Steps to a New Way

It started in California that I really became aware of this whole movement of eating local, less waste, making a smaller carbon footprint.   Before that in Winnipeg, I had used my reusable shopping bags and recycled everything in sight, so I wouldn't have considered myself an earth killer!  But I was still unaware of many areas that I was contributing negatively to the environment.

Now being back from Bolivia and California, I have realized that in some places it's easier to eat local and much easier to shop at stores that offer little to no packaging.  I don't live in a tropical place where fruit is grown all year round right in your town, and I don't know if there are soap bars here in the city that offer bulk shampoo where you can fill up your glass bottles.  Sigh.....But there are a few ways that I can change my lifestyle here and now that will better for the earth.  Bit by bit.

Last year I got creative and started hunting around on certain websites about woman-y stuff.  We had made a conscious effort to do cloth with our babies because we didn't want to add to the landfills (and lived in places where water wasn't an issue for washing), so I thought about how every month I head to the drugstore, pick up a package of hygiene products and them ending up in the landfill.  What I found was this so I was inspired to pull out my sewing machine and voila! I made a bunch of eco-friendly liners. Then in conversation a friend said to me, you have to go and buy this too.  So that's what I did.  Okay, if you are of the male gender, maybe you're getting a little tired of talking about such intimate stuff, so I'll change the subject.

I came across this blog and have been mostly inspired, and at a few times left with guilt.  It has certain got me thinking about all the stuff that we buy and then throw out or even recycle.  I love her mantra, "Refuse what you do not need, Reduce what you do need, Reuse what you consume, Recycle what you cannot refuse, reduce or reuse, and Rot the rest".  In a post a while back she said that every time we shop, we vote for that product.  So what are we voting for?  Voting for more packaging and garbage?  Or lets go a little farther, Are we voting for companies that not only exploit our earth but our fellow human beings?  I ordered myself this little book that hopefully will help me make better shopping choices, for the earth and for people.  I could go on and on about how important it is to shop fair trade, but maybe I'll save that for another post.

So what am I doing this afternoon?  Making these.  With cold and flu season here, I am amazed at how many tissues we are using.  And my biggest pet peeve?  When someone uses 4 tissues for a 1 tissue job, leaving the rest of us without tissues.  Arg!  Although when I mentioned to Carl that I wanted to make handkerchiefs, he didn't think they were sanitary.  Well, I came across a TON of left over flannel from all the rag quilts I have made, so there will be no shortage of hankies around here.  No need to use them twice.  And the way that we do laundry here, they will be washed in no time.  Now to do some research on homemade laundry soap or soap nuts.....