The Green Meme

This meme was created by charlotteotter. I've added #10 at the end.

1. What do you for the birds and the bees?

Not much right now, I'm afraid. We planted a few annuals in the garden this summer, but otherwise since we're renting and most of the surroundings are foresty, we're not gardening much. I'm teaching my kids all about birds and bees though. They've learned that bees are our special friends, without whom we'd not have most of our food.


2. Household products. Chemical or organic?

Organic mostly. I use baking soda in the kitchen constantly. It works wonders on the crusty stove gunk. I use Seventh Generation cleaning spray on the toilet. We use chemical laundry detergent, mostly because of price. I can't believe how many loads of laundry four people generate.


3. Do you junk?

We get junk mail, though not so much. Moving several times in the last few years has helped. What we do get goes to be recycled.

4. Air-dry or tumble-dry?

I use the dryer for everything except woolies and unmentionables. We just inherited a massive drying rack that is now proudly standing next to the dryer. I'll use it more in warm weather.


5. Old gadgets. Recycle or toss ‘em?

We try to buy things that will last. Then if they're truly unwanted, we either donate them to a thrift store, or use Freecycle, which is particularly good for old baby things.


6. Lightbulbs - incandescent or fluorescent?

My husband has a problem with the quality of the light from fluorescents, so we use incandescents. But I'm pretty dogmatic about turning lights off when we're not in the room.


7. Meat or veg?

Well, we eat meat in many forms. But we also eat a lot of organic vegetables and fruits, and I try to have meat-free days often.


8. Loo paper. Virgin or recycled?

We've tried recycled toilet paper and paper towels, and frankly the quality was lacking. We use cloth bags at the grocery store, and we recycle paper and cardboard. We've got a pretty comprehensive recycling service here so our trash volume has gone way down. We used to use cloth diapers, then Seventh Generation paper diapers, and now we buy mainstream paper diapers.


9. Tap or bottled water?

We only buy bottled water for long car trips. Otherwise it's the tap, though the chlorine is pretty yucky here. We used to use a faucet filter but now our sink is too shallow for that! So we're trying to figure out what else might work.


10. Dating - metrosexual or ecosexual?

I'm not sure I totally understood this one, but our family is all on the same page as far as environmentalism.


11. Compost?

We have two huge compost bins about 50 feet from our front door, but we're still trying to figure out how to fit a compost bin in our tiny kitchen. The compost goes over to the biodynamic garden next door from whence we get vegetables and honey. So, it's my goal to increase our level of composting.

Well, looking over my answers, I'm not too impressed with myself. Many of my unsatisfactory answers come down to cost, meaning we don't have enough income to buy certain ecologically sound products. However I think we're doing some other things that are equally important. We only have one car, bought used, and driven only a few thousand miles a year. We cancelled most of our magazines and newspapers, and get our news and entertainment online. We use mostly rechargable batteries. Unfortunately we're all well aware of what we should be doing, but there's a disconnect between that and what can actually happen. Onward and upward, I guess.