I'm Not Walking! And don't you dare call me a hypocrite

So today I opted for a name change. I think when I started this blog I had intended a few minor green changes and BAM! I have saved the world...but this is not the case and I am finding that to attain "green" status is more work then I ever dreamed. I had listed previously in this blog some of the changes I have made over the last few years, but lately it seems I can't shake the 'green' bug no matter how hard I try.

I worry if I'm not buying the right food, I worry that me wanting to keep my ears free of debris by use of a Q-Tip will melt a glacier faster than ever. And what about my refrigerator. Dare I unplug it and let my children grow up on pasta and jar sauces for the sake of saving the earth. There is so much unexpected criteria that goes along with being green, stuff I couldn't even imagine. What is a girl to do?

I have been talking about this book Sleeping Naked is Green, about a girl who decided to make one change every day for 365 days to green up her life. Yesterday I sat down and read a good chunk of the book and on page 78 I was astounded at what I read.

In fact I was slightly LIVID at what I read.... let me recite it for you here:

"....its beyond hypocritical to call yourself an environmentalist and drive to work everyday."

RICH GIRL SAID WHAT NOW? Honestly, I do consider myself an environmentalist. But not a psycho name calling activist...as our little Vanessa has seemingly become. This same girl who is calling me a hypocrite ~ and is considering herself an environmentalist just pages earlier recanted an itinerary six weeks long, involving more than 5 flights she would be taking on a minisabbatical (not to mention flying off to visit a friend with her mother a few pages after that...but don't worry kids, her mom bought that trip for her so maybe when its someone else's treat it doesn't count). I can't even begin to imagine the number of carbon offsets she was forced to purchase in an attempt to make herself feel better and somehow justify her much needed trip.

So back to the topic, I wont sell my car and I refuse to walk to work...this in her mind makes me a hypocrite and somehow, not an environmentalist.

Lets take a look at my life for just a brief moment.... I am married, have three children, three dogs, two cats, and two chickens (hm, I'm betting my environmentalist friend Vanessa doesn't have chickens in her big city apartment to lay eggs). I need to be to work at 9am in the morning. During the school year I must get three...count em...one two three children onto their school buses prior to me getting to work. My youngest gets on his bus at 8:20am. I work approximately 9 miles away from where I live. Now, I'm no math magician...but I am willing to be that me walking that 9 miles is going to take far longer than the 40 minutes she is allowing me.

NOOOOT to mention the trip home. I leave work at 3:30pm (yes, I'm spoiled I have a nice short work day to contend with) and imagine, taking into account all the hills I would have to trek up, that a trip back home would equal approximately 2 hours...and that's without a rest.

Which puts me home exactly at the right moment in time to get dinner started. Phew, I'm tired thinking about it.

In theory, yes I could walk home...in theory! But in reality...it ain't going to happen.

We don't eat out....as Vanessa has taken to doing since she has unplugged her stove and fridge... as you can imagine the cost associated with feeding three growing kids and one hungry husband (oh and I should mention that I don't have the high profile job and chunky salary our "sleeping naked" author most certainly has) when one is forced to eat out two or three meals a day 7 days a week!

So to expect me to walk nine miles home and then be expected to conjure up some hopeless fridgeless stoveless dinner...its ludicrous. Really.

I will be sensitive to the fact that Vanessa has nothing, nothing to rush home to but her poor cat Sophie, and bathroom toilet full of piss. She has no reason to need to be home in a hurry, no one is waiting for her to make dinner, no one is standing in the doorway hoping she will get there sooner--rather than later simply because they miss her.

Vanessa can make her quick remarks about hypocrisy but really we all know who the hypocrite is here. And all the carbon offsetting in the world wont erase all those flights. If I had no reason to rush home, then maybe I would walk...but until then, I will DRIVE!

Certainly I invite her to walk a mile in my shoes, before she goes calling those of us who are really trying and making it ON OUR OWN (without the assistance of our jobs or payment of service and/or free green items if she name drops here or there) in an impossibly UNGREEN society.

The lesson here: every little bit counts, and while some of us can have chickens that lay their own eggs, a garden to provide fresh veggies, and public transportation others do not have the possibility of such luxuries and they should not be called hypocrites for at the very least giving it a shot!

