Econundrums

Trying to be green has its own set of conundrums. For instance, you've purchased things in the past that you now realize are not very green. What to do?

One eco-nundrum I have is my past affinity for nail polish. It may seem like such a tiny thing... all those little bottles... but they really are considered hazardous waste. All those chemicals! But so pretty! So... OK... I don't buy more ever again, not even the so-called environmentally friendly kind, but what about all the bottles I already have? Nail polish is fun but far from a necessity. Yes it's pretty, and I always compliment cool nail-artwork when I see it on people. But all those chemicals! Do we encourage the cessation of use? It's not something that will ever go away; too many people like it too much.

How many have actually used an entire bottle of nail polish? I actually have come close before, but mostly I, like many others, have a million partially-used bottles. Knowing what I know about it, I sometimes feel like if I wear it anymore, I'll be judged as a Terrible Not-Green Liar Person. Which is kind of funny because that's not what comes to mid for me when I look at other people's nails. OK, well maybe the second thought. No. Kidding. Mostly.

I want to use my old nail polish. Isn't that the greenest thing to do? Use it? It's already here in my home... I can get it to hazardous waste, but wouldn't just using it up be OK too? What about the nail polish remover? I have that too, from days-less-green-gone-by. Use that too. After all, haz-waste has a lot to do already.

Such an econundrum for the Green Witch. Because, even right now, my pretty pretty dark green nail polish beckons to me....

Harmful by Degrees

I recently attended a big vegan event. Yeah, I know, call it a momentary lapse of reason. (Just kidding.) (Mostly.) It's amazing how I'm not good enough as an eco-warrior because I am not "one of them". (It should be "all of us.")

It was a really hot day. We were in a hot tent. We were screening a really great movie, "The Big Fix", about BP's Deepwater Horizon, a movie that is not readily available to see yet. And yet, there was very little interest by the festival attendees to come in to see it. I get it; I avoid a lot of documentaries because they bring me down, man. Was that it, it was too a heavy topic for a day that was more about being kind to animals? That can't be it, many of the booths were heavy in topic. And this affected a LOT of animals. Those other booths were about animals. Could it be that, at this event, it's more about animals than the planet? Could that be true? Dare I make a generalization that the people at that event cared more about animals and themselves and showing how noble and *sacrificy* they are, and being seen as "oh look how much I care about dogs!"? Am I being unfair? These are the random thoughts that I had.

But still affecting them

More thoughts came later. It was a weekend of events where I was sure to come up with products aimed at vegans and vegetarians. I'm all for them, really I am. I don't want products to be tested on animals. I don't have to be a vegan to want that. They don't have the corner market on love for animals, just because they don't eat them. These products seem all well and fine by people. They are good products, I surely am taking nothing away from the intention. Um. Anyway. I get to wondering.

Not tested on animals. Great. Good for you. Nice start. Then... then what? What does your product do now? Does it have chemicals in it? If so, are they safe for the planet, or are they harmful? If they aren't all natural, how can you say they aren't harmful? Are there chemicals in this product that were made in a lab and not by Nature? And what about the packaging? Are you putting your wonderful expensive lotions and shampoos and creams in glass? Hmm, I see you are using plastic. How does that figure into this world of not harming animals? Plastic harms us all. Is it OK to start out not harming them, but then harm them once you throw away the container? Oh, yes yes I know I know, you're RECYCLING it. Mm hmm. We know how effective THAT is. Do we absolve the plastic waste because we cared SO much up front? Or, so long as we aren't testing on animals, it's OK to be bad to human-kind. Cute bunnies shouldn't get testing, but fish can swim in a plastic soup, no worries?

Where's the line? Are you better than am I because you are soooo careful about what you use, but then you don't think about it afterwards, and I do?

Look, just sayin', don't get all high and mighty on me unless you are PERFECT. I know I'm not. I got miles and miles to go. You may think you're ahead of me. You are not. So please walk beside me. We'll talk awhile, shall we?

Stewards of the Earth...

