Beach Cleanup

Today was International Beach Cleanup day!  The Ocean Conservatory manages the world's largest shoreline cleanup every September 25th.  How does this affect a midwesterner?  Simple- the Alliance for the Great Lakes partners with the Ocean Conservancy through the Adopt a Beach program.  OK, maybe that didn't sound so simple.  Basically, all you do is web-search for Adopt a Beach, and choose a beach clean-up event near you!  The Great Lakes are one of our most beautiful national treasures.  Not to mention an important source of drinking water and economy.  Balancing all the demands on these limited resources can be difficult, particularly since we share each lake with Canada too!  


It's great to be able to do a small task on your own or with a group to help ease the burden on the Great Lakes.  When individuals do small tasks in a concentrated effort, the results really start to pile up!  Hence the idea behind the International Coastal Cleanup Day.


I personally signed up through the Adopt a Beach website as an individual. It turns out that the event I signed up for was coordinated through a local community group, Mothers4Others.org.  What a great group! They organize volunteer activities as well as social events for families to participate in!  Want your kid to grow up recognizing the importance of community involvement- what better way than this!  

Since there were 12 of us, we were able to clean 1/3 mile of beach, collect 4 garbage bags and 3 bags of recycling, adding up to 35.5 pounds of refuse in just under 2 hours!  I was impressed, as this beach already looked fairly clean, and had a lot of garbage cans on the premises.  

It really showed me just how important group efforts can be.  This is my first time participating in this event, so I was surprised to see how quantitative it was- there were forms to be filled out detailing what type and how much trash we were collecting.  I assume that the Alliance for the Great Lakes, and/or the Ocean Conservancy will be tallying up the results to show us how much everyone participating across the world was able to collect today.  I eagerly await the results!


This was also a great example of why reducing our consumption, and reusing things as much as possible before throwing them away is so important.  A lot of the items collected were one-time consumables.  If we all make an effort to reduce the waste stream from the beginning (ie not buying as much STUFF, or at least buying stuff with less packaging), then ultimately there would be less garbage on the beaches requiring clean-up.

Daily Hygiene with No Added Chemicals!

Last week I ventured into the world few would dare to tread; I crossed a line I never thought I'd cross; I MADE DEODORANT!!!!  (And toothpaste).  

Something about both of these products, but particularly the deodorant, just grossed me out when I thought about making them myself.  I fear stink!  I do not want to be a "dirty hippie"- I prefer to completely surprise people when I tell them that lovely scent I am wearing is a homemade lotion, or that I have made my own all-purpose cleaner for years!  I don't want people seeing me or worse, smelling me, and KNOWING that I am a do-it-yourselfer.

And yet I firmly believe that if some giant corporation can make something, there is no reason I can't make it too!  With that in mind, and my home stock of toothpaste and deodorant running out, I began scouring the web.

A simple Google search will reveal dozens of recipies for either product.  I wasn't finding many reviews though, and quite frankly some of the recipies sounded weird! I found recipies that called for using coconut oil both in toothpaste AND deoderant!  One deodorant recipe actually called for the use of Crisco!  I do not enjoy the concept of smearing my underarms with Crisco, so I kept searching.

I ran across the toothpaste recipe I felt most comfortable with by way of Care2.com  It's recommended by the American Dental Association (I'm pretty sure they said that in the page that directed me to the recipe page anyway).  It's a great paste- I've been using it 2 weeks now, it is very cleansing, and whitening!  I have been using peppermint essential oil, but contemplating using lemon or orange, or vanilla- the good news is with a homemade product you can make it anything you want it to be!  I also recommend adding some sort of sweetener to the paste- otherwise the salt will stand out behind the essential oil.  Unless you love salt in the morning, adding sweetner is a must!  I put mine in a cute little clear container that I salvaged from my make-up bin.

