It isn't easy being green - especially when you're urban and love Thai take out. But I'm sure gonna try.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tap into Your Inner Little House

Oh how I wanted to be Laura Ingalls. I can still see Melissa Gilbert running through the grass with an adorable shaggy mutt running behind...da da da da da da.... Nelly was as nasty as could be, and who didn't want to marry Almonzo? Now those were simpler times.

I'm not suggesting we all go out and shoot and skin a bear so that we can stay warm this winter. Certainly there have been many, many important advances that have vastly improved the qualities of our lives. But with these advances came all sorts of complexities that we now view as the norm. Cosmetic and food products need to have preservatives to give them shelf stability, and the downside of our gas powered cars are their emissions. These are just two examples.

My parents and in-laws are frequently irritated that I complicate their lives by sending them out of their way to buy products at farmers' markets and health food stores.

"There are no organic vegetables in our town!" My father will gripe.

But I found a local organic market that is a ten minute drive from his house.  True, the food there is more expensive, but the extra money spent supports the local farmer who picked and delivered spectacular cherry tomatoes just the day before.

"It's not easy to buy your special soap at Stop and Shop," my mother-in-law whines. "And plastic wrap on our food in the microwave keeps the food from drying out. If they sell it, it must be safe."

My family members have too much faith in the system and not enough faith in our ecosystem.

I say, "What would the Ingalls Family do?"

The entire family would hop into their horse-drawn cart and drive for an hour to support their local baker or to pick up groceries from their local shopkeeper. In fact, they would be joyful about it, and they would probably play games and sing. Maybe someone would even play a harmonica!

Finding stores, farmers and companies committed to providing healthier, more earth friendly options shouldn't be seen as a complication. It should be seen as embracing a simplified lifestyle. I don't want to put anyone out, I just want food whose ingredients make sense to me: milk, eggs, sugar, water. I don't want ingredients I can't pronounce in my food or slathered on my body. That's complicated!

And it doesn't stop there. Do you think the Ingalls family cooked their food with radioactive rays? What would they think about wireless networks?  If they left their lights on all night, their homes would burn down.

Don't panic. I'm not getting all conspiracy theory, lets-go-live-on-a-commune on you. I'm just saying the world we've created is much more complicated than it is healthy. And the only way to make it healthier is to make healthier choices. Where you spend your money and what you spend it on tells the system what you will and won't put up with.

Try not to think about making lifestyle changes as making your life more complicated. Instead think of it as liberating yourself. Imagine yourself running through a grassy field with rosy cheeks and braids flying in the wind.

Tap into your inner Little House. If that doesn't cut it for you, try the Waltons.

Goodnight John Boy.

1 comment:

  1. You're off to a great start! Looking forward to reading more.

    ReplyDelete