Confessions of an Un-Eco-Friendly Mom

[The mountains. Because who doesn't love the mountains? Go earth!]

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit (but evidently not too embarrassing, because I am blogging about it), but at my heart, I am a terribly un-eco friendly person. I really do love the earth. One of my research areas is corporate social responsibility and the types of environmental disclosures that companies make. We have curbside recycling. I save our plastic bags from the store to use for scooping cat litter (okay, my husband uses them) or for taking lunches. But when push comes to shove, I seem to always choose convenience over being eco-friendly. Such as: 

10. Plastic spoons - There is a meme going around about how it's pretty sad that it is more convenient to manufacture and use a plastic spoon than to walk across the room and wash the darn spoon. But for large groups of people, plastic spoons are a godsend. Or for packing school lunches and not having to worry about what gets put away. Or.... 

9. Disposable Diapers - Okay, my kids aren't in diapers now. But I used disposable diapers completely for both kids. Not only that, but I had no guilt about either, which kind of makes me feel guilty that I had no guilt. 

8. Plastic bags - When the check-out person says, "Is plastic okay?" I always respond, "Sure." I justify it that we do use the plastic bags, and some (like cat litter) they are pretty irreplaceable. But it would probably be even better to use reusable bags, which we do own, but do we ever remember to take to the store? Noooooo. 

7. Fast food - Fast food is terrible for everything, including the environment. Enough said. 

6. Throwing away glass bottles - We have curbside recycling, but the company states that they do not pick up glass bottles. Consequently, our garage starts to resemble a Glass Factory as all of the glass containers pile up, and therefore I sometimes will (whispering) throw them away. I know. I am terrible. 

5. Unorganic or GMO food doesn't bother me - I figure we are very lucky to be faced with a problem of food abundance versus food scarcity, which is how I justify my non-eco-friendly food choices. 

4. I love paper towels - it's true. I think paper towels and paper napkins and TOILET PAPER (Best Invention Ever) are great. I try to conserve their use, but I love them, even though I'm sure cloth napkins and whatnot would be 103 times better for the environment. 

3. I love printing off papers - I am one of those people whom the Computer Age has unleashed a Paper Tiger. I think I print off any article over 10 pages that I have to read at work. My office looks like a Paper Shrine with all of the filed and marked up and accumulated papers. And I love it. 

2. Individual Servings - I am a sucker for individual-serving-sized food items. For example, a bag of baby carrots? Waaaaay too much work to pack in my lunch. The same baby carrots but pre-divided into four smaller plastic bags that are already portioned out for a serving size? Heaven. 

1. Gardening and I are Not Friends - I come by this naturally, though. Once, growing up, each member of our family got a plant to take care of, which was supposed to be indestructible. The longest-lasting one made it . . . 8 months. We are awesome. 

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So, there you go. I am a terribly un-eco-friendly mom. Where do you fall on the spectrum?