Green with Children

My Work Here is Done

Progress is green. It's natural. Just like tomato plants, fish, mosquitoes, gorillas and every other living creature--we humans grow and change.

When I look back at my first blogs versus where I am today, I marvel at how much I've grown. In one of those first entries, I struggled with convincing my children not to use sandwich bags and juice boxes. Now I don't even own sandwich bags; instead I have a growing collection of reusable drink bottles and food containers.

Not that I seek his approval, but that kooky Texan T. Boone Pickens would be proud because I use clean wind power. All our lightbulbs are CFLs. My car might attract insults, but it never idles. My garbage is recycled. If I forget a canvas bag, I will carry my items out of the store in my hands.

I started a vegetable garden, and I just joined this cool food co-op called Purple Dragon. Now my food is locally grown whenever possible, and always grown by small organic or environmentally conscientious farmers. (Find something like this where you live by visiting Local Harvest.)

I visit the library for nearly all my reading. I shop at thrift stores to clothe my perpetually elongating boys. We put cloth napkins in our laps and wipe up spills with dishtowels. When we wash those napkins and towels, we hang them out to dry on a line in the sun.

For me, before this blog, going green was a massive but virtuous commitment to be avoided, like quitting sugar or finally getting rock-hard abs. The truth is that this has not been such a laborious process (unlike that abs thing). It has not been about making sacrifices that rob me of life's conveniences and pleasures (unlike that sugar thing). If anything, I find life to be simpler and more satisfying. With this blog as a constant motivator, I have succeeded at shrinking my family's carbon footprint. When the editorial director of the Green Guide proposed this idea last year, he gave me leeway to vent and complain about what didn't work. I sheepishly confess that I don't have many complaints.

A huge side effect? It's made me realize that like a well-tended plant, your mind can perpetually grow and expand. Change is a daily part of my life now and I don't fear it anymore. I don't make excuses for why a new idea will be too complicated or too difficult. I just give it a try.

So when Jeff suggested I take this blog bigger, I didn't laugh in his face. After all, the Green Guide is going in a new direction and blogs like mine will be fading from this site. My work here is done. It's time for something new.

For years a couple of friends of mine routinely called me for tips on where to get the best Greek mezethes, metallic wedge sandals, children's books, discount designer clothing, petticoats for saris and just about anything else. They had a joke that whenever they needed information, they only needed to Just Ask Alix. So that's the name of my new blog. Keep reading.

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog

The Fruits of My Labor

It's time for me to proudly report on the progress of my backyard organic garden. Homegrown tomatoes are a feature at every dinner now, and I eat them with a little salt throughout the day. I have more peppers than I know what to do with, the cucumbers are on their way, and every visit to the garden rewards me with a small handful of green beans to crunch as well.

My "organic pest-repellent"--namely, the way my sons peed in the garden--seems to have been successful. I've yet to be looted by woodland vandals. My zucchinis are a total flop, perhaps due to the soggy humidity of this summer, but that's okay. As long as I have homegrown tomatoes, I don't mind.

It's hard to blog about your garden without predictably waxing on about the joys of being out there, the flavor of pride, the connection to "the land." It's all true. What surprised me was how everyone else responded to the garden. It's like a new baby. People express a measure of wonder at the plants and their products. It's like a little six-foot square of good in the backyard.

The way the boys marvel is the best part for me. Dex and Julius are transfixed by the wee little cucumbers spiking their way into being. They shout whenever they spot a reddening tomato. They love to hunt for the camouflaged green beans on the vine.

Understand, when these guys are outside, it's usually to noisily crash scooters into the curb or engage in some other vaguely Mad Max-like play. The way they slow down and focus when presented with the garden is revealing. It's the same when they encounter a spider or a caterpillar, to be honest.

When my nephew visited, the three of them would delicately step onto the wooden plank inside my garden, tussling over space. Their little bodies tucked beneath the tomato vines, the wire fence of cucumbers, the pepper plants--it looked like a painting.

Dexter starts kindergarten in September, and one reason I chose to send him to Seth Boyden Elementary was the teaching gardens each classroom tends. I can see that these kids are going to learn more out there than can possibly be evaluated on a statewide test.

Modern society has done its best to muffle our connection to nature, but this summer's garden has proven to me that nature is like a part of the family--the connection is impossible to deny.

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog

The Truth about Going Green

When you live in relative affluence--the fridge has food, the kids have everything they need, your neighborhood is safe, you occasionally go to dinner or a movie, maybe even take a vacation once or twice a year--it's easy to lose sight of how dramatically different life is for the rest of the world. Maybe even for your neighbor.

This weekend, I realized it's like that about going green, too.

I have been surrounded by friends and neighbors as attuned to environmentalism as I am, if not more. We actively work to conserve energy and water, none of us use paper napkins, and we dramatically limit our paper towel use. I don't even own any Ziploc bags anymore--snacks and lunches get packed in reusable containers. This summer's backyard barbecues remind me that I live in a bubble.

Outside my bubble, where most Americans exist, paper plates, paper napkins, paper towels, single-serving water bottles and idling motors are the norm. Meals are routinely served on paper in the summer, lemonade is sipped from plastic cups, and water comes in a 12-oz. plastic bottle. When they toss that bottle into a recycling bin, they feel they've done their part.

These parties are fantastic for all the right reasons--great friends and family enjoying delicious food, drinks, laughs, music and, of course, the summer. I was constantly distracted by waste, however. Paper plates were abandoned after a small serving of potato salad. Plastic cups were lost or abandoned half-full. Often, the recycling cans were not clearly marked. I've become some sort of recycling freak.

At one party, Julius managed to coat his hands and arms to the elbows with dirt. When I took him in to wash his hands in the bathroom, I sucked my teeth at the paper towel in lieu of a hand towel. Then I laughed at my own righteous indignation. I'm writing a blog about going green. Of course I'm going to be doing more than the average person. As much as I do find my new "eco-mommy" life as easy as, if not easier (and cheaper) than, my "trashy mommy" life, it still looks like a big leap from there to here from outside my bubble.

For years, I fully believed that we had many environmental problems, but I did nothing about it. Once I decided to try, each step toward a more eco-mommy lifestyle led me to the next. The decisions became easier as the greener options consistently proved to be simpler. Soon, my eco-consciousness infused the way I think about almost everything. And now I live inside my green bubble.

It's so hard to pull people into the bubble without sounding preachy, tedious or superior. This isn't converting to an ancient religion. It's more like learning to drive a stick shift. Sticks will make you appreciate your automatic more, make you more aware of how a car operates, and ultimately--in my opinion--make you a better driver.

And lest you think I'm too high on my horse, one host did take a step toward environmentalism that I myself can't do. A flat, warmish keg of beer was offered in lieu of cans or bottles.

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog (3)