I am far from cool.
I have however, been taking quiet notice of the "green" movement that is sweeping our nation. What started out with the young, ipod wearing crowd has now come into the conciousness of soccer moms of America. From magazine articles, advice books, documentaries, and yesterday, Oprah, I have been racking up a list of ways to love our earth, use less, reuse more, and overall "live greener."
I am trying to do this quietly, without bumper stickers. (of course proclaiming this to the blog-world might defeat this.)
As I am making my delicate list of ways to live more earth-conciously, I am noticing some things...namely the fact that these guidelines have been followed by my mother for years.
For those of you that don't know my mom, let me tell you a few things...first of all I can type whatever I want about her and rest assured that she will never know. She doesn't read blogs. She got rid of her rotary-dial phone in the year 2000, and got her first DVD player a week ago. In a nutshell...she lives life at her own pace and doesn't really try to get with the newest fads.
Yet somehow my mother is living green. Here are some of the "hot new tips" she lives by: (Most of these were mentioned on Oprah yesterday)
*wash clothes in cold water and hang clothes up to dry whenever possible
*if using the dryer, make sure the lint trap is clean
*bring your own grocery bags to the store
*use cloth rags to clean instead of paper towels
*turn lights off and unplug things when not in use.
*keep the temperature low in winter and open the windows in summer
*walk instead of driving whenever possible
*donate old clothes
*reuse foil and sandwich bags
*avoid harmful cleaning chemicals, use natural cleaners like Shaklee
*recycle
*use cloth diapers
*wait until the dishwasher is totally full to run it
Even though my mother may be living green, her motivation is more a matter of economics than trendiness. She taught us to use what we own with care and to consume as little as possible. She grew up with the memories of the depression still in the nightmares of her parents and brought these ideas with her into the 80's.
I believe that because most of us in this generation grew up in an era where wealth, ease, and convenience took presidence over environmental issues, we find the idea of restraint and ingenuity new and sexy. My mom, not so much...
These ideas are nothing new to her.
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