“When Trying to Preserve the Planet Strains the Relationship.” A pretty hilarious article about the very First World problem of arguing with your family about environmental issues. My favorite part was: “Her mother, who says she prefers the way food tastes when it is served on Styrofoam, notes that washing dishes has its own environmental costs.” (italics mine) HEE! Luckily the Snook and I are pretty much on the same page when it comes to this stuff. Well, except that he thinks trying to grow our own vegetables is pretty pointless. (Given our limited success in this area, I’m starting to come around to his perspective.) Oh, and he leaves lights on all the time. That drives me crazy.
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I’m with the Snook on growing your own vegetables. I grew up with a very keen gardener father who grew almost all our own vegetables and fruit. As a child I spent countless hours weeding and watering the garden (don’t go there!) which generous applications of pesticides kept mostly healthy and pest-free (don’t go there either). The garden produced much more than we could consume and the neighbours all had gluts of the same vegetables and fruit at the same time we did, at just the time when those vegetables were cheapest to buy. Consequently, my mother and father spent countless hours bottling, preserving and freezing food – most of which we still couldn’t consume. After my father’s death I still had four years supply of (admittedly delicious) home-made tomato sauce. Unless you’re addicted to the act of gardening per se, it’s a huge investment of time and energy for which you have to count the cost.
See, it’s the “admittedly delicious” part of LynS’s comment that keeps us gardening. There is a certain pleasure in getting dirty, and then watching stuff grow, but nothing beats fresh, home-grown tomatos.
We pay for 100% green power, which the Boy thinks entitles us to use all the power we can. I like to point out that it still costs us money….
I agree totally, Julie; it’s just that I’m coming to accept the fact that our flat’s orientation doesn’t allow for enough sunlight to grow really good veg. We can do flowers and herbs and potted stuff, but the veggie patch has been mostly a disappointment. 🙁