Am I Green Enough? Confessions Of A Modern Eco-Conscious Girl

Eco-conscious living isn't just for tie-dye wearing, patchouli-burning, vegan-eating hippies. These days, “green living” has gone mainstream trendy.

While the upscale eco-friendly folks and the dirt-loving tree huggers all have some smart ideas, I find the real life practice of green living to be sometimes easy, sometimes challenging, and sometimes down-right confusing.

Is recycling actually good for the environment?

How do I balance the convenience of modern gadgets with respect for our planet?

Am I doing enough? Does any of it even matter?

I remember when I was first introduced to Earth Day in the late 80's. I wore a cool green t-shirt and got really amped up on recycling. Decades later, I still think it's a worthy cause to be good to mother earth.

But without going all little-house-on-the-prairie, how's a modern girl going to be truly green?

Things I've done to take a load off the planet

Gone digital

I am a confessed technology lover, so I especially love saving paper by using my gadgets for calendars, notes, invitations, letters, bank statements, bill paying, and more. While the ecological profile of computers, cell phones, and iPads themselves may not be that favorable, I'm not planning on giving up these gadgets, so the reduction of paper is definitely a beneficial side-effect.

Ditched the disposable stuff

Stainless steel water bottles have long ago replaced the constant turn-over of toxin-leaching, never-biodegrading plastic in our home. If I'm in a pinch, I will buy a disposable water bottle over going thirsty, but this only happens occasionally. My current favorite is this insulated thermos bottle that doesn't spill in my bag and keeps my water cool all day – even when it's steaming hot outside.

Glass tupperware (like these) are a great to have, but mason jars do the job too. We reuse plastic quart and pint containers to freeze cooled broth.

Since sending glass containers to school with my rambunctious offspring is definitely a bad idea, stainless steel lunch boxes (like these) take the place of plastic snack and sandwich bags and look stylish too.

I've also transitioned to cloth towels and dinner napkins. We still use paper towels for some things – well, really only for when we're making bacon.

My favorite reusable folding shopping bags go everywhere in my purse. I use them when shopping for everything from groceries to clothing, and because I don't need to remember to bring them along, I nearly never have to accept a bag from a shop. For bigger trips to the market we have a nice collection of freezer totes for my fresh farmer's market goodies.

Eco-Friendly Food

I like to make my own mayonnaise, ketchup, soups, cooked beans, crackers, cookies, and more. By making food from scratch it is not only WAY more delicious, but in the process I save on so much packaging that would otherwise be going into landfills.

No GMOs – I'm not going to go into all the evils of GMOs here, but suffice to say that genetically modified crops are NOT the answer to world famine – not because lots of people couldn't survive on the pseudo-food made from GMO crops – but because GMO practices are raping the earth and screwing farmers everywhere. For more info read this post on GMOs and infertility.

Buy in bulk – Rather than buying 10 small boxes of rice, beans, nuts, etc., I discovered that I save myself on trips to the store and put much less waste in the bin when I fill one large bag instead. Pretty storage jars display the bounty. I also buy things like coconut oil by the gallon online. (find it here)

Eat Grass Fed Beef – Many eco-friendly folks like to tout the value of eating vegetarian for the benefit of our planet, stating that “It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.” As far as I can tell, this number is a whisper-down-the-alley figure thrown about the media without much substantial backing – and any truth to this number is based on feedlot beef.

When beef comes from grass fed cattle raised on properly rotated pastures, the water usage is FAR less. This farmer did the math and estimated that each pound of beef he raises requires only 400 gallons of water, compared to 250 gallons for a pound of rice. While still 1.6x the water cost, the grass fed beef more than makes up for its usage in nutritional output.

We buy beef by the 1/4 cow directly from our farmer. When I'm out and about, I steer clear of feedlot meat, conventional eggs, and dairy. I eat at restaurants that serve local, sustainable fare as often as possible.

