Week 18
My week was marked by coming down with a horrible flu and staying home and in bed Tuesday through Friday. Only after the weekend did I finally start to feel better again. While Adam and I haven’t been sick much this year, one thing I have learned is that being sick equals garbage creation. I’ve talked before about this, but it’s worth mentioning again – being garbage-free is a mindset, and a large part of this mindset is maintaining a positive, can-do attitude. When I feel sick, I don’t lose the motivation to be garbage free, but I want instant gratification and symptom relief, which often equals cold medicine trapped inside some garbage-producing plastic bottle or blister pack. So, with my flu came the associated packaging garbage – a foil packet from ThermaFlu, the plastic seal from a Dayquil bottle, etc. Part of the problem was, like I said, that when I’m feeling so poorly, I don’t have the time, effort, or desire to scour the shelves for a garbage-free product. The other half of the problem is that in the medical industry, often a garbage-free option simply doesn’t exist. I think this is because we perceive sanitary to mean single use and safety-sealed. So, with the flu came a handful of miscellaneous plastic bits added to the shoebox. A tip, though, from Adam: the little silica gel freshness packs that come in many pill bottles can earn a second life living in a camera bag, where they suck out any moisture, protecting your equipment. Cool.
We also started our Christmas shopping on Saturday, believe it or not. It was surreal that we took down Halloween decorations one day and were out holiday shopping the next, but there you go. The stores had their holiday displays set up and one was already playing Christmas music. I came home with a poinsettia for my living room. I love this time of year, and I’m starting to think that it may be the hardest time to be “garbage free,” because for me, the holidays are steeped in tradition. Part of the joy of the holiday season is doing things the way they’ve been done for generations, and being garbage free means some of those traditions have to be adjusted. In some areas, I don’t mind, like wrapping presents in holiday fabric instead of paper, but I’m going to have a hard time not putting candy canes on my tree come December. Most of my garbage energies are being put toward waste-free holidays, so if I come up with any creative solutions, I’ll be sure to post them here.
4 comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
As I was cleaning out my wallet I found that I had two old business cards that belong to my husband. To look high-tech they had the cards printed on plastic! And then they changed their name and printed on another plastic!!
Business cards have been used in many a craft project in past years. Old cards also make great places to write notes or lists that easily fit in my purse. The reason I was cleaning my wallet was to find another business card that the owner had written some information out for my possible future purchase. How can one write on plastic?? I don’t want to know what hundreds of people working for this company have done with their hundreds of plastic cards…So many people are becoming aware and then others are so clueless!!
Your blog keeps me thinking as I buy and do things.
We do have some natural remedies from Ayurvedic practice, which is still very popular. Meds come in glass bottles or paper packs. Though some of them are moving in the wrong direction by packaging in plastic bottles and containers. Problem with Ayurvedic medicines is that the scientific backing is pretty weak, the knowledge gets transferred in families and they never wrote things down why some things work or not. But that really is the natural way to be garbage free meds unless you are in serious trouble. But then Ayurveda focuses on preventive stuff than quick fixes(which are unavoidable in modern societies).
So sorry to hear you are sick with the flu! Yuk! Anyway, being sick has to make it tough to fight the good fight but your sacrafice is good for the rest of us! When living this lifestyle forethought is one of your most valuable tools! Its not a question of if you will get sick but of when, so shopping for green meds while your feeling good to stock up on is a good idea, they last a few years on your shelf so even if you don’t need them right away!
Hello there,
Well done for what must be a fairly unique operation. Let’s hope you prove during the year that it’s possible, and you (and others, like me!) won’t stop there!
Question : why no candy (you don’t want to make any?)?
And why a tree (the one seems obvious to you, the tree, which is controversial in itself in terms of natural vs synthetic, or grown specifically only to be thrown away…will you be digging up the one you used
last year?)