So now for the grand finale!  DEODORANT!  Like I said, there are a lot of recipes out there, varying from powder versions to those with Crisco.  I found a recipe I thought sounded reasonable at the Angry Chicken Blog.  It's a blend of shea butter, cocoa butter, baking soda, cornstarch and essential oil.  I chose to use Lavender, because I love the scent.  Again, the beauty of do-it-yourself is that you can make it whatever scent you want!  Her recommendation was to put it in a jar and scoop out small amounts as needed.  I did not think this sounded appealing.  Later I read that she didn't like it either, so she re-melted it and froze it into "pucks".  I decided to do a similar thing, only I used an old deodorant canister/holder.  There was some excess material, so I poured it into a small ramekin.  I put both in the freezer overnight.  I recommend letting the deodorant thaw before using, otherwise the frozen condensation will melt as you apply it, and you will be applying a layer of water instead of deodorant.

This deodorant works great!  I love it!  It goes on smoothly, no irritation (which I occasionally have trouble with from normal store-bought deodorants), and it keeps me from being stinky!  I will remind you that I ride my bike to the train every day- so I am doing a pretty good test job on this stuff.  And, I notice that as my body temperature goes up, the lavender scent is released, which is a nice soothing scent that helps relieve my stress!  It's a two-in one!  Stench repressor and stress reliever!  Woo hoo!  And, no aluminum seeping in through my pores and slowly leading to the development of Alzheimer's.  I'm a huge fan of this stuff, and plan to keep making it forever! 

In summary- making your own products reduces the amount of toxins in your daily routine, reduces the energy input for the products compared to commercially produced versions, reduces the packaging and transport associated with shipping products to stores particularly if you re-use old packages from products you already used up.  Doing this also reduces the amount of waste you create!  You pretty much hit all the right marks when you make your own products.

Please, try making some of either of the above products and let me know what you think!  Especially if you make any modifications- I am always on the lookout for ways to make things better.

Biking in the Urban Death Zone

I've been reading a lot about climbing Everest lately- and how one of the most difficult stretches is known as "The Death Zone".  Given my experiences biking to the train station some days, I feel fully qualified to climb Everest, completely confident in my ability to conquer the Death Zone!

This is because suburbanites are the deadliest drivers I've ever met!  They're embarking on an hour long journey from hell to get to work- so their commute has really just become another part of "getting ready" in the morning: cell phones, make-up, eating, etc. are all par for the course.  The one-mile straight shot to the train station on a 2-lane road with no shoulder and massive back-up thus becomes Uncle Toad's Wild Ride.

Here are some of my tips for making it work:
1) ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!  You don't have to be hit by a car to get a head injury.  I have personally seen a guy who was riding slowly and capably, fall over sideways for no foreseeable reason!  When you fall on your bike, your hands are not really able to help protect you.  This particular guy hit head first on the pavement- had a terrible concussion, could not stand up on his own and had to go to the ER- a fate that would not have been had he worn a helmet.

2) Don't take the straight shot.  I veer off, and take a back route through a neighborhood.  This route is generally much safer- far fewer cars anyway.  Though, you do have to watch out for the endless march of school busses if you ride through at the wrong time (incidentally- what's with all these kids taking the bus?! The school is so close!  If more kids walked or rode their bikes to school we may not have a childhood obesity problem!) Ultimately the safe route is gained by trading mileage.  Instead of a one-mile ride, my ride is now 1.5 miles one way.  Not a huge addition of mileage, but I can imagine other instances where the mileage may be dramatically increased.  Doesn't matter to me though- i'd rather arrive alive!

3) When you feel your life is in grave danger- TAKE UP MORE OF THE LANE!  If a car is going to hit you while you're travelling, it is most likely that they will clip you, graze you on your side as they pass.  The more of the lane you take up, the less chance of them clipping you.  They are forced to slow down and travel behind you, or wait for an opening to pass you.  Otherwise they'll have to literally mow you down- in which case they hit your bike first and possibly your life is saved.  I also like this method because it pronounces your validity as a user of the road.  Bikes are legally allowed to ride the road- in fact it is usually illegal to ride on a sidewalk.  So go ahead, claim your space!