Screw the Planet, Save Ourselves

There is an article that has been making its rounds of Facebook pages, as many do. This one has me a little torn. You may have seen it; it's in greenbiz.com. The gist of it is... well, here's a paragraph:

 Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of Shelton Group, also responded to the NYT piece as well as a more recent article by GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower, who declared green marketing dead. While Shelton acknowledged that marketing products with an "it'll save the planet" message is dead, she added: "Very few Americans have ever bought stuff because they want to save the planet. As I've hammered home in this blog countless times, people buy green products for a host of other reasons -- to feel more comfortable, to gain peace of mind, to limit the chemicals their families are exposed to ..."

My first reaction to what many were saying, "Wow, good article," was to get a little pissed. (Naturally. I mean, it's me, remember?) I got in a little bit of a snit that people are so damn selfish and don't care to ever think about the effect on the planet. But, so what? Doesn't the end justify the means? Who cares about their reasoning so long as they buy the good stuff? Right? Even my tag line is, "Saving the Species, Not the Planet". So... why so snitty?

Image from article. Heels? Really?

Good question. I may or may not have figured this one out. We'll see. Together. I think I just feel like it should all be one in the same, you know? Why do we have to make a distinction? How about, "I buy this because I care about my kids. But I also care about other people's kids. I care about the health of my home, and my home IS the planet." Is it just THIS tiny little thing that is bugging me? What IS it that makes me give a crap about why people do what they do? They're still buying the good stuff. Take what ya get, shut up, and get on with it.

But now comes my AHA moment. I think. Yes, yes, this could be it. Making this shade of a distinction speaks of the bigger problem to me. That problem is that we do not have a "global concern." We still don't care about what our neighbor is doing, so long as in OUR little household, WE'RE buying cleaners etc. that are healthy for OUR kids. I must really, really be reading WAY too much into this. Something. This shouldn't bug me this much. But, OK, heck yah I'm going to read into it.  See, it's a dangerous attitude. No, not mine. The attitude of which I speak is this pervasive subversive idea that all I care about is me and mine. I just see it too much everywhere about so many things. "I got my healthcare, screw everyone else." "My kid goes to a good school, screw anyone else's kids." "I got mine, that's their problem." This... circling of wagons into tiny little groups alarms me to no end. And this seems like more of it. It makes me think things don't end well for anyone.

At this point, I fail to know if I am making any sense. I like to think I am. Something just troubles me about the way this is stated, that's all. Yay for people buying green products for whatever reason. Boo me for thinking anything untoward about the whole thing. It's all good, we're fine, everyone's fine, nothing to see here, no worries.

And yet....

Green Gifts: Day 8

Got a cook in the gift pool? Then a great green gift for them in an herb garden!

You can find kits for them everywhere. You can grow them anywhere. From a New York apartment to a Los Angeles condo and all the homes in between... all herbs need is a windowsill and some sun. Get your friends and family in the habit of cooking with fresh herbs (an especially nice thing to have handy in cold winter months), and maybe they'll be inspired to grow their own outside come Summertime.

ChiaPet? No... but the Chia Herb Collection is actually a very nice gift. Seriously! But if that makes you shudder, feel free to find others. This is another chance to put a nice basket together, as well. Almost any gift, especially the green kind, makes a nice presentation in a basket. Throw in some gardening gloves and seed packets to encourage planting in the Spring.

Gift yourself while you're at it with this one!

Green Gifts: Day 7

Get your aromatherapy on!

For those in your friend/family group who just love aromatherapy, it's an easy choice. Get them their favorites. And for those who always have a scent going on in the home but use chemical products, essential oils are wonderful! You can introduce them to a new world of NATURAL scents. Intimidated at trying to pick a scent for someone? Nah. Just think... when you walk into their home, do you smell cinnamon? Vanilla? Or floral scents, maybe? Lavendar? Are these scents products of Dow and SC Johnson, or Nature? If you have to say anything other than "Nature", then a holiday gift is a wonderful way to introduce someone to a greener way of smelling good. They'll be healthier, the planet will be healthier, and that makes everyone happy!

