Are my feet too big?
I’m a size 9. Used to be an 8, but then my arches fell and I had a baby and I’ll never be an 8 again.
Seriously though - I’m talking about my footprint on the earth. It’s something of which I wasn’t really overly conscious until the moment we started to think about conceiving the boy.
We have a very long way to go but we’re certainly doing our best. Though I really do try not to judge other people, it doesn’t usually work. Quite frankly, it pisses me off when people do things that are hurting the world that my babies and grandbabies (God willing) will be living in.
When it comes to the 3 R’s, we’re good at the recycling one, mediocre at the reuse one but not so good at the reduce one.
We:
-recycle everything that we can within our city’s very crappy recycling program (meaning we throw out all styrofoam or I try to use it in school craft projects).
-have switched to an in-home water purifier and stainless steel bottles (love them - whole ‘nother post) reducing the amount of plastic we use.
-reuse plastic grocery bags. I have organic hemp shopping bags but I use them mostly for the market because I need the grocery bags for cat litter and stinky baby poo.
-used a lot of cloth diapers until we started packing for the move. They’re still packed and we’re in 100% disposables. Truthfully, I only have 2 or 3 that would fit the boy now (he’s in size 5 Pampers) so that would mean washing more than once a day. When we’re potty training, I’ll probably do it (or just boxers or whatever) but for the next few months of working full time and then having a baby I’m letting laziness win. I feel slightly bad but, like I said, I’m lazy.
-fill our large garbage bin many weeks, which tells me (a) our city needs a better recycling program (b) I should compost but I don’t know if I ever will and (c) We make too much waste. I’m not sure why, but I fill the kitchen garbage can at least once a day when I’m home. I really need to work on that one.
-use those energy friendly twisty light bulbs. What are they called again?
- eat organic. Nearly 95-100% of our dairy and the boy’s food is organic. We adults eat some that’s not but we live in a place where not everything is available in organics. We try. Cancer sucks, and we do what we can.
-use organic & natural body care products (lotions, shampoos etc) and try to keep all chemicals out of our water system.
-use only vinegar & thymol (from Nature Clean - fabulous) for cleaning and use organic and/or natural detergents and soaps. Seventh Generation and Nature Clean are my two faves.
-don’t shop at Walm**t whenever possible or buy (many) toys that are made in China.
-support small & local businesses whenever possible.
-drive too much and use too much gas. A busy schedule does that to a person.
-drive the most energy efficient mommyvan on the market.
-use blinds & windows to regulate the temperature of our house when possible, but we do rely heavily on central air. I’m a heat wimp and I hate melting.
and we probably do more, both good and bad, that aren’t coming to me at the moment.
MY ECP SCORE IS: 241
MY CARBON OUTPUT IS: 6.6 TONS PER YEAR
I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it is what it is and I’m going to try and lower it over the next year.
You can get your numbers here with a simple quiz and I hope you’ll join me in my quest to lower the impact we all have. It’s for our kids’ sake.
What’s your footprint like? Can you make it smaller? Will you try?
Do you even care? If you’re a parent, what’s your guilt level like if you don’t?
Just curious. Not judging - I promise.
(Yes, my fingers are crossed behind my back. I’m mature like that. You know I love you, right?)
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
We try. The recycling here is not that great either, we at least have limited curbside. Cloth diapers, breastmilk as long as possible … We do not eat as organic as we try to go local. The gas to transport organic groceries to remote locations is crazy!
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:15 am
My footprint could be smaller. I recycle as much as possible. I try to shop second hand stores for clothes and toys as much as possible, and donate used clothes or pass them on. I work 7 min from home so my gas use is minimal (I would love to bike to work, but the kids need to get to daycare somehow). I wish I knew more about reducing my footprint for my kids ’cause yeah I worry alot about the earth we are leaving them with.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I took the quiz which in my opinion wasn’t detailed enough to come up with a number but it claims my ECP score is 300 and my carbon output is 10.9 tons per year.
I hardly drive (and I drive a small newer vehicle) as I am a stay at home mom and do alot of walking and any driving I do is generally local. I’m sure my family could conserve more in terms of hydro etc…I mean we use hot water to wash clothes (not all the time), shower at least once a day, use central air etc. but we do keep our house fairly warm during the summer, cooler in winter, close the blinds in summer to keep the temp down etc. I definitely thing we waste far too much but we do recycle as much as we can and we own a composter with we use year round. I also have a clothes line which I use from March/April until October/November. My issue is more with corporations and our government (I’m in Canada). Why is it so expensive to produce goods in Canada? Why doesn’t the government force companies to use less packaging (when we buy small items they are often packaged in way too much packaging), why is healthy food so expensive…and organic is not even readily available everywhere. Yes we need to do more as individuals but it hardly helps to turn off that extra lamp when office buildings leave thousands of lights burning all night long.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for the link! Now I have to take the test. I’m curious. (I also use plastic bags for stinky baby poo!)