4) Put a basket on your bike.  I have a rack over my rear wheel, to which i mounted a milk crate with zip ties. This is a savior!  I hate carrying things in a back-pack- it scrunches my clothes and makes my back sweaty in the summer, and is generally uncomfortable.  Plus, what are you supposed to do with your designer purse?  The milk crate can hold a surprisingly large amount of items, including a couple of bike locks.

5) Save rubber-bands from your produce- they work great as "pants restraints".  Just slip around your ankles, over the pants- they won't get caught on the bike chain or water bottle holder, you won't look like a freak with your pants tucked into your socks, during colder weather your legs won't freeze from rolling them up, and if they break or you lose them, it's really no big deal- just buy some more broccoli!

6) JUST DO IT!  There's really nothing difficult about bike commuting.  It actually takes me the same amount of time to ride to the train as it does to drive.  Your first day you probably won't feel that confident, but by day 3 you're a friggin' pro!  You'll feel great riding past everyone in the morning instead of griping behind the steering wheel at all the moronic drivers! Plus there's no better way to show you are loosening oils addictive grips!

Update- Food, Food and More Food!

WOW- it's been SOOOO long since my last post!  In my defense, I am RIDICULOUSLY busy.  Finally things are dying down, so I have some time to post.  I have had a number of potential post topics mulling around in my brain, but given my long absence, I think I'll just give an update on my efforts.

First of all, my biggest obstacle still remains food. After going to the Green City Market downtown, the following weekend we went to the Kenosha farmers market, at the Kenosha Harbor.  Since I live in the North suburbs, Kenosha is really not all that far away from me, not any further than downtown Chicago anyway.  That market was pretty good. Not as crowded, so you get more time to chat with the farmers. We bought some apples, and got a good tip that storing apples in the 'fridge in a plastic bag helps keep them fresh for a long time.  We bought these heirloom type that are good until July- which we didn't get to test because we ate them all!  We also bought some shallots that last for 14 months, and they are still lasting.  Finally, we bought some AMAZING bacon! The bacon was cut from the shoulder, which is PRIME!  It was so delicious, and I am not even a bacon fan!  The great thing about buying local is that I can buy meat without feeling guilty.  I know the pigs are not given antibiotics, they are not kept in tiny crates for their entire life, they are fed a healthy diet, and they are local, so very few food miles go into their overall life and delivery to my plate.

After the Kenosha market we stopped at a WI grocery store known as Woodman's.  They are known to have incredibly low prices, but another cool thing is that they support a lot of local farms.  For some reason it is really hard to find local cottage cheese and yogurt at these farmers markets, despite the abundance of regular cheeses like cheddar.  Woodman's had WI cottage cheese!  They also sold MI frozen blueberries, and lots of all kinds of other local foods.  It was very exciting!  My regular grocery stores, like Dominick's and Garden Fresh, which undoubtedly are "local"- they don't exist in MO or IA for instance, but they really don't stock local foods.

Ok, so then I went on vacation.  This was pretty bad for my carbon footprint.  Really, I was visiting my mother, who lives in FL, so it was a vacation of necessity (helps me feel better about my flight footprint anyway!).  We ended up eating out a lot, generating a lot of trash, and driving all over the state.  Here's the good news: we drove a Prius, and I bought local foods and brought them back with me to Chicago.  STRAWBERRIES!  ORANGES!!  It was awesome! I had summer fruits in the middle of winter, here in chicago without adding to the degradation of our climate!