My wonderful friends back in Pennsylvania are steeped in herbology and essentials. (No pun intended!) You can check them out for great information and wonderful products. They know it all. Almost makes me wish I was still back there to learn with them! Visit Ruth and Tom at  http://www.wellcat.com/herbs.html. They rock! You can also check out the wonderful Tina at http://www.essentialherbal.com/index.php for information, products, and classes. Tina and Maryanne are the original Twisted Sisters!

On this coast, my favorite essential expert is Noelle of http://www.vimessentials.com/philosophy.php. She makes some lovely blends and sells diffusers that are amazing. I have the car diffuser that plugs right in and makes my driving experience a whole lot more pleasant. (Thanks Noelle!) What a great gift for anyone who drives a lot! You can also tune in to the Good Green Witch radio show, when Noelle came in to chat with us about aromatherapy and its many benefits:  http://www.latalkradio.com/images/Rhonda-061309.mp3

I could go on and on about the health benefits of essential oils and aromatherapy, but I'll let you visit these sites and leave it to the experts! I'm just here to suggest the gifts. Suffice it to say, any time you can convert someone to natural oils instead of cans of spray or those Glade chemical thingies, you are helping Green the world.

Green Gifts: Day 6

Candles! We love candles, and they make great gifts, BUT....

Not all candles are created equal. Some are "greener" than others. For instance, candles made from soy will last longer that paraffin candles, and they are made from... well, SOY instead of paraffin, which is petroleum-based. I cannot say soy candles are healthier for YOU than regular paraffin, as some will claim, but they hold a scent better, and avoiding petroleum products is always preferable. That IS healthier for everything and everyone, I think. Plus, soy comes from the US. It's grown right here. So there's that. Plus, my good friend Michelle "Green Coach" Carroll says that you can use the melted wax as a moisturizer for your hands! She has some very nice gifts and suggestions on her site: http://emaginegreen.myvoffice.com/michellecarroll/ Please check her out!

Pure beeswax candles are also a nice choice. I've seen claims that 100% beeswax candles actually help the air around feel better and cleaner. I'll let you decided for yourself on that one. They might seem pricey, but they last MUCH longer than paraffin candles, and besides, these are gifts! There are some truly beautiful beeswax candles out there. Beeswax is a by-product of honey, so it's not like your harming bees to get a candle. Also, this is a good way to spread the appreciation of honeybees. They are in trouble, and awareness is always a good thing in my book.

There you have it: some good suggestions for the candle-afficianado on your list, or for that host/hostess gift. Green gifts are so easy that you barely need to think about it!

Green Gifts: Day 3

There was a "Friends" episode in which the girls were broke, so they baked for everyone as the holiday tips. Of course, zaniness and hilarity ensued. Their newspaper guy tore up their newspaper and their mailman smashed their mail and Ross blamed their "bad" gift as the reason their Super wouldn't fix their heater. The joke of course was that the super LOVED the heart-felt-ness of the gift.

Baking some yummy treats show that you took time out of your life to put love and care into the gift. Put them in a cool reusable container or tin or basket, again with those nice cloth napkins. Baking doesn't have to be a big bad chore; make it fun and involve the family too. Warm up the chilly home! There are all kinds of benefits! You can control the ingredients, in case anyone has allergies. You can go to the farmers' market to get local ingredients. (That's a two-fer!) For those people that just love cookies, and maybe do not have the time or wherewithal to make them themselves, this is a GREAT gift.

They don't have to be cookies. Do cupcakes. Do banana bread, zucchini bread, whatever. Make it your signature. Make it something the recipients look forward to! There is a lot to be said for the homemade gifts. It's time we got back to things like that. Let's make this mean something again. It's what the holidays are about, or used to be anyway. Let's turn it around, and make life a little greener at the same time.

Green Gifts: Day 2

The cool part about green gifts is you can get really creative. Your family and friends are cool like 'dat, and already have water bottles. What then? Well, step it up a bit! Let's go for the whole serving package in today's gift idea!

