The more I learn about being eco-friendly and reducing your carbon footprint and all that, the more I come to the conclusion that there’s not one right way to do it. Bamboo, for example, is a brilliant renewable resource for making soft, comfy clothing (as well as for construction, I’m told, though I haven’t gotten as far as green construction in my research, yet), but it’s not local (for me, anyway; I suppose they get the best of both worlds, bamboo-wise, in China). Our options for our public water systems in highly populated areas are two: put chemicals in the water to kill off a bunch of the bacteria, or have a whole bunch of sick people peeing out antibiotics and excreting all sorts of icky things that only really sick creatures can, which in turn get into our water supply, which in turn makes a whole bunch of people sick… etc. There are a whole whack of things about the environment that don’t have an easy answer, and I’m still not sure how to handle most of it. Do I buy clothing made of a fiber shipped from China, because it’s renewable? Do I simply buy all my clothing used? What about under garments? While you *can* buy those used, I refuse… call me a prude, I’ll take that over someone else’s panties any day. Should I give up my meds, which keep me sane and alive and my flashbacks to a dull roar that I can mostly live with, out of fear that I’ll pee them into the water supply? Should I only have sponge baths rather than showers/baths? Do I need to give up tea? Chocolate? Cinnamon? Do I need to sneak into local farmer’s fields to feed beano to the cows and save the world from methane gas?
I don’t know, honestly (aside from being pretty sure that sneaking beano into the cows is not the answer, nor is the world going to end if I don’t buy my panties used… I’m not a tiny girl, but my bum’s not *that* big!). I’ve always said that our efforts to Save The World will only work when we’re asking people to do reasonable things: you needn’t eat off dirty plates, but use an environmentally friendly soap (there are plenty to choose from); don’t give up coffee/tea/whatever, but take a travel mug; you don’t need to give up imports entirely, but you don’t need to buy Argentinian honey when it’s produced locally, and you don’t need to buy fake maple syrup from another country when we (in Canada, at least) have real maple syrup produced right here.
What I do think is incredibly, incredibly important, though, is to do things for ourselves. Grow your own food if you can, buy as locally as is reasonable if you can’t. Cook from scratch as often as you can, and buy things that have the bare minimum packaging when you can’t. I’m lucky in that, in addition to having an awful lot of time on my hands (not for very happy reasons, but I’ve the leisure to be very, very domestic, and that certainly has its advantages), I’m a crafty sort of gal. I love to cook, so most of our food comes from scratch. I make soap and sew and spend far more time with the puppies than I do in front of the TV, purely because that’s the way I roll, yo. I’m made this way. It works out well, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before I snapped and became the ‘dirty hippy’ that my husband professes me to be.
(he professes this lovingly, for the record)
That said, even if you’re not domestically inclined, it’s still worth it to put in the effort in little ways. Buy big, bulk bags of oatmeal rather than those little packets that are already flavoured and you simply need to pour water upon. I’m pretty sure that the three minutes it takes to make ‘quick cooking’ (more finely mealed) oatmeal are the same as the three minutes it takes ’til your kettle boils. Buy bulk in general, if you’ve the room. Bake a whole bunch of muffins on your day off and freeze some to last you throughout the week; it’s certainly better than getting them at the grocery store, where they’re packaged and over priced. Or bake a lasagna instead of buying microwavable suppers. Keep a pot of your favourite herb on your window sill. Keep a reusable bottle of water on you when you go out, lest you get too thirsty, lose your mind, and buy bottled water.
I’m getting all preachy, aren’t I? I’ll be quiet for a bit. First, though, I wanted to share the two newest things that I’m doing for myself:
Ta da! Home made dog biscuits! These (shaped like half-moons and owls respectively; there was another tray with hallowe’en bats and flowers) are the Milk Bone recipe from the excellent Bullwrinkle site (the biscuits work out to be incredibly cheap, by the way! One batch kept all three dogs in biscuits for 4 full days, and they loved them!). I actually have a second batch cooling on the oven as I type, which is an altered version of the milk bone recipe… I have plans to try a bunch of the others, but I’m tired and lazy tonight, and it’s such an easy recipe! I think Fido’s Favourite will be next on my list…
Aaaaaaaaaaaand:
THIS lovely little machine is the miraculous yogurt maker of my childhood! My foster mum used to make homemade yogurt for us when we were little with some milk, a little bit of bacterial culture, and a scoopful of jam… I’d asked her relatively recently where she’d got it (second hand store, it turns out), and she’d eagerly asked me if I wanted it (YES!). Apparently it’s been sitting in the basement, a very sad and lonely existence for such a noble and useful machine, and now it’s sitting on my kitchen table, waiting for its first batch of yogurt in a number of years.
What about you? What do you make for yourself? Does it make you feel more connected to your world, your family, the environment? Or is it all just a big pain in the bum?
