I went to the grocery store... con fotos

This might seem like it's going to be boring, and maybe it will be boring, but do you ever think about how you think?

Maybe that's a bit narcissistic.

Anyway, caring about the earth changes the way you think.

Let's use the example of some stuff I bought at the grocery store today.


Toothpaste. What I originally went to the store to buy. As in, if I didn't buy toothpaste this afternoon, I was gonna brush with water this evening.

Old mindset: this is not the cheapest. why am I even looking at this thing?

Current mindset: this is not the cheapest. but it's the only toothpaste I know of that comes in a recyclable aluminum tube. The rest of these toothpaste tubes are going to the landfill. If there's an option that doesn't go to the landfill, and doesn't break the bank, I'm voting for that one.

But next time, I'm makin' my own. More ingredients = more processed = more energy. Plus the energy used to ship it here.


Toilet Paper (sorry the pic is sideways... dumb blogger)


Old mindset: find the cheapest one and get outta here.

Current mindset: this is cheap enough, at $4 for 6 rolls. Better price than the 7th Generation stuff that costs $1.80 for one roll. It's made of recycled paper, which is good, 'cause I don't need to be wiping my butt with virgin rainforest trees, buuuuuuuuuuuut 7th Gen comes in a recyclable paper wrapper, and this is wrapped in plastic...

This went on for about three minutes as I paced around the aisle, looking like a maniac, until I finally went with the cheaper plastic-wrapped TP. Decisions, decisions. I long for the days where they used pages of the Sears magazine for this purpose... but they were probably made out of real paper, and not this weird magazine stuff.

Vitamins

Old mindset: WOOHOO BUY ONE GET ONE!

Current mindset: WOOHOO BUY ONE GET ONE! Even though theoretically, my diet should include all the vitamins and minerals I need. But it doesn't. I'm working on it. Am I? Well, I will work on it. Anyway, just buy the darn things already.


Throat Coat Tea

Old mindset: Old mindset unavailable because I didn't know what this was.

Current mindset: Eh, well, I mean, tea, I mean, it's probably individually wrapped, and that stinks, 'cause it's more trash for the landfill, but, I mean, it's organic, but, I mean, I've finally got myself down to no teabags at all, and... oh, come on. It's got echinacea and it'll make your throat feel better.

Sure enough, I got home and they're INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED. CURSES. I have finally gotten away from teabags by brewing mint leaves in a mesh tea ball, and now I've blasphemed and bought these individually wrapped ones.

Oh well.

Baking Soda!!

Old mindset: don't need that.

Current mindset: I use this for everything. FOUR POUNDS for THREE DOLLARS??? fhdskafhlfg (yes there is a keyboard in my mind) Though I do have to remember that baking soda comes from mines, so it's not an awesome, sustainable thing... but it's great for cleaning and it's nontoxic. And the package is fully recyclable.

Check it out. "THE STANDARD OF PURITY"? Really? Like cleanliness is next to Arm & Hammer?...

Bananas

Old mindset: ew... gross... bananas.

Current mindset: POTASSIUM. FRUIT. Get in mah belleh. No, they are not organic. No, they are not local. Am I a bad hippie? Yes. Do I have bananas? Yes. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.


So... am I a snooty, organic-buying, looking-down hippie? No. Maybe? No, not really. There are choices to everything. Generally, I'd go ahead and say if you want to live in a city at this particular moment in history, it's going to be darn-near impossible to be 100% sustainable in your lifestyle. I'm not judging anyone when I can't do it myself. I'd rather help you than judge you. Is that weird? Sorry.

I used to think 100% sustainable meant that you were dead. There is no way you can be alive and not take things from the planet. But really, "sustainable" means that when you take something from the planet, you give something back, so that the overall health of the planet is always at 100%. It means that the way you live today, you could live for a million years. We cannot, for example, live on oil for a million years. There is not a million years of oil in the earth for people who use it as much as we do.

Changing the way we think is the first step in learning how to give back. Asking ourselves how our money translates into the ecosystem's health (or lack thereof). Asking ourselves if it's morally OK to buy plastic packaging when it ends up in the bellies of baby seabirds, destroying whole generations.

When you buy a product, you vote for the means by which it was created, you approve the method of packaging, you applaud the purpose for which it exists. I'm not perfect at it. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect at it. But think about it for me, wouldja?