Create a green basket full of things for in the kitchen, at work, or on the go. Start with a great re-used basket from a thrift store or your garage or closet, or find a beautiful fair trade, locally crafted basket. (Green gifts are also all about local and fair trade!) You can even dress up a box if you are feeling creative. Then, fill it with cool reusable products that encourage your gift recipient to use fewer disposable products. My best and favorite product for this is To-Go Ware, utensils made from bamboo that come in a great carrying case. With these in the desk at work or tossed in the purse or backpack, we can avoid using plastic forks and spoons and knives completely! They make a great gift even by themselves. Learn more about them here: http://www.to-goware.com/ Add some bamboo plates and bowls. Toss in a cool coffee to-go cup for the hot beverage fans. Find pretty cloth napkins to dress the whole thing up a little more.

Voila! A nice addition would be some organic wine or some homemade treats, or fair-trade chocolate. I'd like to say it needs to be bigger and more complicated than that, but it really is this easy.

Let's bring back a little more of the meaning to the holiday. Use this time to care, and to help the Earth, and to help your loved ones help the Earth.

Happy December...Let's DO This, #1

Ahhh Winter. Holidays. Fireplaces and sweaters and snuggling. December brings a lot of good feelings. It's the last month of the year and it might seem like it's a better time to wind down, but I believe it is a great time to START some things.

The First Day of Winter, the Winter Solstice, is the shortest day of the year, and while there is a whole lotta winter to go after December 21st, this day marks a time of rebirth. So I say, let's start some great new practices and traditions this holiday season to take into the new year!

A wonderful way to start is right along the vein of the holiday: give gifts. But this year, give GREEN gifts. In the spirit of the 12 Days of (insert holiday here), I'll be giving 12 examples of great green gifts. I'm starting early because, well, you'll need time to shop!

Think not that this is some way to be pushy about green, and forcing your ideals on to your gift recipients. No, no. Instead, think of it as an extra special gift. After all, a green gift means you really put some thought into it. It means you care enough about that person to help them help the Earth! (Rationalize it however you want.) Really, though, what's better: a tie or some knick-knack, or something that can be used again and again? A practical object IS a good gift. And, when you think about it, you realize that the receiver of the gift will think of you every time they use what you have given them. Isn't that the point of a gift? Would you like to be remembered as the person who gave them that really cool and useful thing, or the idiot who gave them that stupid useless thing that either sat around gathering dust or got re-gifted the next year?

So. Where to begin? Let's start with the best and most obvious: water bottles. We all know someone (or lots of someones) who are still in the SUPpy (Single-Use Plastic) habit. Why are they still using those? Maybe they just haven't stopped to get one of their own. There are so many styles and varieties out there that you can find the perfect one for everyone on your list. Personalize them. Get enough for the whole family. Get them for co-workers. Get insulated ones for those who love their hot tea. (My fave even has a little strainer in it and can hold hot or cold.)

It's early enough to order them from some great sites (see below). If you think a bottle is not enough of a gift, then get them a filter for their faucet too. Again, if these seem far too practical to be "cool" gifts, then just remember that you are helping your friends and family be greener, and that is an ULTIMATE gift!

Here's a wonderful site that sells bottles and all kinds of cool things, including a filter that goes IN the water bottle, so they can be filled from the garden hose if need be! Look around the entire site; it's pretty cool. And tell Mark the Good Green Witch sent you! http://www.bottless.org/

This site has wonderful green gifts, including a GREAT bottle: http://revengeis.com/products/reusables Marilyn is the best!

Here's a site I can mention again and again in the gift department, a one-stop shop online: http://www.ecosumo.com/ Ricky and Steven, you guys rule!

Those are a few of the people I really really like. You can also check out local green stores and other green companies. Heck, for last minute, you can find these things in your local Starbucks or grocery store! Just DO IT!

Be ahead of the curve. Be the person who start4ed it in your family. BE the change. Green gifts are the way to go. And don't worry, I'll have plenty more suggestions in the upcoming days!

Time to Sweat the Small Stuff?

It's nice to give out green tips, and feel like we're helping the world. But sometimes, we just have to let loose and get it off our chests. Guess which I need to do now?

