It’s Earth Day 2010. Awesome! But, then what?

Today is Earth Day! It’s a great day to raise awareness about ways we can help the earth and the environment. I love that there is a day dedicated to making “loving the earth” more mainstream and helping people understand that there are ways to make different choices in their lives that would really make an impact on a better tomorrow for our children.

But, what happens tomorrow, the next day, next month, and next year? Will you still have as strong a commitment to making environmentally-friendly choices as you do today? For some people, the answer is emphatically YES! And, for some others, the answer will not be as straight-forward.

I can’t think of anyone that would say “I really want to trash this planet”. Instead, I believe most people are pulled toward wanting healthier, more environmentally friendly choices in their lives. However, people are sometimes challenged to make those choices due to a variety of factors such as finances, product availability, education, and potential inconvenience.

I think that the real message for Earth Day should be that there is huge “spectrum” of choices on the vast path to leading a more earth-friendly (EF) lifestyle. Sometimes, that spectrum can seem daunting and overwhelming. I am a FIRM believer in taking SMALL, INCREMENTAL “baby steps” in order to improve the overall eco–friendiness in our household. If you look at the big picture of the number of things that are effecting our health and our environment, it is so very easy to become discouraged and feel like just doing your part won’t make a difference. But, that is exactly the position we can’t take. We have to be resolved in the fact that if each of us just made small changes in our lives, the impact of our combined efforts will be HUGE.

I started my journey to research a healthier and more “EF” lifestyle around the time I was pregnant with my 2 and a half year old. And, in that time, we have made some significant and not so significant changes in our home. We started out by just really paying attention to our recycling habits, trying to drink water out of our own stainless steel bottles, and trying to look at the chemical cleaners that were in the house.

Since then, it’s all been about trial and error. And, sometimes, trial and huge success. I am really committed to being MORE “EF” in our lives, but I will be the first one to tell you that if it doesn’t work for our family, I’m not going to do it. I’ve decided to remove all of the guilt and the overwhelm out of this process, and it’s been much more enjoyable for all of us as a result.

These are a few things that we are doing daily now:

• ALL trash needs to be scrupulously evaluated to see if it could be recycled.
• We no longer buy plastic water bottles. If we need to take a beverage on-the-go we try to remember our own stainless steel bottles.
• I will only use natural cleaning products in our house. We love our Sun and Earth products. They work just as well (they REALLY do) and they don’t cost more than the chemical-filled conventional cleaners.
• I primarily use natural/organic hygiene products. There are a few exceptions (I will not give up my beloved Cetaphil face cleanser), but we do use natural body washes, shampoos, conditioners, and toothpastes.
• We use CFL lightbulbs
• We buy paper towels, toilet paper and napkins that are made from recycled paper. I recognize that the more “EF” option would be to use cloth, but that doesn’t work for my lifestyle so this is my compromise position and I feel good about that. My favorite brand is Marcal Smart Steps.
• I *try* to remember my reusable bags at the store, but if I forget, we ALWAYS save the plastic bags for my grocery store’s plastic bag recycling program
• We try hard to conserve water and not waste water by unnecessarily running the taps.

Most of our focus right now, though, has been around our food choices. In the last few years, we’ve moved very slowly towards more organic and natural food in our house. It’s so hard to put a number on it, but I would say we eat about 50 or 60% organic. I will only buy organic milk and dairy products. And, I try hard to buy organic, grass fed meats when possible. Although, calling it “organic” eating doesn’t really tell the whole story.

There are also the local, sustainable food choices we make, like joining a CSA each summer (we love the CSA at Milky Way Farm). They do not offer “certified organic” foods, but I know that he does follow mostly organic farming practices, I know that his food is FRESH and hasn’t been trucked across the country, and I am helping to support a farmer in my community!

And then there are the non-organic food products we buy in the house that are not organic, but are the better choice than traditionally processed foods. For example, when I shop at Trader Joe’s I sometimes buy Organic foods, but sometimes I don’t. But, I always feel better about my purchases from TJ’s because I know that NOTHING in their store contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), GMO’s, and other risky additives that compromise your health. When at the traditional grocery store, I just try to make good choices based on ingredient lists and do the best I can for my family within my own boundaries (financial, time investment, convenience, etc).

I still have a long road ahead of me to transform my family’s eating habits, but I am proud of the progress I have made. We just keep adding new things to our lists in order to keep making progress on our journey.

If you are looking for a good resource for starting to introduce “Real” or “Whole” Foods to your family, I highly recommend you check out the posts that my friend Jo-Lynne has published on her blog documenting the things she has tried and how she started on this journey. I love that Jo-Lynne is a very busy mom like me and can show me in a non-judging and non-threatening way how small steps can be taking to “clean up” the foods you are eating. Her resource page is top-notch!

But, wanting to make the choices is one thing. Being able to afford an all-Organic diet is quite another. I’ve read article after article discussing the perceived, and not so perceived high cost of eating organic and natural foods. I can really see both sides of the argument, however I am someone who has the luxury (and I DO realize it is a huge luxury) of not really having to budget grocery purchases and being able to afford most organic/natural products that I want to buy. So, when I read this article by Shannan Powell last week, it stopped me in my tracks and made me think. What about the people who want to do more, but can’t?

While I do not think that I am one of the people that tend to judge and criticize people for not eating organic/natural foods (I firmly believe my choices are my own), I do see people who are ugly, critical, mean-spirited, and antagonistic about proclaiming their righteousness by eating organically and in their condemnation of those who do not. As I said above, I think people inherently want to give their families the best food possible. I’ve never heard anyone say “I love processed, additive-laden food”, but sometimes processed food IS what is possible based on availability of food and people’s budgets. Making Mom feel guilty about making the choice to eat in general, even if it is processed, is counter-productive and a huge waste of time.

Critics are barking up the wrong tree when they rally against consumers for not “voting with their shopping dollar” and buying organic. I am sorry, but that argument only holds water if you have the money to vote with. So, the “haves” may be able to vote with their food budget dollars, but the “have nots” need other ways to make their voices heard.

As Shannan suggests, the better use of time and effort in this scenario is to start the discussion about making huge, revolutionary changes to our food processing and food distribution systems. Have you seen the movie Food, Inc? It’s a great place to start to find out the ugly truth about how food industry giants and the government have partnered to make processed foods the cheaper alternatives in the marketplace. There is reason for that, and it is shocking.

What’s the answer here? I really don’t know. But, what I do know is that as a community we can really make some changes and make our voices heard. Organic/natural foods NEED to become the “norm” in America. We deserve healthy food choices to nourish our bodies. But, we need healthy food to be affordable so that everyone who deserves healthy food can get it.

So, I’m really glad that there is such a thing called Earth Day so that these discussions can be started. What I’d love to see is that the conversation continues today and every day!

I’d love to hear what you think. What do you do in your life to be more eco-friendly and do you eat organic foods as part of your regular diet? How do you budget for those purchases? How do you think we could impact some change so that healthy food becomes affordable food for everyone?

~Shannon