Coping with kids' stuff

Hand me downs – When kids are growing like weeds, they rarely get a chance to wear clothing to threads. Thankfully, I have enough hand-me-down attire for my daughter to clothe a very fashionable orphanage, and we will be passing these barely-worn frocks along as she out-grows them.

My son is an exception to this rule – growing out of his pants AND wearing holes in the knee, so for him, I just buy the essentials, knowing that they'll have to be replaced in a wink.

Less toys. Long ago (well, five years ago to be precise) I gave up my pipe dream of all wooden and cloth toys when I realized that my little boy was going to drag most things through the mud, literally.

Despite the infiltration of plastic dump trucks, trillions of miniature legos, a handful of Disney princesses and three My Little Ponies, we really don't own excessive amounts of toys. This not only appeals to my sense of minimalism, but I hope it's also teaching my youngsters not to value heaps of junk. (Fingers crossed!)

Reusable gift wrap – I used to cringe at the amount of paper that is used for just a few hours at Christmas time before going into the trash. This year, I bought a bag of colorful fabric remnants to use as gift wrap all year long.

Ways I could do better

BYO coffee cups and to-go containers – This one I feel pretty guilt about, because there's no good reason why I don't bring my own reusable coffee mug and to-go containers other that sheer laziness and lack of fore-thought.

I'm not over-dramatizing when I say that a little bit of me dies inside every time I throw a container in the trash (compostable or not) when it was only used for a few measly hours. I'm going to try harder on this one.

The composting dilemma – For a few years now, we've been strategizing about the best way to compost.

While we don't have the challenge of trying to compost as city dwellers in a small space, we do live in the quasi-rural mountains, where the neighborhood raccoons and mountain rats are most certainly plotting against us.

We hesitate to do an open-bin composting system which would undoubtedly encourage our furry arch-enemies to make an all-you-can eat buffet out of our relatively small lot of land.

I've tried an indoor mechanical composter and worm bins but the former was not heavy-duty enough and the latter I abandoned when it became over-run with maggots (Sorry, I draw my line at maggots!)

So, we've sort of settled on one of these large rotating bins, and while I've threatened to buy my husband one for Christmas, it hasn't quite made it into our budget yet…

Anyone have any better suggestions or a particular composter you love?

Water conservation – Joel Salatin (farmer and visionary extraordinary) blew my mind in so many ways when I read his book Folks This Ain't Normal. One of the things that was most eye opening was his take on water conservation.

Joel explains more elegantly than I can, that if every home had a functional cistern to gather rain water, we could be much, much more efficient with our water usage which would have major beneficial repercussions on our environment.

The water that I take for granted flowing freely and relatively cleanly from my faucets, into my toilet, and onto my garden is being piped in from hundreds of miles away. Where does your water come from? (source)

I've been dreaming of a water cistern to water an edible landscape and even to flush our toilets. That's about as far as it's gotten, but one day…

Green landscaping – Admittedly we get points for not having a lawn to water and for cultivating drought resistant ground cover and other plants. But we do have a hedge of bamboo that requires watering and I would love to grow WAY more food on our little plot of land.

Green cleaners – I absolutely LOVE my all-purpose cleaning solution, but I have to admit to still using a touch of toxic cleaner to get the black out from between the bathroom tiles (do you have a natural solution that actually works?) I also haven't been able to part from my non-chlorine bleach that really gets my whites brighter than any natural alternative I've tried.

Buy local – As much as possible, we get our food from local farmers – whether from our farm box, farmer's market, or at the grocery store. I even have a favorite dress shop where everything is designed and made here in Los Angeles.

But aside from food and an occasional dress, I have to admit that I often turn a blind eye to the amount of both essentials and junk that makes its way into my house from China.

Is this even avoidable these days? I'm sure, I could do better. Right?

Not so sure about these…

Recycling – The  mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” was successfully imprinted into the minds of my generation. I dutifully drop my recyclables into the blue bin… But what then?