I'm just saying...there are some reason's to not walk

I just read this article on aol news:

Man in Coma after Central Park Horror

(July 30) -- A young engineer for Google was in a coma in a New York
hospital Wednesday night after a heavy branch fell from a tree in Central Park
at hit him on the head, local newspapers reported.
Sasha Blair-Goldensohn,
33, was walking through the park on his way to work around 8 a.m. Wednesday when
the rotting branch fell on him, the New
York Daily News said.
"This is just horrifying," said professor Kathy
McKeown, Blair-Goldensohn's adviser in graduate school, in an interview with the New York Post. "Sasha is a great guy, a wonderful person, and
you just can't imagine something like this happening."

There are ALOT of tree's in New England...I'm not sure I can
chance it. I have to tell you that about 2 years ago a young boy was
killed in Bristol while at Lake Compounce Theme Park after a 4 inch tree branch
fell out of a tree and hit him.

Walking is an Option??? Really...

So I was just sitting outside enjoying the weather and more of my book Sleeping Naked is Green when I reached the passage from April 30, Day 61...nonstick frying pans? Oh gooood I'm thinking now i'll know if I really should go get a cast iron or if there is some other alternative out there that is even better suited to assisting me on saving the earth, when our author takes a wild turn in a vehicular direction.
Giving up a car? Nope, not me. Doesn't apply here, as we are toooo far into the suburbs to even consider public transportation...Then she hits me an unexpected one two punch and knocks me out cold!
WALK! Are you kidding me? This girl has an answer for everything. Periodically through the book I often find myself refering to her as a high class snob. Which helps me feel some what self righteous...if she can do this I can do it way better. But now she's actually proposing that I walk somehwere?
Are you freaking kidding me? I am finding more disappointment while reading feeling that my initial expectations of doing something each day crumbles with her next initiative at leading a Green Life. I can't do it!!!! I can't I can't I can't! I want to tell her that its not possible, its not fair to expect me to walk and there is no way I can even think about dragging three children behind me as I make my 5-7 mile journey up hill both ways (in the snow no less) to the local grocery store (which really isn't even local but would actual mean crossing city lines...more than once!).
It leaves me asking the question...which one of us is really the high class snob, she's already proven she can do this... I can even seem to turn off my freezer without wanting to cry out a big "WHAT IF....!".

Green Movements So Far

The list is short so far, but honestly I do believe that every little attempt counts. Some have been wildly successful...others not so much. I will attempt to keep you updated on all of my more current Green Movements in subsequent Blogs as they transpire~

1. Switched from a 6 cylinder SUV to a 4 cylinder car (a move I can say caused so much stress because I knew I was sending a vehicle to a junk yard and wasn't sure this was really a good thing).

2. Went from tampons to a Diva Cup (i have used this exactly one month so far and am not entirely convinced I like it...but I do like the idea of never paying for tampons again and am more than willing to keep trying until I've AT LEAST got my money's worth).

3. Recycling everything possible

4. Stopped flushing for my morning pee...a move that has caused my kids to say EW, and wouldn't you know...one morning I caught my husband flushing my pee away prior to peeing himself~when I asked him what he was doing he replied "i dont want to pee on your pee that's gross!" totally erasing my attempting at saving one flush. CAN YOU EVEN DEAL (this does give you an idea of what i'm up against)

5. Switched to electronic bills, the only time they come in paper now is when they are telling me I'm late or goign to be shut off. Life is good

6. Bought approximately 12 reuseable grocery bags/totes

7. Switched to aluminum free deodorant...which does very little to stop my stress sweat. Admittedly I enjoy smelling good and have since switched back I'M SORRY! (yes i know the effects and potential breast cancer risk)

8. Composting everything possible

9. Switched as many light bulbs in the house to the twirly kind

10. We purchased two hens for their eggs and well... cause they are cute

11. Attempted to grow a garden during one of the worst (coldest) summers Connecticut has seen in 100 years. Its a pathetic tangle of weeds and mud at this point!

12. Rain Barrel...which has proven to be WORTHLESS this summer. It has literally not stopped raining long enough to be useful~but we've seen some might neat looking mosquito larvae growing in there

