With all the good going around this Earth Day, I can’t help but think of all those little things, the secrets, that I know each of us have but maybe aren’t as quick to share. Sure, you may recycle every bit that you can, use CFL’s in every single light, take five minute showers (okay, maybe half of you), turn off the water while brushing your teeth, and so on. But what about those eco-sins?
How many drive a gas-guzzling car or even drive your car when you probably could have walked but you were just a little lazy (raises hand)? Maybe you’re a slave to fast food or worse yet, food in styrofoam (gasp). You don’t compost because you think its icky and stinky. An eco-sin as simple as drinking soda? For every good, green deed there’s an equal eco-sin.
Earth Day is all about the good people are doing, which is great – don’t get me wrong. But I actually enjoy hearing about what people are not doing. Why? Because no one is perfect. It seems that society has trained and conditioned us to be a certain way; that we always need to put our best foot forward. We’re always trying to impress everyone else instead of just being ourselves. You don’t have to be the greenest of green to be the coolest person on your block. Personally, I admire people who can put things out there – it’s inspiring!
I’ll start by giving my confession because even though I may be Ms. “Green Eco Chick”, trust me, I still have a LOT of room for improvement!
- I have a sweets addiction and unfortunately we live RIGHT behind a Plaid Pantry AND a 7-11. That means, yes, both my fiance and I have been known to make midnight (walking) trips to the convenience store leaving with a handful of less-than-nutritious candy bars, cookies and soda.
- While I’ve tried a couple of greener kitty litter options (Swheat Scoop & America’s Best), in the end they haven’t worked and I had to go back to clay litter. I DO have a couple of bags of other stuff (Feline Pine & Good Mews) to try but I won’t experiment with them until after my cats have cleared their “CTD” (cat transmitted disease, otherwise known as parasites that one picked up from the pound. Yes, ewh.)
- I used to do a LOT of modeling. Roughly 2-3 photoshoots a week. I pretty much gave it up a couple of years ago and only do shoots on occasion now (~15 years is enough for me and I have far better things to do these days). Because I modeled I acquired a lot of toxic makeup and beauty products. In an effort to use up what I have, I have some pretty bad stuff in my beauty case, including a REALLY BAD hairspray that has a toxicity level of 7 according to EWG’s cosmetics database. I can’t bring myself to throw it away because it’s a great hairspray and I don’t use it but maybe once a week.
It’s your turn! Confess your eco-sins! Get it off your chest, you’ll feel better. No retaliation, criticism or finger pointing. Are there things you do that you know aren’t very environmentally friendly and that you’d like to change? What habits are you finding hard to give up in order to be greener?
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