I heard a great idea from Emily Freeman on Simple Mom's podcast recently, and I really need to take it to heart when I think about my attempts to be more environmentally friendly AND budget-friendly.
"I can't pay attention to everything at the same time..... you can't let guilt become one of the balls you juggle, because inevitably they become the heaviest one."So when I am writing this I am resolved not to feel guilty about it, and I hope you don't feel guilty about your life, or just how bad I am at this! Onward!
11. Evaluate healthy fat & oils. In our house we have 4 kinds of fat/oil. Extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil, unsalted butter and margarine. Here is the deal: I fully agree that margarine isn't that good for you, but here is my reasoning for keeping spreadable margarine = when we had butter it always seemed to taste like blue cheese, leading us to believe it was spoiling. This was despite using a "butter bell" which supposedly seals the butter in water so it can't spoil. So for our toast we use Becel.
Actually as I am writing this post I am realizing my use of hard margarine (because it comes in convenient 1/2 cup blocks) is kinda dumb. So you know what? I am going to stop buying that. We will adapt.
We use canola oil because it is a good ol' Canadian product, which we choose to support. And we are not convinced that GMO's are an issue. The entire reason they are bred is so that they are resistant to pest and disease and need much less pesticide and herbicide. So.... that makes sense to us.
12. Homemade condiments. This is one that has to be evaluated based on time commitments. Right now I am actually on a big push to just to reduce the number of condiments we have. So far I have really only gotten into homemade barbecue sauce. Except for salad dressing. We have gone completely homemade on this one. So far we have found a great vinaigrette, ranch dressing, french dressing and caesar dressing. And a poppyseed sweet dressing for spinach salad. We simply stopped buying salad dressing one day. I have found that making larger quantities and saving them in tall containers helps me continue, otherwise if I had to make dressing every night I would probably give up.
13. The story of stuff. Basically this step is about closely evaluating your consumer choices, and determining if your values are lining up with what you are buying. We have embraced a quasi-minimalist lifestyle in our life, mainly because we have a small budget. We find it much easier just to avoid shopping as much as possible, and then if we need to do some shopping, we just do the best we can.
14. Creative Repurposing. Just keep using your stuff until it is completely un-useable, using it in different ways as it becomes unsuitable for its previous job. Two ways we do this really stand out.
1. We do our best to reuse our furniture and not simply buy new things to decorate our apartment, even if it takes us a little while to figure out their use. For instance when I moved out to my first apartment I had to buy a closet organizer for my strange walk-through closet (it was advertised as a bedroom, ha!). That was 6 years ago. Once we were married and moved, that closet organizer became pantry shelves. Then it became an office bookshelf. Now it is unassembled into boards, but it is ready for whatever life it will live in our next house.
2. Our clothes take two paths - goodwill, or the rag bag. Or they are worn until they are literally torn in half and no one, would ever want to wear them. Then sometimes the fabric is kept for future projects. Or mended, even if poorly.
15. Properly prepared oatmeal. Ok, so we get to one of the big real food ideals.... soaking your grains to reduce phytates. Here is my issue - what the heck is a phytate? It makes no sense biologically or chemically. And all research we have done simply leads back to Nourishing Traditions, the bible of the real food movement. But how can this be such an important nutritional consideration and there be no other scientific research regarding it. Also the registered dieticians I work with have never heard of phytates. So... we don't beleive science without scientific evidence. And therefore don't worry about soaking anything. But we do eat oatmeal! I made up big batches of both flavoured oatmeal (cinnamon & brown sugar) and homemade granola flavoured with honey and cinnamon. And we don't buy cereal. So that's pretty great in my estimation.
16. Homemade yogurt. I tried this once. And then my husband begged me never to do it again.
17. Naturally female. Have you stopped to consider the impact that feminine products have on the environment? Me neither. Mostly because I don't even want to think about this, much less blog about it. (Sorry!)
18. Plastics are bad! They really are. My sister (the chemical engineer) tells me that even "biodegradable plastic" will never actually degrade. The best we can do is recycle. Or try to avoid plastic. But truly, that seems an impossible task. Plastic is ubiquitous. So we just follow the reduce (especially packaging, and containers), reuse (any typperware, ziploc bags) and recycle (all of it). Things that are designed to be kept for a long time I don't really worry about. But packaging? This is something to really try to avoid and reduce.
19. Produce quality. You know, you really should be buying organic. Which bugs me a bit. Why can't we just get it so that organic is just standard? I mean, if the food is harmful, shouldn't it not be eaten by anyone? Poor people just have to suffer and continue to eat poison? Or it not poison and rich people need to calm down. This whole argument seems a little bit frustrating. So... we are poor people. In a first world kind of way. And we would end up just eating a lot less produce if we went organic. Which I think is worse for my health than a bit of pesticide residue. My ideal - getting a fruit & veggie box delivered weekly, being a part of a CSA, and supplementing with my own garden. Hopefully we will get there.
20. Stop drinking juice. Fail! I am just so bad at this. Not in the, "didn't realize this was an issue", or "I just have bad habits." I fail at this in the "if I stopped drinking juice or pop I would die of dehydration," kind of way. For serious. I have had headaches and stomach issues many, many times because I just didn't drink enough water. We have found that we go in cycles. For a little while we will be good with drinking water, flavoured sometimes with lime or lemon. And then we just can't do it anymore. And we stop drinking anything. So instead of fighting this, we just give into the juice for a while. And then when my mouth is tired of constantly feeling fuzzy because of all the sugar, we go back to water. Which really does make me feel about a million times better, even if I still eat poorly and don't exercise. It's all about choices and what works currently.
17. Naturally female. Have you stopped to consider the impact that feminine products have on the environment? Me neither. Mostly because I don't even want to think about this, much less blog about it. (Sorry!)
18. Plastics are bad! They really are. My sister (the chemical engineer) tells me that even "biodegradable plastic" will never actually degrade. The best we can do is recycle. Or try to avoid plastic. But truly, that seems an impossible task. Plastic is ubiquitous. So we just follow the reduce (especially packaging, and containers), reuse (any typperware, ziploc bags) and recycle (all of it). Things that are designed to be kept for a long time I don't really worry about. But packaging? This is something to really try to avoid and reduce.
19. Produce quality. You know, you really should be buying organic. Which bugs me a bit. Why can't we just get it so that organic is just standard? I mean, if the food is harmful, shouldn't it not be eaten by anyone? Poor people just have to suffer and continue to eat poison? Or it not poison and rich people need to calm down. This whole argument seems a little bit frustrating. So... we are poor people. In a first world kind of way. And we would end up just eating a lot less produce if we went organic. Which I think is worse for my health than a bit of pesticide residue. My ideal - getting a fruit & veggie box delivered weekly, being a part of a CSA, and supplementing with my own garden. Hopefully we will get there.
20. Stop drinking juice. Fail! I am just so bad at this. Not in the, "didn't realize this was an issue", or "I just have bad habits." I fail at this in the "if I stopped drinking juice or pop I would die of dehydration," kind of way. For serious. I have had headaches and stomach issues many, many times because I just didn't drink enough water. We have found that we go in cycles. For a little while we will be good with drinking water, flavoured sometimes with lime or lemon. And then we just can't do it anymore. And we stop drinking anything. So instead of fighting this, we just give into the juice for a while. And then when my mouth is tired of constantly feeling fuzzy because of all the sugar, we go back to water. Which really does make me feel about a million times better, even if I still eat poorly and don't exercise. It's all about choices and what works currently.
How do you prioritize your attempts to be more environmentally-friendly?
0 comments:
Post a Comment