Guilt
When it comes to living green, I'm always living in guilt.
Things don't always work like I want them to.
Take the string bags I bought recently - I got them because they would replace my plastic grocery bags, but when I got them I didn't feel so good. They came in a cardboard box. Ofcourse they did! What did I think they would be shipped in - another string bag with a postage stamp on it?
I never thought buying on Amazon.com would be environmentally unfriendly - until the day we got a memory card for our digital camera. It was the size of a postage stamp, and not a lot thicker. Amazon shipped this eensy weensy thing in a box big enough to hold the kitchen blender. To make sure that poor memory card wouldn't rattle around in its big house, Amazon thoughtfully stuffed the box with lots (and lots) of paper. I almost threw the memory card in recycle along with the paper - it was so hard to find.
I drove around to the other grocery store because it has more organic stuff, but then I had to think: is it worth it to drive an extra two miles in a car all by myself in order to buy the eco-friendly organic stuff?
Yesterday I stood for five minutes in the oral care aisle comparing two toothbrushes to see which had less plastic and packaging. Then when I got to checkout, the lady was going to bag it. I shoved my cotton bag in her way, but in the hustle, the plastic bag fell to the floor. Do you think there's a chance the checkout lady had picked it up and reused it? Or did it go into the trash?
This is me - guilty, guilty, guilty. There's a good reason why - if everybody in the world lived like me, we would need 4.5 earths to sustain my lifestyle.
I don't want to borrow our earth's resources, to provide me luxury or convenience, from my little daughter's (or her daughter's) future world. And leave the future generations to take care of the consequences. That is why the compacting, the recycling, the freecycling.
Things don't always work like I want them to.
Take the string bags I bought recently - I got them because they would replace my plastic grocery bags, but when I got them I didn't feel so good. They came in a cardboard box. Ofcourse they did! What did I think they would be shipped in - another string bag with a postage stamp on it?
I never thought buying on Amazon.com would be environmentally unfriendly - until the day we got a memory card for our digital camera. It was the size of a postage stamp, and not a lot thicker. Amazon shipped this eensy weensy thing in a box big enough to hold the kitchen blender. To make sure that poor memory card wouldn't rattle around in its big house, Amazon thoughtfully stuffed the box with lots (and lots) of paper. I almost threw the memory card in recycle along with the paper - it was so hard to find.
I drove around to the other grocery store because it has more organic stuff, but then I had to think: is it worth it to drive an extra two miles in a car all by myself in order to buy the eco-friendly organic stuff?
Yesterday I stood for five minutes in the oral care aisle comparing two toothbrushes to see which had less plastic and packaging. Then when I got to checkout, the lady was going to bag it. I shoved my cotton bag in her way, but in the hustle, the plastic bag fell to the floor. Do you think there's a chance the checkout lady had picked it up and reused it? Or did it go into the trash?
This is me - guilty, guilty, guilty. There's a good reason why - if everybody in the world lived like me, we would need 4.5 earths to sustain my lifestyle.
I don't want to borrow our earth's resources, to provide me luxury or convenience, from my little daughter's (or her daughter's) future world. And leave the future generations to take care of the consequences. That is why the compacting, the recycling, the freecycling.
posted by Myna at 1:00 PM
3 Comments:
thoughtful liked the last para too much. if each one of us do our bit like u r doing i guess we can make a lot happen in the context of conservation
aparna,
blog hopped here. Vow it's nice to read someone who feel so strongly about this. I have been looking up on recycling myself lately but don't feel so strongly about it yet.
Hi
I am Tarun here, I am planning a Blogcamp in India (Pune), if possible try to make it to it, if not then do try to participate through internet, using Youtube, Slideshare etc.
I have found few other guys who are also very enthusiastic about having a Blogcamp. We are already in process of contacting some good bloggers like you and others on Blogosphere.
The venue will be SCIT Pune (Symbiosis Center for IT). We are already talking to a few people to sponsor food, tshirts and goodies. But all these things are secondary. Success of a Blogcamp is dependent upon it's participants and that is where we are focusing right now.
Do share you thoughts on it.
You can visit our wiki (www.barcamp.org/BlogCampPune).
We also have our blog ( www.blogcamppune.blogspot.com)
Regards,
Tarun Chandel
http://tarunchandel.blogspot.com
PS: I know this is not the right place to put this invitation, but I was not able to find your email id.
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