy and new pet needs (dog dish, lead, harness, crate)
• Garden stakes for my leaning Daphne’s
• Energy efficient windows (not the old single pane ones) for the two downstairs windows
• A new freezer and a new (2nd) fridge
We also purchased a refurbished HP laptop to ‘replace’ mine. My ‘old’ laptop will be retro-fitted and given to Blake for his home school DVD needs. Russ has also purchased a few computer replacement parts in his computer repair home business.
Of course, like everyone else, we purchase consumables like Toilet paper, groceries, pet food, etc. I try to buy organic as I can, and watch the sizes I purchase if possible to cut down on recycling and garbage. But honestly, it’s not always convenient (as in within the realm of time and distance) to run to Costco every time the kids forget to put dishwasher tabs on the list or I need juice bags for lunch.
We shop at Costco where we usually purchase meat, lunch makings, batteries, eggs, milk and frozen things like mini-corn dogs, hamburger patties, and tortellini/pasta. I usually go once a month, then we spend the afternoon repackaging the meat into smaller meal quantities. I as a rule avoid purchasing fruit or vegetables at Costco as we don’t use them fast enough and then throw them away. Yes, we buy movies there, socks and the occasional “oooh!” item, but we have really tried to stay away from that stuff unless we are buying gifts or just need to look around. Our recycling bin is as full every week as our garbage bin. We try hard not to purchase things in smaller packages, and to throw our cans and bottles and plastics in the bin; cardboard and paper too. I’ve attempted to compost grass clippings but either forget to religiously turn it or it rains and rains and the pile turns into a wet, mildew-y lump of slime.
As for clothing, I purchase most of our outerwear at Value Village. Yeah, that’s right, Value Village. I think in the last year, I have purchased maybe 20 items total for the entire family (not including socks & underwear) brand new. A little black dress for a fundraiser we attended, dress shoes for both boys for church, sporting goods like shoes (we used the baseball ones for football, too) and rib pads, and a dress shirt for a school event. I buy James’ extra-long-legged jeans at a western store (bought two pair August 2009 in Centralia). The youngest wears hand-me-downs from cousins, friends and garage sales. We then pass his out-growns to family and friends or donate them to charity. We save James’ clothing in the event that Blake will have legs that long (arms too!) and that he can wear them; if he can’t those will be donated as well. I’ve bought plenty of very nice work shirts (Polo and button up) for Russ, workout shorts for Blake and miscellaneous summer or extra clothing for the kids I nanny (you know, you can never have too many extra bathing suits, swim trunks or leggings in case a sudden outbreak of summer happens or the kids get dirty). I even buy CD’s, books and DVD’s at thrift stores.
I donate what we can’t use, haven’t used, have outgrown, or still works but we got a ‘new’ one (as in new to us) to charity. (yes, I still have a full garage of stuff we’re keeping or I haven’t sorted through yet – but three parent’s-worth of households, scrapbook, genealogy and photo albums aren’t going anywhere NEAR the dump.)
We have three TV’s. One is a 9 inch (?) version that has a VCR and sat on my mom’s desk in her nursing home. The 2nd one we received from my son-in-law when they upgraded their set to a flat screen. The third one is a 32” that we got when my (other) son-in-law worked maintenance at a local retirement home. One of the resident’s was getting rid of it because it wouldn’t change channels anymore. So he was throwing it out and getting a brand new one. My son-in-law brought it to our house; we spent $60 on cables, hooked it into our VCR and have never had a bit of trouble with it. It is NOT HD. It does NOT have surround sound. We don’t seem to mind that Transformers and Ironman don’t sound like they do in the theaters. It does tick me off that my screen seems to have ‘gotten smaller’ due to the advent of every TV station on the planet assuming we’re all going to run right out to Best Buy and throw money at an HDTV with surround sound so we can see the outside edges of the fire or car accident on the local news.
I have never in my life purchased a new couch. My mother bought me a hide-a-bed couch when I graduated from HS; which was my bed in my apartment until we moved my old bedroom set up (gold trim and canopy included) into that apartment. That couch lasted about 12 years before it fell apart. Russ had a couch that he had purchased new before we met; when that one fell apart (10 years), we got a used one from someone moving into a smaller place. It was about 20 years old when we got it. Since then we’ve had two other ‘used’ couches from friends.
We purchased a new headboard, footboard and frame two (?) years ago for the new foam mattress we purchased. Prior to that, we had my mother’s CA-King mattress on the frame with no head or footboard. I have the dining room table and chairs that my mother purchased in 1947 as our main table. The chairs need repair, so currently they are in the garage waiting for the budget and time to have them repaired. We purchased new card table chairs because his parents set and my parent’s set finally fell apart. After about 30 years. We still have the card tables.
I have 8 car seats in various stages. Only a couple of them have been purchased by us; most are recycled from friends whose kids grew out of them. I keep them in my garage and use them as the various kids I watch grow in or out of them; same with the potty seat, high chair, stroller, kitchen booster seat and port-a-cribs.
I drive a 1993 Chevy Suburban; not very fuel efficient, but it carries everyone. We’ve taken scout trips, towed trailers, moved furniture, gone to the dump (that would be “landfill” for those that need eco-translations) and even taken a couple of vacations in the rig. My husband drives a 2001Infinity. He commutes about 30 miles to work every day. Both cars are paid for and we try to keep up on maintenance and repairs. Buying newer more ‘energy efficient’ vehicles will only help the car companies. What exactly will happen to our former cars when we no longer have them? They’ll be land-filled or owned by someone(s) else contributing to the supposed carbon toxicity of our air; AND there will be two more cars on the road.
