This particular blogroll was so interesting to me- just in the names alone. There were the unsure, almost apologetic- Confessions of a Novice, Well At Least I Try, Trying to Be Greener, and my personal fav (in name, not necessarily content), The Not Quite Crunchy Parent. (I wish I would have thought of that name!)
Then, there were the 'cheerleader' green bloggers- their title telling you, "Being Green is Easy! Cheap! C'mon, we can do it! G-R-E-E-N! Gooooooo RECYCLE!" They had names like, Gift of Green, Healthy Living=Happy Families!, Living Cheap and Green, and this MOTHER's going GREEN.
The last category that I noted were folks who were obviously secure in their greenness and know what's up. Who's going to mess with Crunchy Domestic Goddess or Ecochick? Not me!
There's so much judgment out there! If you are not doing enough, you are wasteful and lazy, and if you do too much, you are crunchy and odd. (One of my favorite blogs to read just told about how she started making her own deodorant- weird, right?! But then I realize that my daughter is going to start using deodorant in the next few years- a few boys in her class already do- and I don't want her to use something that is correlated with breast cancer! But I also don't want her to be the stinky girl in the corner of the locker room, dipping her fingers in her deodorant jar! Ugh!) I just try to do what we can and celebrate the successes rather than feel guilty about the failures. I recently heard someone say, "I have found as I've started to make changes over the years that something that sounded un-doable five years ago became a subject of interest two years ago and is now something I do without thinking twice...."
Some of our main things we are cutting out of our daily lives:
- high fructose corn syrup
- partially hydrogenated oils
- plastic water bottles
- shopping bags from grocery stores
Do you have any green tips for me? (Pertaining to the health of my family or the environment?)
AND, what would YOU call your 'green' blog????
7 comments:
Hi Sarri! I am totally with you. I'm pretty new at all this green stuff, but I am learning. And its getting easier as I learn what brands to by at the grocery store. And in case you didn't know, Coscto has some great basics (bread, peanut butter, cereal) that's all free of HFCS and bad oils. I read this blog and it's great! Lots of fun ideas. http://greenkiddos.blogspot.com/
I too, am totally with you on that. Reduce, reuse, recycle! :)
I feel like I am learning too. I kept buying reusable bags, but then I would forget them at home. Now after I unload my groceries I put the bags back in the trunk. I have been buying green friendly cleaners and laundry soap. I am still buying water bottles. I know they aren't the greatest, but with Chris working out in the sun, he needs them. I have bought him so many containers that he just looses!
So I know I'm not doing everything green, but it's a start!
Sarri, I am totally with you! I had to change products do to Mason's skin issues, but we have since switched to "green" things. Roth's in McMinnville has started to sell the Mrs. Meyer's cleaning line. It is great. They also sell the Seventh Generation laundry soap, TP, and paper towels. Another good place with a big selection, but not a big price tag is Fred Meyer's. Hope that it helps!
Sarri, great post! You know I love to learn whatever I can about being healthy and having a healthy family and earth. I agree with you that there is so much potential judgement and guilt associated with just about everything...add being a mom and all the "pressures" and it can leave you feeling more oppressed in the midst of all the good choices! I just refuse to accept it (judgement and guilt, I mean) and take everything I read with a grain of salt, acknowledging that people speak out of their own convictions & adopting some of it into our family, but not feeling bad for what I can't do at the moment. For us, as followers of Christ, the key is making sure we're still devoting plenty of time to seeking God in everything we do. Without that, even going for the green cause can become an idol for me! Last week I went to a workshop (Sustainable Living on a Budget) and I'd love to share some of what I learned next time we get together. Lots of great resources. For me, if life/thoughts become consumed with anything other than living for and loving Jesus, it is easy to get a little off-balance (at least for me) and become overly emotionally connected to ideas, etc. Practically to the point where I begin comparing myself to others (for better or worse) and I know it really does distract from the real purposes God has for me. I feel like I'm always having to be intentional about spending time praying about the choices I make for our family and asking God to help me keep my priorities intact. Okay that was a long reply! Guess I had lots to process on that subject. Oh if I had a green blog I would probably call it something super cheesy like, Crunchy Munchies (for the kids - my sis and I call the kids "munchies"). Love your blogging and miss you so much! Hope to get together soon. We're going to be gone again this weekend, but maybe the next weekend? What are you up to? Love you, Annie p/s It's been fun to watch you get crunchier. hehe
Great post, Sarri! I actually titled my blog "One step at a Time" with this kinda in mind. The quote that you overheard really says it all for me. Right now, I'm in the exploration phase. Trying new things, branching out looking for alternatives to what I thought was the only way to do things before. Some, I see being a definite permanent change (i.e. not using my dryer during the summer months), some I'd like to thing could be (i.e. eating at least 50% of our meals from locally grown foods), and some that as much as I'd love to think I could, I'm going to have to work very hard at (i.e. giving up my gas guzzling Durango or relinquishing my dependence on plastics.) I'm just taking baby steps right now to turn my home and family greener. In time, I hope to be able to be as self sufficient as possible, without the kids feeling like they're "missing out" on what the rest of the world is doing/getting.
Taking little steps can sometime mean looking at the obvious - switching lightbulbs, using reusable cloth grocery bags, combining errands into fewer trips... One of my "new habits" is to not empty out water bottles into the sink. At the end of the day when I clean out lunch boxes, I pour the water that is left into my watering can and give my plants a drink. Simple right? I still have to remind my hubby!
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