I say it's easy being green, and I really believe it is, but a lot of times it's hard to be a Greenie. Awareness is a terrible thing sometimes. I'll be honest, I get plowed under by the problems of this world really easily. How can we possibly fight the clean coal people? What about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?? Oh no, is that ANOTHER picture of a polar bear on a tiny piece of melting ice??? It's big stuff out there. And I get discouraged.

And then, I see something close to home that REALLY makes me question what the heck I'm doing. I had a "Why Do I Bother" moment just yesterday. Driving to work, I observed 3 teenagers walking somewhere in Hollywood. 2 guys and a girl. The girl pulled an opened bag of Spicy Cheetos out of her massive purse. Mmmm, I love Cheetos. I smiled. Then... THEN... then, she took her gum out of her mouth and, instead of wrapping it in a tiny piece of paper and saving it to throw away later, instead of having made use of one of the millions of trash cans all over Hollywood, 5 of which they just passed, she flung her gum to the sparse grassy area between the sidewalk and the street. She smiled as she did it. She kept chatting as she did it. She didn't think twice. He companions didn't even flinch, didn't even look.

But Green Witch, you ask, why get so bent over such a little thing? I'll tell you why. It's a symptom. It's a tiny little thing that points to much much bigger issues. The complete disregard with which this child littered tells me that she might just throw that Cheetos wrapper on the ground too. Had I been walking and not on my way to work, I might have just followed her to see what happened next. (I know, I know, a little much, a little creepy. Sue me.)

I'll tell you why. Because such utter lack of concern for that piece of gum tells me that she doesn't think anything of what she uses, what she throws away, what is important. It tells me her parents, her school, etc aren't really impressing anything onto her impressionable mind about what manners are and what littering is. The way in which she did it told me she chews gum a lot and this isn't the first time she has flung it heedlessly to the ground for someone to step in. It reminds me that millions of people everywhere every day fling their gum to the Earth without a care. And THAT leads me to realize that it doesn't end with tiny little innocent pieces of gum. No. It STARTS with tiny little innocent pieces of gum. And, because if these kids don't care, these ones that we are working to save from all our bad practices, if they don't care, then why do I bother???

So yeah. It may have been the tiniest littlest thing and it really shouldn't have bugged me so much, but welcome to my head. Sometimes when you keep telling yourself, don't sweat the petty stuff just pet the sweaty stuff, you keep trying and trying... and then the little things, the petty things, sneak on in and just blow the lid off the carefully contained vat of angst/rage/fear/disgust/hopelessness mixture that was only barely controlled anyway....

I think it's time we started sweating the petty stuff. I believe we have ignored it for too long, and now all the little things have landed us in a real big mess.

Keep 350 Day Going

Saturday, October 24th, was 350 Day. Not quite sure what that means? Lemme 'esplain. Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity, according to http://www.350.org/. We currently stand at 387. Boo. Not good. The 24th was an international day of action, to get the awareness out there to the whole world.

Sooo.... it's over. OK. Now what? Now, we work on things to actually achieve getting that number down. What can you do? I'll try to help as much as possible on that with future posts! We'll just do a quick one for now. Consider it your first assignment! I promise I'll be easy on ya. I swear it. It's my philosophy that green is actually pretty easy! So here goes....

Stop buying tissues. Go cold turkey on Kleenex. Just stop. Hankies were good enough for our grandparents, so they're good enough for us! I tend to favor the brightest loudest most colorful bandanas, personally. But there are the cute frilly lacy ones... there are the monogrammed ones... there are the plain whities! Choose your weapon! You can use organic cotton to be even better. You can make your own to be super-green and crafty. You can give them as great green gifts.

There are multiple benefits to this simple action. You save money, because you aren't buying boxes of facial tissue anymore, and because these last forever. Well, they last a really long time, anyway. And the more you wash them the softer they become. Yay! You save trees. That's good all around. You save water. I know you might think you are using MORE water because you have a little extra laundry, but that's not the case. It takes a lot more water to produce the boxes and boxes of tissues than it does for you to wash a tiny little bit of fabric. After all, you were doing laundry anyway. These fit. It's not like you are doing a special load of just hankies.

