One enviromental walkathon and lo presto....i morphed into a more sensitive and caring for Mother Earth "me".
Started with the basics - no leather, more cotton (not sure if the cotton trees would be happy about this), and definitely NO silk. I've been good so far about not buying and avoiding silk as much as I can (they had to mummy-wrap me on my wedding day), thanks to a book that i read when young, which graphically described about how the silk worms die in their cocoons during the silk-making process. The author thus successfully managed, to emotionally scar the heck out of me - for life.
Ok, so I decided to venture further and explore new frontiers. No plastic bags for groceries was next on the agenda. My neighborhood shop keepers who used to sweetly coo in my ears (sales people here can go either extreme- be very rude and ignore you completely or start stalking you behind with overt politespeak) whenever i go in, are starting to hate me now and asking me, "What do you want us to do again, maaam? You mean drop the veggies in this dull and gawdy juuute bag?" I thought they'll get over this initially, but no. Every time, i'll show my bag and they'll say the same thing, we have perfected this routine now. Their strategy is to see how they can wear me down, but ha.....i don't give up that easily.
Back at home, my friend got me a compost bin (got to keep up with the Janeses), which over time, turns all the daily food wastes into sweet-smelling manure. Of course, watching tasty, cooked eatables turning into rotten clumps of sod is not easy on the eyes and definitely not the nose, but hey, anything for organic compost, right? My maid is giving me the killer looks these days which confirms her worst fears that i've lost it completely but....no one can stop me now.
I have more on my agenda. Have to get my steel pots exchanged for mud ones. This is more for selfish health reasons than saving the Earth, but seriously, it's a cool thing now to cook in earthen ware. Not making this up. When i announced this to my cook, he has threatened to give me the notice, so i'm kind of easing it on him slowly. Even one irritated cook can spoil the broth and worse, give you the ulcers, right?
Moral of the day....polluting is easy. Cleaning up is not.
Started with the basics - no leather, more cotton (not sure if the cotton trees would be happy about this), and definitely NO silk. I've been good so far about not buying and avoiding silk as much as I can (they had to mummy-wrap me on my wedding day), thanks to a book that i read when young, which graphically described about how the silk worms die in their cocoons during the silk-making process. The author thus successfully managed, to emotionally scar the heck out of me - for life.
Ok, so I decided to venture further and explore new frontiers. No plastic bags for groceries was next on the agenda. My neighborhood shop keepers who used to sweetly coo in my ears (sales people here can go either extreme- be very rude and ignore you completely or start stalking you behind with overt politespeak) whenever i go in, are starting to hate me now and asking me, "What do you want us to do again, maaam? You mean drop the veggies in this dull and gawdy juuute bag?" I thought they'll get over this initially, but no. Every time, i'll show my bag and they'll say the same thing, we have perfected this routine now. Their strategy is to see how they can wear me down, but ha.....i don't give up that easily.
Back at home, my friend got me a compost bin (got to keep up with the Janeses), which over time, turns all the daily food wastes into sweet-smelling manure. Of course, watching tasty, cooked eatables turning into rotten clumps of sod is not easy on the eyes and definitely not the nose, but hey, anything for organic compost, right? My maid is giving me the killer looks these days which confirms her worst fears that i've lost it completely but....no one can stop me now.
I have more on my agenda. Have to get my steel pots exchanged for mud ones. This is more for selfish health reasons than saving the Earth, but seriously, it's a cool thing now to cook in earthen ware. Not making this up. When i announced this to my cook, he has threatened to give me the notice, so i'm kind of easing it on him slowly. Even one irritated cook can spoil the broth and worse, give you the ulcers, right?
Moral of the day....polluting is easy. Cleaning up is not.