Back at home, we really didn't have time for the markets anymore, so we did more "regular" shopping.  HOWEVER, we have made changes- we buy organic as much as possible, and tried to reduce buying foods with packaging. For instance, we don't eat cereal for breakfast anymore, which is  HUGE deal for me!  I am addicted to cereal.  But we made the switch to oatmeal, from the big cardboard tube.  It's also a lot cheaper- but since one box of cereal lasted 1 week, and one tube of oatmeal lasts a month, it's also a HUGE reduction in packaging. Especially since cereal is double packed in plastic and cardboard.  I flavor it with my MI blueberries, honey or sugar and cinnamon.  After a while I stopped missing cereal.  Oh, plus we don't have to buy as much milk or soy milk, which also reduces packaging, and saves a ton of money.  Organic milk and soymilk are expensive!  So now we just use less of it, and it's been great!

Last week we actually ordered from freshpicks.com which turned out to be pretty awesome!  This company basically goes to markets for you, and brings you tons of local foods, and organic foods.  They will also include things that are not local, but are with organic partner farms.  This was helpful for my husband, who can not give up his banana addiction (though he blames this on our rabbit who also loves banana treats).  It was super convenient too!  They delivered right to our door, much like peapod.  prices were largely reasonable, though some things were pricey.  But at least they have everything you want, and all as good for the environment as you can get.  I can't say I'm totally pleased that we bought bananas, but at least they were organic (which seems to be IMPOSSIBLE to find otherwise!).

OK, but here is my bone to pick with organic/local farmers- packaging!  They are just as addicted to packaging as anyone!  At these markets it seemed impossible to get them to NOT put their potatoes in a plastic bag that then goes into my re-usable bag.  I'm used to the clerks at Garden Fresh acting like I'm a martian when I hand over my cloth bag, but et tu farmers market, et tu?!  And then these eggplants we bought from freshpicks- they came individually wrapped in plastic!  What the Fruit!?  I have seen this a lot lately- individual packaging of ORGANIC foods- not the pesticide laden foods, the organic ones!  I guess maybe it's because they don't have preservatives soaked into their flesh, so they get packaged to make them last longer.  But this goes against the grain of my being!  I buy organic because I care about my impact, adding a layer of plastic wrap kind of negates the lack of pesticides!

Packaging is problematic in nearly every aspect of purchasing.  We found some 100% recycled toilet paper, and were pretty excited.  Bought one of those big packages with something like 48 rolls.  When we got home and opened it up to put it away- it turned out to be 12 individually wrapped packs of 4, all bulk wrapped in a big plastic package!  At least the plastic was recyclable, but COME ON!  I've never bought toilet paper like that before!

My personal demon with food remains eating out.  I notice the waste a lot more with eating out now than  I ever did before.  I like to go out for coffee.  Both of my favorite places almost always use styrofoam.  Cutting back even a little bit can reduce a lot of waste that is not at all biodegradable.  I like to go out to lunch frequently too.  I have found some restaurants that serve local foods, but they are a bit far away for me to get to on a lunch break.  One restaurant I like a lot also has committed to using compostable plastic for it's to-go packaging!  Wow Bow is the restaurant, it's cool, interesting asian food and they have great hibiscus tea!  It's so cool that they use COMPOSTABLE plastic, not just recyclable, but compostable!

One other thing I've been doing is giving up soda.  I gave it up for Lent, and it is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have no idea about the carbon footprint of soda- but i've been imagining it's high.  It's pretty much all chemicals, and energy intensive, produced in a few large factories, shipped all over the world, requires refrigeration, and largely comes in plastic bottles.  So, I thought it was a good idea to give up, but was struggling, so I made it my Lent sacrifice. It's been hard, but I think it's having a good impact.  99% of the time, I just replace it with water from the drinking fountain in a reusable cup.  In the beginning I was drinking more coffee- something else I'd like to give up- but now I just drink water.  3 times I've bought bottled lemonade or water in place of soda, so the waste was not offset, and probably a lot of the production was not offset either.  But overall, I think it's been a really good move.  I think it will also be easy for me to keep up with after Lent, and then I can work on the removal of coffee from my diet . . .

