OK, I admit it, I’ve not been good to the environment. In the 70’s I thought it was great that my Mum no longer had to take her own bags to supermarket – they provided plastic ones for convenience. How fantastic was that?! Then the 80’s hit and was basically a blur to me – all cigarettes, 2-stroke motorcycles and Big Macs in polystyrene containers. Thinking back, it was not a pretty sight (no I’m not talking about the Big Mac). It was such a different time then and it wasn’t THAT long ago…

I watch movies now from the 80’s and even 90’s and find myself cringing at what we thought acceptable. It’s really quite scary. What is happening to me? I never used to care. I was ‘one of them’…

So fast forward a few years. The eco-revolution has began and while I know a bunch of us ‘get’ it, it appears that not all of us do. The weird thing for me is, why the hell not?

I’ve recycled my household paper and containers every since I moving to California in 1996 , but everybody does that, right? (!) What’s scary is the amount each week that I recycle. That sucker is filled to the brim. Each Thursday evening as I wrestle the trash can down to the sidewalk, part of me feels great that I’m recycling all that waste that would otherwise plop into a landfill somewhere. But then – what IS with all that waste?? It’s really quite obscene. I’m embarrassed.

Now I don’t want to live like a bloody hermit and nibble on the remnants of my home-grown sweet corn (it’s a long story!) but there must be something I can do to reduce the sheer volume of crap that I end up recycling. While it’s good to recycle – I’m assuming that it’s better not to have cycled at all.

Take packaging. That really gets my goat. Do we really need to package tiny little candies individually? The husband of one of my colleagues back in the UK was a scientist and was hired by a food company to design a plastic wrapper that would split when opened – but only about 20% of the time. Yes, the oil industry is one thing – but we’re being manipulated by the food industry too. “Opps – the bag broke, I guess I need to buy another one”.

The good thing is that we’re finally seeing companies waking up to the fact that we’re not going to take it anymore. Just look at all the “green”, “we’ll plant a tree if you buy our thingy” commercials on tv these days. I’m under no illusion that it’s because they want to. It’s because they know we now expect it and that they won’t make as much money unless they at least pay lip service to it. BUT, it does help – whatever the motive behind it.

We just now have to convince everybody else.

For me, the road is still a bumpy one and while I wouldn’t class myself as a perfect greenie, I try each day to make good decisions, Some more socially acceptable than others, though. I’m sorry but I couldn’t help myself and now the act of standing next to somebody at the gym who leaves the water running while chatting with their friend now has me labeled the ‘weirdo locker room lady’…

Whatever!