That's it! And if you can't do cold-turkey, that's OK. I still grab a few pieces of TP to blow into on rare occasion. But really work at it. And lead by example. Be the change. I can't say that enough! And with this simple start, YOU can help get that magic number 350 back to reality. YOU can help.

Change is Scary. Apparently.

Being a little greener in our everyday lives is actually a very easy thing to do. Heck, I have a book out about it. It just takes the tiniest little bit of change in thinking...

AHA. There's the problem. "Change." For some reason, we are reluctant to change. Oh, it's OK so long as it comes slowly and we barely notice it. But active change? That we have to think about? Nah. I get it. I was reluctant to learn my new cell phone when I got it. I was comfortable with my "old" one, even though it was becoming a cumbersome brick. Change can be hard. Heck, just this morning I had to force myself to take a different route up my hiking path. We become accustomed to certain things in our lives, and we hit a comfort level that we think we like. And if we change one thing, maybe we'll lose control in other areas? Is that what it is?

The changes we need to make really aren't so significant. A lot of it is remember the things we have forgotten how to do. Things like, washing tennis shoes when they get dirty, rather than getting a new pair. Turning off lights like Dad told us to when we were little. Not flushing after #1 because we saved water where we grew up with the wells and the septic tanks. We USED to do things, but we CHANGED... it's just that we changed so slowly that we didn't notice. We call this progress, I guess. Is it really? (That's a topic for another day!) I just think that some of the change we have to make to be greener is to change BACK to things we used to do. And that's not so scary. After all, we've been there. Is it the fear of going in the wrong direction? Does the Green movement make us think we aren't making progress? That's a deep thought... hm... more on that one later!

Back to Change. Here are some of the super-easy changes we can make every day, tiny little things that take the tiniest tweak in thinking, and that will lead to easier changes every week!

1) For the love of all things holy, TURN OFF the running water while brushing your teeth. I have lost count of how many times this gets put out there and people still don't do it. I don't know how it gets any easier than that.

2) Follow that up by not wasting a lot of running water while doing the dishes. See how easy these things are? And by doing them, we're just a little bit greener!

3) Skip the straw in your beverage. All the time. Just forget it. No straw. Give yourself a no-straw law. You can even start small, with just a few days a week. I'll wait.

4) Use less toothpaste, shampoo, dish detergent, etc. Scale back until you find the level of the least amount that works. You might be surprised to find how much less you really NEED.

5) Lower your thermostat/air conditioning. Instead of making it super-toasty during the winter, lower the heat a few degrees and throw on a sweater. In the summer, put the a/c up a few degrees. Do you really need to freeze? Put on a tank top and shorts. You're at home. No one cares how you are dressed.

Look at that! There is a week's worth of ways you can be the eensiest-teensiest bit greener, with SO little effort, and I've even given you the weekend off! Green does NOT have to be hard. What it is, is paying ATTENTION, and making some changes. That's not really so bad, is it? And you don't even have to preach to others. Just lead by example. BE the change. We can do this.

We have to.

The Price of Convenience

We got it so easy these days. Think about it: our water comes conveniently pre-packaged and sanitized for us. We don't even have to turn on the faucet. Our cleaners do the work, so we don't have to. Our dental floss comes on nifty little plastic handles so we don't have to work at flossing. Our little prunes come individually wrapped (???), and all kinds of foods come in perfect little serving sizes in perfect little plastic containers so we never even have to worry our little heads about portions. Heck, even dog food comes that way.

There is a price to pay for all this convenience. Our landfills are filled, our oceans have giant swirly patches of garbage (visible from SPACE!!!), our kids are slowly being poisoned with BPA... should I even mention the oil needed for all this stuff? Our cleaners are so strong that we can't breathe when we spray them. We don't want to have to scrub. I have to wonder, what is so wrong with using a little elbow grease? We are so consumed with being fast, easy, efficient, that we have forgotten that it's OK to have to WORK once in awhile. "Our grandparents had it so hard." Really? Actually, I think they had character and knew how to DO stuff. They were pretty cool. They were tough. They weren't afraid of a little hard work. They didn't need products to do their work and thinking for them.