Still haven't bought any clothes!  Well, I bought one t-shirt when I was in FL, but that was a souvenir from a show we saw, so I don't count it so much.  Even if you do count it, it's only one shirt for the entire year so far, pretty good!  Overall, my consumption has decreased.  I have been successful in using re-usable containers and re-using ziploc bags instead of using them up and throwing them away.  I'm also using hankies instead of kleenex!  I thought this would be a huge roadblock, but it's pretty easy- though I haven't been able to convince my husband yet.

In fact, my husband is one of my biggest obstacles!  Despite his obsession with energy efficiency, he never puts clothes on the drying rack and always uses the dryer!  He always forgets to bring the re-usable bags into the store, he can't stop eating bananas, and he won't use a hankie!  It's OK though, because I know I slip up a lot too. I have to give him LOTS of credit for doing nearly all of the grocery shopping too, so I don't want to criticize the way he does it.  Somehow though, we have to get over these humps . . .

So that's all for now, we're doing pretty well here- and now that it's spring, you will start to hear about my plight with bike riding to the train!

Worms!

So to deal with things on the waste side of the issue- I finally decided to do some composting.  I know that a lot of people compost inside their homes, but this concept grossed me out.  I generally am not a fan of rotting food and attracting bugs and rodents.  I really did want to get into composting though- so I made all kinds of plans for an outdoor system at our new house.  Then the housing market fell through, and I don't know when we'll ever be able to move out of our condo.  So no putting it off- I'm indoor composting in a small space!

Turns out there are tons of resources to help you get started.  New York City actually has an entire program dedicated to helping city residents compost.  Apparently their waste problem is out of control.  After doing a bit of research, I discovered that most indoor composting fanatics don't just compost- they VERMICOMPOST!  This is composting using worms.  Worms eat up all your rubbish- from food, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, paper, newspaper, napkins, and cardboard!  They poo it out into wonderful compost!

But worms?  IN MY HOUSE!?!?!  I like to keep the bugs out if possible, not invite them in!  The worm people assure me that I have nothing to fear- red wrigglers (the best worms for composting) hate the light, so they will not leave their bin.  Ok, but what about smell?  Won't the food start to rot?  Not if you don't overload your system.  2,000 worms can eat 1 pound of food per day!  That's a lot of food! So, I bought 500 worms- that's 1/4 lb of food per day for those of you not mathematically inclined.  As long as I don't overload the system, it should remain stench free.  Shouldn't be hard, I don't really have that much food scraps.  Another tip I read was that you should store all your scraps in a container in the 'fridge, and deposit as a complete layer at the end of the week.  This is to prevent your worms from having too much shock from exposure to light.  But it also helps in preserving the food a bit.  Another issue I worried about is fruit flies.  If you wash your food scraps- including fruit rinds and peels, it should wash off any fly larvae or eggs.  I figure the refrigerator treatment also helps kill flies and eggs.

Actually setting up the bin is pretty easy.  First you pick a bin of size that you want- I based mine on how big of a space I wanted to dedicate. You should store your bin in a dark place- the only place I have is a cabinet, so I had to pick a medium sized plastic food bin- rectangular in shape.  Then I followed the instructions at the New York City Compost website.  I bought my worms from unclejimswormfarm.com, it was the only site where I found a small amount of worms, most other sites had a minimum of 1 pound of worms.

GreenMidwest

From GreenMidwest

So, that's it!  My worms are installed, and hopefully I'll be getting some great new compost in a few months time.  My plan is to use the compost to enrich my garden, which I plan to expand this summer.  The compost should be done just in time to start planting seedlings.  I'll keep you posted on it's success!

A Different Diet . . .

While I'm sure that a food based diet of some sort will work it's way into my attempt to lower my carbon footprint (such as not eating meat)- today is not that day!

The diet I started today is called The Great American Apparel Diet.   The goal is to not buy any clothes for a year!  I think it started in September though, so technically the experiment ends Sept. 2010. I'm going to try to hold out for an actual full year, but please don't hate me if I slip up!