Its Not Easy Being Green: Falling off the Wagon

ALREADY!
first off, I'm going to say it... Having a conscience sucks! Nothing would please me more than telling you that a quick trip to the grocery store last week resulted in my purchasing a few "green" items...but I just can't do it.
I find that the older i get the more my conscience gets to me and I am just not capable of lying no matter the circumstances...try as I might! I just can't.
So here goes....
A quick trip to the store, a trip that was intended solely for the purchase of simply kielbasa, ended miserably by me breaking so many GREEN RULES its not even funny. It all began with my decision to NOT bring in my tote bags figuring the one item could easily be thrown into my purse (which happens to also be a tote).
After grabbing the kielbasa I realized I also needed a paper plate~but as we all know you can't buy just one, so naturally i had to buy a stack of them. Legitimately I couldn't very well send the kielbasa to soccer camp on my plates, what if i didn't get it back? A little background will tell you that it was the last day of soccer camp for Mason and the coach wanted to make it fun by having a little picnic ~~ each "team" was responsible for bringing in afood item based on the nationality of their World Cup Team...Mason was on Team Poland.
So while I was in the paper goods aisle Mason was kind enough to remind me we also needed paper towels. UGH!
This is a huge wasted item in our home. I can't even explain the number of paper towels thrown out with barely a stain on them...but they are convenient...so what the heck. Right? Well, that's the majority ruling and I deal with. After walking back and forth along the aisle I settled on Small Steps Recycled Greener Alternative, by Marcel. They were incredibly affordable for an 8 pack and I was proud of my find. Knowingly, I should've just bypassed the purchase all together, but honestly I can't be expected to move mountains within the first 24 hours, so allow me some leniency here.
In an effort to counteract my paper towel purchase I grabbed a package of the reusable towels and headed to the checkout~knowing the kids would require some education on these towels in an effort to get them on board with wasting fewer paper towels needlessly (god help me!). Practically running to the checkout before I could add more nothing to my basket~I paid for my purchases and took them all home in plastic bags! Plastic Bags... the words practically make my skin crawl...I never throw these out and must have 1000 of them sitting in my kitchen closet, waiting for the day that they come up with a reasonable recycling method (i periodically remind myself of the recycle bins at the front of the stores designed specifically for these bags...but I NEVER remember to bring them with me).
So I'm back in my car...drive home...only to turn back around about 30 minutes later and drive back out~this time to drop Mason off at practice (not far from the store). But WAIT! it gets better... apparently on this particular day I was thinking gas is free and my car is emission free! I drop Mason off...head back home and cut up the kielbasa~lay it out on a stack of about 5 paper plates (these recycled plates were so cheaply made that if I had wanted to put the slices on only one it surely would have bent under the weight causing all the kielbasa to hit the floor).
After approximately 1 to 1 and a half hours I drive back to soccer camp(if your counting this is trip three) to drop off the kielbasa and watch the end of the week picnic etc. only to drive back home again shortly after that (which makes it 4 trips).
I must confess that I was not even responsible for bringing Mason home that night as he was sleeping over a friends. I could have cut all of these trips into one quick run to the store followed by dropping Mason and his kielbasa off...then returning home. But noooo, I ran back and fourth FOUR TIMES in the course of two hours... an out trip that could have been completed all in one swift effort to reduce, reuse, recyle.
Mission 1: FAILED!~

Can Someone Explain This To Me?

I'm not sure I follow...but I would love too!

Step One: Giving Up A Car and Public Transportation

I have not yet gotten to this phase in the book but my sister has and did a quick blog about it. I feel living without a car is not even an option in hilly New England. In fact the mere thought makes me shutter with fear. One can barely peddle a bike from point A to point B without running the risk of someday acquiring a set of man thighs as a result. No thanks.

There is a lady living not far from here...we have deemed her Ms. Walker as she walks everywhere, and has chosen to reside on top of Wolcott Mountain to boot! This woman is thin...sickly so...she even reads while she walks sometimes. I'm not sure of the circumstances surrounding her decision to walk but I can assure you her mental state cannot be "all there". You will see her walking with her bag of goods, groceries, or what have you up the four mile stretch of the mountain and then the two mile jaunt to her actual house. We shake our heads as we drive past wondering what sort of creature this is that would choose to walk so far for so little.

Although as I mentioned in a comment to my sisters post Public Transportation does not exist outside the city limits in these parts...and basically unless you are in the city and have hopes of going to another city... Public Transportation is useless. Perhaps it helps with the New England Charm to make it so nonexistant~ LOL. So needless to say a car is the only alternative in these parts. Not to mention one bag of groceries will never satisfy the appetities of the children or husband living within these four walls I call a home. I would need to pull a wagon on my weekly trip to the grocery store to get everything home in one trip.

For now I am able to dismiss (and justify my thinking) the thought of ever living car free in a society that has made Public Transportation accessible only to those who live in the city.

Does this mean I can't live GREEN?...of course not!