So, have we made a better world for ourselves? Or have we just fallen prey to what the leading companies want us to buy? I can't help but feel that our values have fallen off target amidst all these "modern conveniences". I see a lot of mentality that we don't want to have to work as hard as our grandparents did, and we want our children to have it easier than we did. I'd like to challenge that mentality. Weren't our grandparents pretty cool people? My grandpa was a guy I really wanted to know. He died when I was a little too young to appreciate him, but from what I know of him, I wish he could have been around a lot longer. He had the best garden I have ever seen. He built his own house, and it was a GOOD house. He could go into the woods and find all the food he would ever need to survive. Not that he would have ever gotten lost. And he didn't need a cell phone or a GPS. I'll bet he had forgotten more than most people today know how to do.

I think about this a lot. It occurs to me that perhaps we should never have forgotten these things that we "used" to do. We need to get back to them. I understand, it's all in the name of progress, and it is a necessary evolution. But I wonder what progress has brought us. We are fatter, we are lazier, and we are darned near helpless without all our "stuff". The little bit of fresh water on the planet is polluted with all our super-chemicals. Our immunities are shot because we think we have to use antibacterial soap everywhere and we don't dare expose our kids to the germs they NEED to be exposed to. Allergies, asthma, autism. THESE are just a few of the prices we have been paying, and our kids are holding the bills.

Why rake? We have leaf-blowers. It's easier. Why shovel snow? We have snow-blowers. It's easier. Why scrub? It's easier to spray down the shower and walk away. We sure don't have time to do any of that anymore. After all, we have to spend much more time at our jobs... we have pallets of bottled water to pay for. And gym memberships, to make up for the exercise we aren't getting anywhere else.

I think I'll go unwrap me a prune now. They're just so darned convenient.

Clothesline = Poor. Seriously???

Back East, when the Good Green Witch was small enough to duck under the clothesline, Spring and Summer meant we could hang clothes out to dry. We had the room in the back yard, and hanging the bedsheets out there just made sense. Why use the dryer when it was already too warm in the house? It was our yard, no one could really see behind our house, and pretty much everyone did it. Did we equate it with being green? Nope. It just made sense. Did we equate it with being "poor"?? Nah. It was the sensible way to do things. That's all.

Nowadays, people dwell in condos and apartment buildings and pay dues to the neighborhood associations. Such a thing as hanging clothes outside is simply not acceptable. It is unsightly! It would bring down property values! It's downright unseemly! Proper folks just don't do that! Do we want people to think we are poor??? Don't only the "poor" hang out their clothes to dry??

Whoa. Wait a minute. There's something behind this mentality. It is true: it has become a sign of "lower income" to think that one must use a clothesline. Where does this come from?

We have fallen pray to advertising for many years. Think about it: companies don't care how clean your home is or how sanitary your toilet is or even if you have e. coli running around your kitchen counters. They want to SELL you their products. They sell ideas, they sell fear, they sell status. That is how they sell products. Way back whenever, people who were hired to sell dryers had to compete with all the Great Outdoors... However can a drying machine compete with FREE? Challenge the status, of course! If you were well-to-do, you bought a newfangled washer and dryer, which meant you didn't have to work as hard at your laundry and had the leisure time and luxury afforded to such wealth. Only those poor families down the street had to work so hard, because they couldn't AFFORD a dryer. See? Clothesline = poverty.

But today, we can see around and beyond that mentality. We can think for ourselves, and not be ruled by advertising. We realize that hanging clothes outside is better for our electricity bill, gas bill, etc. It's not a sign of poverty, but rather a sign of sustainability, of Green-ness, of concern. Dare we say, frugality? These communities that forbid clotheslines... we need to change that way of thinking and realize why we are bound to these incorrect beliefs. We need to remember that our grandparents really knew what they were doing. We need to realize that convenience is not our best friend.

We need to open our eyes and ears, and start questioning what we see on TV. We can start to ask. "Hmm. Do I REALLY need that?" Sometimes it's OK that the answer is no. We don't need that! And no, just because we like the fresh smell of Sun and wind-dried clothes and to save a little energy, doesn't mean we are poor. It means we're trying, and we are Green.