The website is great, lots of great women explaining how and why they signed up for the challenge.

But a whole year with no new clothes!?!?  Am I insane!!!  This might be too much.  Then again, I think maybe this is the kind of sacrifice everyone keeps saying American's aren't willing to take to save the planet.  So- I'm revving up my sewing skills, and looking for creative ways to pair items so they feel new.  The experiment allows you to buy new undergarments/accessories and shoes as you see fit.  But I think I'm going to try to avoid that too.  To me, the purpose is to liberate myself from the need to own more clothing.

Assessment:  I share a walk-in closet with my husband.  I have one side- I raised the shelf (the kind that you can also hang clothes from) and then installed a second shelf underneath to hold all my clothes. The top shelf if FULL of purses.  The entire wall is filled with clothes hanging from both shelves.  The second shelf has hats on it.  Along the narrow back wall are several small shelves stacked vertically.  One of these is piled high with sweaters, another is full of larger bags that I have.  On top of that, I have a three dresser drawers with work-out clothes, two drawers of pants (in addition to the pants hanging in the closet), several drawers of undergarments, and a drawer of sleep wear.  ON TOP OF THAT (as if this isn't already enough)- I have  a large cedar chest full of all my summer clothes!  My closet floor is EXPLODING with shoes too!  I have a 2-tiered shoe-shelf, plus boots piled up to the side, plus shoes in the closet by the front door.

So, do I need to buy any more clothes?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  But, there's still a fear that committing not to buy is going to be too much.  It's just this mindset that has overcome me, and I dare say most women in America.  I'm willing to bet that 90% of us women buy WAY too many clothes!

What I love about this concept is how sharply it brings reality into focus.  Part of my previous glory parade for myself included lauding myself with praise for not consuming as much as other people.  I spent so much time complimenting myself for not shopping up a storm all the time that I didn't even notice the giant stack of shopping bags piling up, or the fact that my dresser is so full I can not put one more article of clothing in it!  I think I started out at one end of the spectrum- I used to only buy from thrift stores, but slowly, day by day, I allowed little excuses to slip by.  Suddenly I just can't picture myself at work without a new necklace!  You all know where this goes- shopping for that new necklace turns into buying the matching earrings, then "Oh, that would look PERFECT with that cute blouse", which of course can't be worn with any existing pairs of pants, so you get a new pair, and those are just screaming for a new pair of shoes- and all of a sudden you are a carbon puffing machine!  I have literally done this on several occassions.  And if that's not the case, there's always the 20% off at JCrew e-mail, or other such promotions.  I get at least 10 clothing related sales emails a day!  It is very hard to resist all those "savings".

It's a weird phenomenon.  And even weirder is the overall mindset that a full closet just isn't enough!

Of course, consumer glut doesn't stop at just clothes.  I also have a penchant for kitchen items.  I have a drawer exploding with gadgets, and I just can't stop!  So, I'm making that another "no buy" item for the year. (OK-I do have to buy a new can-opener b/c ours just broke last week). I also want to not buy any more paper towels or ziploc bags.  I already try to use cloth rags frequently, and tupperware.  When I do use a ziploc, I rinse it out and re-use it if it didn't have meat in it. But- why do I use those at all?  I have so many containers, there is no reason to use something disposable!  I have so many rags, why do I ever use a paper towel?  So, no more buying of those.

This week I am also going to experiment with using a handkerchief in place of kleenex.  Something about this really grosses me out, so this is one that I am most apprehensive about.  But I've long been trying to boycott Kimberly-Clark due to their propensity for cutting virgin forest to make throw away paper products.  The gross out factor has been too high to go all cloth though.  But, I'm going to try it.  People used to do this all the time right?  I'm sure it will be fine!

