Earlier today I asked my husband what I should write a blog about. 'BP' was his answer. Oh, I thought, America's biggest ever oil disaster is quite an issue but not exactly one that affects our lives at the moment - what could I possibly say about it. Not anything constructive probably, but it did get me thinking: when did we completely loose touch with the planet we live on? Why are we so desperate for oil that BP is willing to risk drilling for oil in ridiculous places? How did we become so detached from the essentials in life?
Don't worry I am not planning a big rant here, I just feel the urge to share some of the strange things that I have realised during this green project.
The other day I was in the supermarket doing some shopping and as always ended up passing the biscuit and cake section. I have quite a thing for cakes and can happily eat large quantities, but that day I ended up reading the list of ingredients - bad move. How come I can happily munch away on something that contains at least 5 ingredients I have no idea what is??? Who in their right mind would stuff their face with some chemical concoction that for all that they know could be poison? I made myself a promise to make my own stuff in the future, a promise that lasted just till my next shopping trip and the hypnotic calls from the cake aisle (Yes, I am sure I can hear them calling my name!)
And unfortunately this isn't just the case for cakes, it includes a large amount of the food we eat. Next time you go shopping have a look at the ingredients of sausages or bread or almost anything and you will see how the producers always manage to sneak in at least one bizarre ingredient that you would definitely never find in your own kitchen cupboard. (Don't do it with Coca cola however - just seeing the list of ingredients could make you sick)
Or what about the car thing. Why do we find it so hard to use it less - our legs are meant for walking. When we take the car for a short journey we know it would be better for our health and better for the environment if we didn't - yet the car keys seem to have a hypnotic power over us. Myself included - I still jump in the car sometimes for journeys that I could easily walk or cycle.
Then there is my rather hypocritical attitude to eating meat. We eat it every week, yet I cannot cope with the idea at all of the animals being slaughtered. I prefer all meat to be minced or chopped into pieces in a way that they are completely unrecognisable as animals. That is ridiculous! I should either take the full step and become vegetarian or at least admit to what I am eating. The attitude of 'I will eat meat as long as I don't have to think about where it came from' is not natural - it is the approach of somebody who doesn't really live in touch with the life cycles on this planet.
And the obsession we seem to have with getting everything wrapped in several layers is another one. Today I went and bought a sandwich. The woman in the sandwich shop put it in a box for me, which was good as I wasn't eating it straight away, but then she was also going to put the box in a paper bag. Why, it was completely unnecessary. Lots of things we buy are double wrapped or even triple wrapped and most of the time we don't even think about it, we just peel of the layers. I remember when going shopping at Christmas time I had taken 2 bags to carry my purchases in, yet I still came home with a huge amount of plastic bags, because either I would forget to say I didn't want them or the shop assistants would still put my stuff in plastic bags out of habit. Total waste.
I really think we are strange creatures - we seem to have some kind of self destructive side and our instinct for survival only appears to work in a short term crisis. We live rather unnaturally, we eat food that is completely artificial, we use excessive amounts of stuff without even thinking about it, we drill for oil in dangerous places because oil is more important than sea life. What is going on - we must all be mad! Hmm, time for a cup of tea and some cake while I mull that one over...
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How difficult is it for a family to change their habits to a much greener lifestyle, especially when there is no money to invest in the project.
How it started
In August 2009 I challenged myself to make the life of me and my family greener over the next year. Unfortunately we have spent all our savings on our new house, so we have to be green on a budget. 'Green, lazy and out of money' is the updates on how we are getting on, the problems we encounter, the solutions that we hopefully find and how being green works with a happy life for a family of 2 adults, a five year old and a two year old.
To read the full story go to the first blog post: the Challenge is on (August).
To read the full story go to the first blog post: the Challenge is on (August).
Want to hear more?
Are you involved with any groups who would like to hear real life stories about greening up life? Are you based in the central belt of Scotland. I am currently doing talks on greener living based on this blog and if your community group, your church, your bookgroup, your garden group, your knitting group or whichever group you are in (even your work) would like some reasonably light and hopefully inspirational entertainment for an hour or so - I am now available.
Send me an email on dng1(at)ymail.com
(you obviously need to replace the '(at)' with '@', but my mail box gets enough traffic without spammers choking it...)
Send me an email on dng1(at)ymail.com
(you obviously need to replace the '(at)' with '@', but my mail box gets enough traffic without spammers choking it...)
About Me
- greenlight
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- DG is a freelance writer and consultant, originally from Denmark but now living in Scotland.
Your attitude to meat-eating is not so strange. I think if most of us were faced with the reality of what happens to animals when they are being slaughtered, we would all become vegetarians. Unfortunately, we tend to continue to bury our heads in the sand and make lame excuses like it's too difficult to find enough veggie recipes, get a balanced diet, etc.,etc.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that, yup, pretty much there with you. I have found that most of the time, reading the ingredients is enough of a deterrent for me when grocery shopping. I've put back things that I used to really like, shaking my head, saying "Really, *brandname, I'm disappointed." (but hardly surprised now.)
ReplyDeleteIt is all about money when it comes to many of the unknown ingredients as it is about preserving products for a much longer period so it can sell rather than producing quantities that would be used on that day or even week, which would reduce waist.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to the meat thing my theory is similar to that practiced by any military commander. "De-humanise the enemy" in this case people "de-animalise animals" we do not think about something living with feelings like fear and pain when we eat a lamb burger etc...
I am a meat eater ironically but do feel that if people had to hunt and catch animals when they wanted meat it would be much more respectful for the life and nutrition that the animal has given up and I am sure would be much more sustainable as people would eat less meat. I will share a saying with you that I like "don't make your stomachs a graveyard for animals, eat meat sparingly as it is a gift of life"
I like that saying - if nothing else the thought of your stomach as a graveyard would rather put you off meat, wouldn't it. Maybe that is the point we are forgetting, we are treating our stomachs and bodies as if they were graveyards or dumps or even chemical plants - we really should know better!
ReplyDelete