Is It Easy Being Green? Not For Me.

Today, if I had been able to go to MOPS I would have joined a discussion about the ways we each try to be green in daily life. If *E*'s stomach ache hadn't turned into a real issue, poor kid. Now he's happily hanging out on the couch watching The Adventures of Clutch Powers. (Thank you, Netflix and Mary who mentioned her son watching it at his Birthday party...it is cute and clever.)

So what do I do to be green? Not as much as I should or could, I know that.

At home we use cloth napkins (paper is for lunchboxes), we rarely use paper towels, using dishcloths and towels instead. We have switched over to compact fluorescents as the light bulbs go. I use vinegar and baking soda for most cleaning. The babies get cloth diapers until they are about two. (After age two they just pee too much all at one time and I cannot get a good balance between staying dry and not having too much bulk.) The husband uses shaving soap in the bar with a brush instead of the foam from a can (A Bill Nye show turned him off the canned stuff.) We buy recycled printer paper. The boys wear hand-me downs so we recycle that way and our papers and magazines go to a paper drop off that earns money for a food pantry.

I wish we bought 100% organic food, but it's just not in the budget. So if I can buy less processed foods, I do. I don't buy as much recycled as I could, I just cannot afford to pay that much for a box of facial tissue or aluminum foil. We do use reusable storage containers instead of baggies, plastic wrap and foil as much we are able. My biggest shame is that we don't recycle as much as we could. We need to figure that out.

I know that we need to care for our planet. It's what we are called to do. Having dominion over something doesn't mean to run roughshod over it and neglecting it. It means caring for it, nurturing it.

But it's not always easy to do what's right. It's not always convenient and my laundry isn't as sparkly, the bathroom smells cleaner with those added chemical scents and when it's windy (all the time here) it blows my recycling bin into the middle of a 4 lane road.

Tough toenails, Toots!

I resolve to make more of the tough choices for a better world, for now and the future, for my children and my children's children and so on and so on. "Give me my spots on the apples just leave me the birds and the bees" (Bob Dylan)

-Peace