In addition to reducing the amount of CO2 I'm responsible for, I think this will have other benefits.  Hopefully it will liberate me from the entire concept of NEEDING things I don't actually need.  Wrap your mind around that one!  You know how you always feel like you need that "thing"?  Well you probably don't.  I hope I can break that feeling for good. This would be a real waste if at the end of the year I went on a bonanza and bought a whole bunch of clothes!  The other benefit will of course be monetary!  Aren't we all realizing we need to save more and pay down more debt?  Somehow we can never find those extra dollars though.  Giving up clothes to pay down your student loan is not fun.  But since I'm doing this out of a desire to break the chains of consumerism, and to shrink my footprint, paying down that student loan suddenly becomes a fringe benefit!

What are you trying to consume less of? Do you have a success story or tips for me?  Or are you just getting started too?

Grandma, God and My Carbon Footprint

Since calculating my carbon footprint- it is apparent that nearly every sector of what I called my "green life", needs not only tweaking, but a major overhaul!

Firstly- I think this is terrifying.  I always knew that saving the planet called for sacrifice, but this seems like it's going to be a lot harder than I thought!  Am I going to have to keep all the lights off and never watch TV?  Every action I am about to undertake has me wondering how it will impact my carbon footprint.

But, as I've been reading articles and blogs, particularly on the lost art of ironing, I am reminded that it may not be that impossible after all.  If you think back to days of the depression or WWII (which I can not do because I was not yet born, so I read about it instead), these were really the days when green behaviors were founded. Unknowingly, our grandparents/great-grandparents or parents laid a foundation of values and behaviors that we can use to build our green lifestyles upon today.  They were first and foremost, frugal.  Things were not wasted, they were used until they couldn't be used anymore.  Then they were turned into rags, storage containers or art!  Most of the environmental problems we've created can be reduced or eliminated through simply reducing our connection to and need for new material things.  Values such as honesty and humility and a sense of personal pride were also abundant then.  I think today many of us grapple with these concepts- we like to think of ourselves in these terms, but we feel that somehow we are not living up to it.

Where better to find a way to marry these values with environmentalism than in the midwest! Right here at home many of us go to church and hear the lessons regarding materialism.  We recognize that a new flat screen TV will not come with us to heaven.  And environmentalists try to push back against the conveyor belt of consumerism- recognizing that the purchase of a new flat screen TV means the old TV (perfectly good in many cases) is going to a landfill.  Midwesterners revel in the home-grown value of frugality already!  But, excuses do get easier and easier.  I myself used to be against owning excess "stuff".  We used to not even have TV!  Now I find the TV is on all the time, we are buying more DVD's, I made regular stops at the mall and online purchases.  I never felt ENTIRELY out of step with either my religious or environmental convictions- but looking at the outcome now, I can see I wasn't even on the right path!

You can take this same mindset towards many of the concepts found both in religion and environmentalism.  Honesty.  The bible says it's good.  Be honest with yourself, your neighbors, your parents, etc.  You can apply this to environmentalism if you are truly honest with yourself about why you are purchasing that new TV.  Is it because you REALLY want to see everything in Hi-Def?  Or is it partly that, but mostly that you want people to know you make a good salary, or you have a 'cool' house, or that you are cool.  I mean, it sounds lame to actually admit to yourself "I'm buying a TV to be cool", but it's really what we are doing!  Once you admit it to yourself, you can stop.  Then it actually becomes comical to look at all your past purchases, and you can laugh to yourself when someone starts talking about the new such-and-such that they are buying.  It almost becomes the joke about a man buying a sports car. :)

As I move forward in my quest to reduce my footprint, I feel empowered knowing that it's not impossible.  My grandma did it.  I can do it too.  Maybe she didn't recycle, but it's probably because she reduced and re-used everything.  If you are religious, look to your church for help and strength.  These are values that they preach.  God is a cornerstone of environmentalism!

Ultimately, though I don't know what tactics I'll use yet, this is a battle I can win.  Maybe I'll call grandma tonight to get some tips!