My Shades of Green

I’m not really into New Years resolutions. Maybe it’s because I’m not a pack follower but a leader. I tend to not to like going with the flow and holidays that force people into giving up bad habits or take on better ones scare me. I’ve got the same problem with Lent.

So I usually come up with a NY’s resolution late so as not to seem like I’m doing it out of coercion. In 2006 I started composting, last year I gave up the use of paper towels and this year I’m wholly committed to giving up those pesky plastic bags. San Francisco did it – EVEN CHINA! Now I just need to get disciplined.

My inspiration? A show airing on the Sundance Channel called It’s Not Easy Being Green. BBC originally produced this lovely documentary series that follows an English family that has sworn off city life for a life in the country- but one hitch- they go all green! Yes, everything built from the ground up is green. They have pigs, hydro-electricity by way of a waterwheel and electric generator, a solar greenhouse and a wood burning stove. As I watch I just sit there and dream about my own “off the grid” house. Someday…

Albeit I’m not a huge proponent of environmentalism (in the fundamentalist /lobbyist way) but I do strongly believe in living simply and being a good steward of the Earth. I fail constantly but I do relish in making my own soil from my icky food waste and reducing my trash with no paper towels. Now if I could only stop swearing at inappropriate times and give up alcohol I would be a better citizen.

p.s. Anyone have any ideas for my old plastic bags?