It Ain't Easy Being Green

I am not exactly the epitome of environmentalist but I would like to consider myself earth-friendly. I do what I think will eventually be deemed (when the earth implodes) not good enough: I recycle; I bring my own bags to stores; I use a Nalgene for my water; I don’t let stores like J. Crew wrap my purchases in tissue paper; we use cloth napkins; I turn off the lights when I leave a room; I follow the “if it’s yellow let it mellow” toilet routine, unless company is over; I don’t run the water when I brush my teeth. These are all things that I didn’t do when I was growing up, so in a way it feels like progress.

Sometimes it makes me feel good, but there are times I suffer from “What good does it all really do?” For example: I have to rinse out all of the glass and metal I recycle, which uses water, so am I robbing Peter to pay Paul here? I might have added some plastic or glass to the recycling bin but is it at the sacrifice of our dwindling water drinking supply? And when I am stuffing my groceries in my canvas bags, but the shopper in front of me is asking for double plastic bags, I wonder is it all a wash? Maybe my actions cancel out the actions of the double-plastic bag shopper, but will it be good enough? I was interested in using cloth diapers, but I got caught up in the which is worse game: Tons of my baby’s diapers in a garbage heap somewhere, or using all that water to clean the cloth ones. In the end, the combination of twins plus a no washer and dryer in our home lead me down the plastic diaper route.

So now I am saddling the landfills with double the amount of gonna-last-a-thousand-years diapers. So this is where the dilemma begins: How can I be even remotely earth-friendly with children? I won’t put their bottles into the dishwasher (which in itself is one of Earth Enemies No. 1) so I rinse them in copious amounts of water. I clean and sterilize their nipples in hot water. I take baths with them. We run their sound machine in their room all night and during naps. Our laundry has doubled, and I am pretty sure the washers and dryers in our building are not energy- or water-efficient. I run the dishwasher at least once a day, if not twice. I buy toys and accessories for them that are cased in ridiculous amounts of plastic and cardboard. I feel like I am always at the sink, running water to clean something.

Just watching all of that perfectly fine, drinkable water go down the drain seems indulgent and so wasteful. It know it seems implausible on a planet that is 98 percent water, but I do believe that water and drinking water especially will be the oil of the future. Signs of it have already happened: I can remember growing up there being drought measures, where sprinklers could only be used on odd numbered days, or something like that. And this is during the go-go 80s and 90s, when environmentally-friendly wasn’t exactly the fashion. (Remember those hugely wasteful CD boxes? How many millions of acres of trees died for that?) If that isn’t a signal I don’t know what is. I don’t have any idea when, whether it be in 100 years or 1000, but I feel certain that wars will indeed be fought for potable water. Yes, I am one of those. And here I am now just watching it all go down the drain.

I am not sure what the solution is, because I am not going to forgo hygiene or give the girls dirty bottles but it is so frustrating because I, like so many people, am trying. But I am just not sure it will be good enough. I feel like Sisyphus.

I remember visiting a friend in Austin in the 90s, and she composted and recycled methodically. She said (if I remember correctly) that where they lived, they paid for garbage removal by pound, So everyone had the financial incentive to recycle, reduce and reuse. It seemed like a brilliant idea: Environmentalists by way penny-pinching. I wonder why that isn’t more widespread?

I know we will raise our girls to be earth-conscious. They will recycle and use cloth napkins and not accept plastic forks and knives when they get take-out food. They will have their own canvas bags and will hopefully never, ever use a plastic or paper bag from any store. They will be taught to turn the water off while they lather up the soap on their hands. We will try to instill in them an appreciation of nature and an urgency about preserving it as well.

But today, I want to buy them one of those pushing toys that they can stand behind and walk behind. I know it will come with a tree’s worth of cardboard and a pound of plastic, but until there is a company that sells recycled-plastic toys, package-free with warranties and instructions online only instead of in little wasteful booklets, what better choice do I have? And even though I will carry it home without a plastic bag, I wonder what damage I am doing and what contradictory lessons I am teaching my girls.

Pictured above, someday will dew be our only drinking water? I wonder if there is a sci-fi movie with that premise. Below that, don’t be fooled by the cuteness. These ladies are Earth Enemy No. 2.