Life-cycle assessments show that recycling actually does make environmental sense in regards to energy expenditure:

“Overall it takes 10.4 million Btu to manufacture products from a ton of recyclables, compared to 23.3 million Btu for virgin materials. And all of the collecting, hauling and processing of those recyclables adds just 0.9 million Btu.” (source)

The newer “throw-it-all-in-one-bin” method of recycling versus separating glass/paper/plastic always seemed suspicious to me, but I've learned that recyclable items are actually a valuable commodity, whereas trash is – well, trash. The problem is, that many ‘recyclable' items cannot actually be recycled – greasy pizza boxes, caked on plastic containers, and broken glass often ends up in the landfill despite them getting thrown in the correct bin. (source)

Regardless of the market value of recyclables, it's interesting to note that used plastic will likely be shipped to China to make the recycled plastic junk that's shipped back to us for consumption. Makes me feel sorta gross. How about you?

The moral of the story for me? LESS recycling, more reducing and reusing.

Hybrid Car – Like many, many Californians I drive a hybrid, and despite the debates about whether or not they actually do any good for the environment, I feel that by owning one of these vehicles, I cast a vote with my dollar that I want more and better options for eco-friendly transportation (unfortunately public transport and bicycles aren't an option where I live). Will this work? Here's to hoping!

Online shopping – I order everything possible online – from food and toilet paper, to clothing, books, and electronics. Cyber shopping appeals to my time-efficient sensibilities, and I spend less money when I don't have to browse in a store.

From an eco-perspective, I justify this with the amount fuel I save by staying home and having the UPS guy drop off my stuff when he's driving down my street anyway.

My biggest qualm? The amount of packaging that arrives (and then gets recycled) makes me cringe. Did that box of shoes really need to go in another box twice its size?

Fluorescent bulbs –  True, CFL bulbs save a bunch of energy over incandescents, but did you know that they also contain mercury? Dangerous if you accidentally break one, and if you throw them in the trash, the mercury ends up off-gassing in a landfill. Recycling programs for light bulb (and batteries) are for folks less lazy than me… I'm on the lookout for energy efficient and mercury-free light bulbs – preferably ones with warmer glow than the usual CFLs. (source)

Things I should do, but probably won't

Hang my clothes to dry – I'm all for traditional practices and energy conservation, but I also think a clothes dryer is a brilliant modern invention that makes up for its energy consumption with the amount of time it saves. Maybe one day, pinning laundry to to a clothes line across our shady, often muddy and cool property may seem like a good idea. In the meantime, I love my great reusable wool dryer balls that keep my clothes soft without wasting dryer sheets. (Get them here)

Ban baths and take shorter showers – Remember the movie Splash from the 80's when Daryl Hannah (the mermaid) was going to die without being submerged in water? That's me, and the shower is my mini-sanctuary away from the hustle bustle of my life.

Bath time for my kids is the parental moment of sanity amidst the otherwise chaotic time of day known as the “witching hour”. All you parents know exactly what I mean and precisely why I won't be limiting my kids' nighttime bath ritual.

Cloth diapering  – My little ones wore cloth (and we used a diaper service) until they started solid foods, at which point we switched to this completely biodegradable, disposable diaper. I know I fail my cloth diapering friends with this confession, but I've tried, and there's a line to how intimate I want to be poop.

And of that's not enough, now for the over-sharing portion of the post…

Feminine hygiene – Crunchy mama's, I've failed you. I've tried the diva cup which resulted in repeated unmentionable messes… (Um, how DO you manage that thing in a public restroom???)

As for the cloth pads, I've tried those too… and I just can't. I've settle instead for organic cotton tampons and pads. [pause for rotten tomato tossing]

Backyard chickens – According to Salatin, if every home had a couple of chickens, they could reduce the household waste, fertilize the garden and produce the most local eggs possible in return.

Sorry Joel, while we may be able to find a spot in the yard, this working mama does not have space in her life for these feathered friends. I'm going to leave the chickens to my neighbors, and work on the composting and water conserving cistern instead.

Phew! Your turn…

What are your green living successes and failures?

What are your top tips for eco-conscious living in the modern world?

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