It's not easy being green

I hate the term "green" when talking about the environment.  It is a media induced catch word that drives me crazy.  Nonetheless, the question of the day is,

In what ways have you become 'green' in the past few years? Do you think that it has made a difference?
What I have tried:
I have gone back and forth on trying to be "green".  For a while I put the kettle under the faucet while I waited for the water to get hot, and when I was pregnant I didn't flush the toilet after every pee.  I recycle, do a small amount of composting for my worms and use my cotton bags when I go to the store.  Since I have been in England I haven't owned a car so I walk everywhere or ride the train or bus.

For a while I used eco friendly detergent and softener and used vinegar for cleaning.  I wash my clothes at 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) or lower.  I use a mooncup for my periods instead of tampons, and I have just recently changed to washable diapers.  I even used to use recycled toilet paper.

I made some of these changes simply because it was cheaper. I changed to cotton diapers so I wouldn't have to buy disposables every week and I hate that women are taken advantage of every month having to buy tampons which are expensive.   I have always used cotton bags for shopping (at my first shopping experience with friends in England, I was made fun of because of my bags), and have tried to compost but can only compost as much as my worms will take ( it was hard to compost living in the city and I still don't have a real bin because I am renting).


I don't buy organic because it is expensive.   For a while I went to the local farmers market and participated in the weekly vegetable bin, but have stopped doing that because it was too expensive.

I have decided that some things just weren't worth it because they simply didn't work the same.  I changed back to normal detergent after I felt my clothes weren't getting as clean and went back to cleaning with bleach after I got addicted to having my kitchen sink sparkle and my porcelain white.  I don't use energy efficient light bulbs because the light they give out is crap.  I stopped using recycled toilet paper, but only use 2-ply.

I just started filling a bucket as I wait for the faucet to turn hot so I can water my flowers.  We waste so much water waiting for the tap to get hot, our boiler is totally inefficient.

My biggest contribution to the environment has to be that I don't own a car.  Again, something that is simply because it is too expensive (and I don't have a UK license).  I am not quite sure that being able to wash my own diapers is more environmentally friendly, because I have to wash them every other day taking up energy and water.  I use my cotton bags but still seem to accumulate plastic ones.

As for thinking that I am making a difference...I think if anything it makes me feel less guilty.  When I was living with my grandmother she would go through my garbage making sure everything that could be recycled had been.  She was the most extreme recycler I knew and therefore I would feel guilty for not recycling.  Our culture (at least American culture) seems to focus on making us feel guilty for not being "green", and that bothers me.  There are questions about paper recycling not being as environmentally friendly as we are meant to believe and the guidelines for considering something organic is more lax than one would think.  But I do try, maybe not my hardest, but I am conscious of what I am doing.