How green is my lifestyle?

It's not.   I mean, Bike to Work Day yesterday was okay, but Bike Home from Work Day was super painful.  I didn't realize how bruised I'd gotten on the way in.  The lesson?  Ride your bike all the time or not at all.  Or buy a big padded saddle.  Incredibly, I haven't been on my bike since my race in Florida last November.  I thought maybe I'd forgotten a ride or two, but when I pulled out my bike the number was still on it.  Sad.  Obviously, this falls far short of my bike-to-work-once-a-week resolution.   

The no-purchases resolution also went by the wayside pretty early, but I've held on to some happy habits.  I've been very attentive to my use-up-what-I've-already-got goal, working through disfavored shampoos and hotel complimentaries...and I'm about a week away from buying my first shampoo and conditioner for the year.  Although I want to give baking soda and vinegar a shot for a week and see whether it's as good as claimed.  Sounds tangly.  (I tried those baking soda/hot water and baking soda/vinegar solutions to unclogging a drain, and they did squat.  Ace called in the big guns when I wasn't looking.)

I also now try not to weigh people down with Stuff when I have to give a gift - I still go with edibles and drinkables and spa treatments.  People who already have a lot of stuff and people who prefer to have no stuff both seem to appreciate it. 

The community garden thing never worked out, but I'm delighted with the way the CSA membership has shaped up.  I'm still not wild about some things (bitter greens), but I've adapted to others (tumbleweed),  been surprised to enjoy others (raw baby turnips eaten out of hand - so sweet and delicious!) and the summer bounty, whew.  We get strawberries every week, y'alls. 

And remember how I planted all those flowers and weeds?  It turns out you can eat Johnny Jump Ups as well as geranium flowers and nasturtiums - and I guess the dandylion leaves I accidentally ate are actually full of Vitamin C - and I've been making fancy pants salads with them.  The rose and lemon-scented geranium petals are amazing.

(Dressing = 1 part walnut oil, 1 part white wine vinegar, 1 part Torani pomegranate syrup.) 

I've been really proud of my firm, too.  We did away with bottled water several months ago, and now, in this heat wave, we're putting all the lights on the lowest power setting and closing our blinds to "reduce the solar load."  Does walking around in dark hallways feel like we've entered a depression already?  It does, a little.  But mostly it makes me happy that the powers that be are actually taking steps, rather than just paying lip service to being green. 

Of course, not everything is top down.  On the day the bottled water disappeared, we were given personal water bottles to refill at the tap.  Me:  Really?  More plastic?  Ten other voices: Oh no! The wrong type of PVC!  Throw these away!  We need new water bottles!  We ended up getting more glasses in the cupboard, which is a good thing, but then this week we were handed plastic cups full of candy to remind us to be sweet to the folks in our summer program.  Within minutes I received an email warning me not to drink from it.

Just goes to show, the power of the internets.  I emailed some friends this article on people stealing gas, and one emailed me back that she'd just called to have a lockable gas cap set aside for her at a shop in Redwood City.  I felt bad.  Am I just fueling the hype?

Maybe it's always been this way, but it does seem like the media lately seems to be composing the narrative, rather than merely observing it, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.  The economy, the election process, the pendulum swinging from optimism and a renewed desire for community to hopelessness and looking out for number one.  I'm not above it.  Heck, who just bought a 25 lb bag of brown rice last Friday?  Who decided not to give those lumpy pillows to Goodwill after all, in case of having to take in neighbors, in case of the apocalypse?

Are we on the verge of disaster?  Is this the beginning of the end?  Or is it the same as it ever was and it's all just a matter of selling newspapers?  Maybe it's too much to ask that consumers of the media look askance at it; what's the alternative?  Blogs? 

Comments

[Chad]

My office: 6 stacks of Styrofoam cups, 20 cups high, at every coffee/water station. I have actually seen this: take a cup, fill it with water, throw it away. Take another cup, fill it with coffee, walk away to your desk.

[TasterSpoon]

Your office: I don't even know. Over time I have built a technicolor picture in my head of free cookies, indoor coral reefs, Bollywood dancing classes, Web-cammed Starbucks, little piles of hair, fake boobies and a general tragedy of the commons. Pleeeease can I come for lunch soon? It's bound to be a letdown...much like the apartments of some people I could name.

[Fraulein N]

Your blog inspires me to want to live better. I don't even know where to start. Maybe I need to look into these CSA memberships I keep hearing about.

Plus, that is one pretty salad.

[Angela]

Good job with trying not to buy new things! I should REALLY try to do that. I mean, I try my best to finish some things that I already have, but I should buy more second-hand clothes.... It's cheaper, too....

[TasterSpoon]

LOOK HERE. Has Typepad been weird (not to mention slow) for everybody lately? My last post only shows up if you click 'main,' not if you type my web address. What's up, Typepad?

Curious, did feedreader types get it?

Maybe my domain name has become disconnected. I'll try to fix it.