As much as I am constantly trying to improve our family life to be healthier and greener, I have news for you: I'm not nearly perfect.
In fact, sometimes, I am careless, forgetful, and ignorant when it comes to being eco-friendly. Most of the time, I take my mistakes in stride and challenge myself to double my efforts.
But every once in awhile, I get a case of the green guilt, and I feel really icky and awful inside.
Some recent green pitfalls?
1. Bags. I have a serious forgetful problem when it comes to remembering our reusable bags to the grocery store. We seriously need to start bringing our bags. There is no more room for forgetting.
2. Coffee. Last week being my birthday weekend, I bought myself an iced coffee at Wawa. That coffee is not local, organic, fair trade, or remotely healthy. There's no reason why I can't buy some organic, fair trade coffee and brew it here to chill in our fridge for iced coffee fun. I worked in a cafe for a little while in college... it's really not hard to make your own iced coffee. And during the summer, my husband and I could drink iced coffee, decaf or caf, all day long.
So, am I alone or do you sometimes get a case of green guilt? Where do you make green mistakes? Where are you trying to focus your greening?
I am writing this post not as a lament, but as a way of refocusing our energy into some things we have not been doing. We do do lots of great things, from cloth diapering to boycotting the consumption of sold pre-packaged water (more on this later), but there is always something else to do. There's always a new green challenge ahead. This summer, I'm going to refocus with bags and coffee.
I kept forgetting my bags for the grocery store as well, so I made it a habit of keeping them in the pocket on the back of the passenger seat in my car - because I never know when I'll have the urge to get some more fruits and veggies! When I bring groceries in, I put the bags with my stuff for the next day so that I don't forget to bring them back down the next day. Also, I keep more than I would ever need in the car - that way, if I forget to bring the ones that I used down, there will always be something in the car for me to use!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing such a fantastic job staying eco-friendly and healthy. Don't get down on yourself! I love reading about all the great things you guys and the little one are doing! =)
Julie Manfredi
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ReplyDeleteI'm not perfectly green either. I try to be but it's always a process. You should be able to treat yourself to a coffee at Wawa every once in a while. It's not like you're buying one every day. I won a ChicoBag that hangs on my purse or else I would forget bags too. There are some areas I'm still working on greening and I feel guilt all of the time. But I figure I'm getting to things bit by bit and that's all we can expect of ourselves. 100% green all of the time seems impossible since the world itself has some catching up to do. So don't be so hard on yourself. :)
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