aliceylain (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aliceylain) wrote2012-06-10 10:20 am
aliceylain) wrote2012-06-10 10:20 am
(no subject)
As I get older, I find myself becoming more concerned with the following two things:
1. The amount of chemicals that I put on and in my body.
2. The amount of crap that we dump into our landfills and atmosphere.
It really started about five years ago when I decided to start bringing my own cloth bags to the grocery store. I found the amount of plastic bags that I used only to transport my groceries from the store to my house to be depressing. Plus, the plastic bags sometimes broke because I overfilled them in an attempt to use less bags. And while it took me some time to consistently remember to bring my cloth bags with me when I went to the store, I found I liked them much better than the plastic bags. Not only could I fit more things into them, but the handles have never broken.
Then I got mesh bags for my fruits and vegetables so I didn't have to waste plastic bags for those items. Then I convinced my parents to change from commercial detergent to Charlie's Soap, which was a good thing because Charlie's Soap cleans better and doesn't "perfume" my clothing. Then I convinced my parents to start recycling their aluminum cans and plastic containers because the number of those that they threw away every day was also depressing. Then I began to get depressed at the amount of packaging that I throw away throughout a single week, which led me to wonder why I buy so many things news and not many things used. That led to thoughts about advertising and consumerism and why do I even buy so many things in the first place.
At some point, I stumbled across No More Dirty Looks and became aghast at how unregulated the beauty and cleaning industry is. I never much thought about the chemicals that I was dumping on the counters in the kitchen or into my body. When I moved to this apartment, I only got white vinegar, baking soda, and borax for my cleaning needs. So far, I've seen nothing to suggest that they don't clean as well as the commercial stuff. I don't have any paper towels; I've been doing just fine with my sponge and cloth towels. I'm still using chemical-laden products to clean my body because I'm trying to use all of them up before I switch to stuff that's clean. But I've tried some samples of body cleaning products that were clean and they seemed to work just as well as the commercial stuff.
I struggle with how to get clean beauty products in the first place because the town where I live doesn't carry them. For example, to get castile soap, I would have to drive at least thirty minutes to the closest store that sells it. Castile soap would allow me to make my own dishwasher soap, shampoo, and hand soap, which appears really easy to do. On the other hand, I could order castile soap online and have it shipped to me...which would include wasteful packaging and someone else driving. I think what I'm going to do is drive to Columbus next weekend so I can visit a Whole Foods store that carries some various clean products that I want to try. While I'm there, I will also go to ~*the*~ ~*zoo*~ and see a lot of lovely animals. I still feel bad about the amount of gas/carbon that I will use/create but I think it's a better solution than having the products shipped to me.
I worry because I've read there are four things that dump the most carbon into the atmosphere: going from place to place, regulating temperature inside a building, creating electricity, and raising meat. I can see where I can try to be better with not turning on the air conditioning so much, using less electricity, and eating less meat. But going from place to place? I don't see how I can limit that without becoming a hermit. And I don't want to become a hermit again. I've done it before and I was miserable. So I try to limit the times that I drive but I feel that I'm not doing a good enough job.
And then I get depressed again because while I'm trying my best to limit the resources I waste, a lot of people aren't doing that. In the long run, a change needs to happen on a global scale. The thing is, will change happen? People need an incentive to change their habits and the only incentives I can think of are tax-related, which will go down like a lead balloon. How do we reconcile having an enjoyable existence with fucking up ourselves and our planet? How do we reconcile people making a living with how we're fucking up the planet? It's a bigger problem than I can solve and right now, the only thing I can do is try to make informed choices.
Holy crap, I just nattered on forever about environmental stuff. Sorry about that, it really has been on my mind lately.
1. The amount of chemicals that I put on and in my body.
2. The amount of crap that we dump into our landfills and atmosphere.
It really started about five years ago when I decided to start bringing my own cloth bags to the grocery store. I found the amount of plastic bags that I used only to transport my groceries from the store to my house to be depressing. Plus, the plastic bags sometimes broke because I overfilled them in an attempt to use less bags. And while it took me some time to consistently remember to bring my cloth bags with me when I went to the store, I found I liked them much better than the plastic bags. Not only could I fit more things into them, but the handles have never broken.
Then I got mesh bags for my fruits and vegetables so I didn't have to waste plastic bags for those items. Then I convinced my parents to change from commercial detergent to Charlie's Soap, which was a good thing because Charlie's Soap cleans better and doesn't "perfume" my clothing. Then I convinced my parents to start recycling their aluminum cans and plastic containers because the number of those that they threw away every day was also depressing. Then I began to get depressed at the amount of packaging that I throw away throughout a single week, which led me to wonder why I buy so many things news and not many things used. That led to thoughts about advertising and consumerism and why do I even buy so many things in the first place.
At some point, I stumbled across No More Dirty Looks and became aghast at how unregulated the beauty and cleaning industry is. I never much thought about the chemicals that I was dumping on the counters in the kitchen or into my body. When I moved to this apartment, I only got white vinegar, baking soda, and borax for my cleaning needs. So far, I've seen nothing to suggest that they don't clean as well as the commercial stuff. I don't have any paper towels; I've been doing just fine with my sponge and cloth towels. I'm still using chemical-laden products to clean my body because I'm trying to use all of them up before I switch to stuff that's clean. But I've tried some samples of body cleaning products that were clean and they seemed to work just as well as the commercial stuff.
I struggle with how to get clean beauty products in the first place because the town where I live doesn't carry them. For example, to get castile soap, I would have to drive at least thirty minutes to the closest store that sells it. Castile soap would allow me to make my own dishwasher soap, shampoo, and hand soap, which appears really easy to do. On the other hand, I could order castile soap online and have it shipped to me...which would include wasteful packaging and someone else driving. I think what I'm going to do is drive to Columbus next weekend so I can visit a Whole Foods store that carries some various clean products that I want to try. While I'm there, I will also go to ~*the*~ ~*zoo*~ and see a lot of lovely animals. I still feel bad about the amount of gas/carbon that I will use/create but I think it's a better solution than having the products shipped to me.
I worry because I've read there are four things that dump the most carbon into the atmosphere: going from place to place, regulating temperature inside a building, creating electricity, and raising meat. I can see where I can try to be better with not turning on the air conditioning so much, using less electricity, and eating less meat. But going from place to place? I don't see how I can limit that without becoming a hermit. And I don't want to become a hermit again. I've done it before and I was miserable. So I try to limit the times that I drive but I feel that I'm not doing a good enough job.
And then I get depressed again because while I'm trying my best to limit the resources I waste, a lot of people aren't doing that. In the long run, a change needs to happen on a global scale. The thing is, will change happen? People need an incentive to change their habits and the only incentives I can think of are tax-related, which will go down like a lead balloon. How do we reconcile having an enjoyable existence with fucking up ourselves and our planet? How do we reconcile people making a living with how we're fucking up the planet? It's a bigger problem than I can solve and right now, the only thing I can do is try to make informed choices.
Holy crap, I just nattered on forever about environmental stuff. Sorry about that, it really has been on my mind lately.