Green and Mean

Yesterday was Earth Day, and Chez Loudshoes celebrated by not taking a plane anywhere.

Actually, we didn't do anything different than usual, but then again, I think we do our bit all the time anyway. We recycle, we compost, we only have one car and it's not a Hummer. We walk to do most of our errands, and the Mister rides his bike to and from work. (I tried riding my bike once, and I arrived as a sweaty, swearing mess, and it took me ages to sort myself out to be fit to do people's hair...I do have my arms up in the air a lot, after all.) I use boxes instead of bags at the grocery store, we hang the laundry out to dry and the Mister has replaced most of the bulbs in the house with the eco-friendly ones. Now if we could only get our kids to turn out the lights when they leave a room, that would be something, too.
I'm certainly doing my bit to conserve the earth for my children. But honestly? I'm not so sure they want it. Judging by the amount of paper, plastic and other recyclables I seem to fish out of the garbage can that my children have dumped because the blue box is all the way outside, they don't seem to be overly concerned about their future.

I have to admit, and I don't usually do this out loud, but I'm a teensy bit fatigued with the environmental efforts. Waitwaitwait...I'm not saying its a useless cause or not worthwhile, but I am saying that I seem to have been doing my bit for a long time now, and it doesn't appear to be helping at all. I can't recall David Suzuki ever once saying "okay, now that? is way better than it was. Thanks". Besides, I find it hard to get worked up over my using paper towels when the Daytona 500 happens every year without protest. There's no doubt that any effort to improve our impact upon the environment is a good thing, but would it would be nice to hear that something, anything is improving.

I am blessed to be able to live in an area of the world where we have plenty of fresh air and water, and no shortage of parks and lakes and meadows and undisturbed green spaces, and for that I am truly grateful. And I'm also grateful that its all pretty cheap and easy to get at. So I will continue to bottle my own water for work and have a vegetarian meal once a week and clean my windows with vinegar. But I reserve the right to take a plane when I travel long distances....my head exploding because I've been trapped in a car with my family for twenty hours can't be good for the environment either.