We live in a house that was built in 1965; we are the 2nd owner of the house. We have remodeled the kitchen, bathroom (twice), repainted each of the bedrooms at least twice, landscaped the yard, built a deck, and added on a 2nd car garage/workspace. I have not put in bamboo flooring (too expensive) or exotic wood on the deck (WAY too expensive). We attempted to sell or donate any useable materials from every remodel; but who in their right minds really wants 40 year old (ugly) brown cabinets with (even uglier) vegetable-print contact paper inside? And the flooring was literally in pieces the size of cotton balls when we removed it. We did sell the old stove though…for about $25.
What’s my point? I think we are fairly responsible people when it comes to saving our planet. I get pretty tired of being told how environmentally irresponsible we all are because we don’t have straw houses, bamboo floors, hemp clothing, zero (or less) population growth, compost all our food scraps and cut our garbage down to ‘acceptable’ levels.
Most of what I consider “waste” is not under my control. For one thing, I receive enough junk mail monthly to fill our recycle bin almost ¼ full. That’s wrong. Yes, I can stop it, and have attempted to through all the usual emails, anti-mailing lists, etc. But the circular ads just keep coming; the postcards from realtors, photography studios, colleges and recycling events. And the catalogs. Okay, I love catalogs; thumbing through them, looking at all the great stuff that I could buy if money really didn’t matter to me, or I wanted to purchase a bunch of crud I don’t need. But honestly, if I want something, or need something, I can go online or go without. And it is so much easier to ‘throw’ junk email away than junk paper.
And honestly, if we are really so concerned with being ‘green’, could the schools stop sending home information packets on a weekly basis filled with garbage printed on dead trees? I admit there’s a fine line between keeping parents informed and overwhelmed – most of this information could be passed out on websites or electronically. I get that not everyone has access. Fine. THOSE people can get the mountains of paperwork to sort through and (hopefully) recycle. I have email. And internet. Sign me up. Would it also be possible to put all the forms necessary for starting school every year online? Could I not just fill them out and either email them or, print them out myself and send them in to school? Of course, not everyone would. But not everyone does now and you still have to follow up with those that don’t. And while we’re at it, wouldn’t it be easier to publish school text books ONLINE? No paper, no replacing them every year, no headaches when they change the math program yet again to reflect the most current pathway to teaching our children nothing….sorry, that’s another post altogether. (I have to admit our local elementary just started emailing a weekly newsletter with links; however as I home-school I’m not sure if the packets o’ stuff still come home.)
I think we should stop building NEW apartment/condo complexes and single-family homes until all the old ones are filled. The construction industry can use their skills and talents to upgrade, remodel, retrofit and repair the existing buildings we have. No new skyscrapers until all the current ones are leased completely full. This will likely put my title company, escrow and realtor friends in the unemployment line. Tough to hear; but we’re talking about the greater good of humanity, apparently.
I’m tired of helpful and caring celebrities telling me to unplug my appliances when not in use and being lectured to about my use of power, while they ride in their limousines to awards dinners and after-event parties. So every morning before I go to work, I need to unplug my electric radio/alarm clock so I can come home and plug it back in, reset all the alarm times and go to sleep? And, you know that my TV (about 15 years old) runs through my VCR (about 10 years old) and connects to my DirecTV box. Every time I unplug the power cords for this setup, it takes 20 minutes for it to all get back together online. Most of that is the DirecTV searching for satellite and rebooting the system. And the helpful monthly brochures from the power company telling me I could save $50 a YEAR by buying a newer, energy efficient refrigerator? Not as motivating as they intend it to be. WHO ARE MY NEIGHBORS that are using 53% less power than I am – Oh yeah, they’re the ones that work 12 hour days and walk around in sweaters and wool socks during the hours they’re home.
I agree that everyone, everywhere should work to keep their place, their community a little better than when they got there. Pick up garbage (maybe they should host college courses on “Recognizing and Utilizing garbage cans in everyday Life”.); drive less, buy less, need less, recycle more.
Let’s start with advertising. I realize this will put MORE people out of work, but honestly the “gotta have or you’re a dork” marketing has got to stop. A newer, sleeker, better car with higher payments and more buttons will not make you sexier or richer. A bigger house just means you’ll spend more time or money cleaning and less time enjoying it (and you’ll get suggestions from the power company how to lower your bills to boot). A newer TV means more cables, and other upgrades like blue-ray or a newer DVD player. Better phones mean larger bills, more buttons and more to break when you drop it out of your pocket or into the toilet (you know you will).
Is it possible for things to actually be built to last longer; like they used to? I mean I have a dining room table and chairs that was built in 1947. Yeah, the chairs need new caning and one needs a new arm. The cushions are a horrid Avocado green. The table needs to be refinished because the varnish has worn off. But it’s 64 years old! I can almost guarantee that any table we buy now, regardless of how much we spend, would likely survive less than about 20 years. The old freezer and fridge were over 20 years old. I’ll be surprised if we get 10 out of the new ones. Very few things are built to last – precisely so that the consumer is required to buy another one in a short period of time. This is the part of the video (above link) I agree with. I’m all for saving our planet; but how about we start by learning how to really reuse things instead of constantly buying new to replace the old that still works but doesn’t look as fancy.
So can I choose to be pistachio instead of green?
