Sustain your home. Sustain your planet. Sustain your SELF.
Kimberly Danek Pinkson, Founder of the EcoMom Alliance
Yesterday my son came home from his first fishing trip with, yes, you guessed it, a fish. I was very excited and proud of him until I realized that I would have to help him clean it.
Native Americans talk about the web of life. How everything on this precious planet of ours is woven together just so. How it falls apart when we don’t walk in balance. I don’t eat meat very often, I am not a vegetarian anymore – gave it up during my pregnancy when my body seemed to scream out, "beef, beef, I want beef" – and I always talk about how important it is that kids grow up knowing where their food is coming from, but cutting off the fish’s head and cleaning out the guts? Ugghh, the things we go through in the name of raising children and walking our talk.
But I bucked up, asked Corbin to say a little prayer for the spirit of the fish that gave its life to him and then, we did the deed. And Corbin had him for dinner with garlic and lemon.
Thinking about this web of life is critical to shifting toward a greener lifestyle. As is realizing that this whole thing about trying to stop global warming, while noble and real, is not just about the planet. It is about you. Because sustaining your self, sustaining your home and sustaining your planet, it’s all connected. When push comes to shove, and the organic almonds at Trader Joes have gone up to $6.99 and the conventional almonds are only $3.99, what are you going to do? How much does climate change really mean then? How about your health?
Shortly after I launched the EcoMom Challenge, I was heading to a dinner party and I had been asked to buy strawberries. The locally grown, organic ones were gorgeous, but outrageously expensive. The conventional, pesticide filled ones were much more affordable and I had to buy four flats. The temptation was real.
But then I imagined those toxins being sprayed, the chemicals entering our water supplies, our food chain, our bodies. I thought of the research linking pesticides with cancer, allergies, asthma, hormone disruption etc. etc. I thought of my son swimming in a lake filled with pesticides. And I bought the organic strawberries. I am a single mom working in the world of non-profit (i.e. my pockets don’t run deep), but spending a little more today to prevent my kid from getting sick tomorrow is a cost I can afford.
We live in a sixty-second sound bite world and delayed gratification is not something most of us are good at. We are not used to thinking long term. But if you start to remember that it is all connected, if you start imaging your life as part of a greater web, it really is quite motivating.
So I’m cleaning with baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, lemon, borax and vinegar. My refrigerator is filled with organic food. Corbin’s off his plastic sippy cup. I asked for all organic clothing for my birthday. I’m trying to get a hybrid. But what about how I’m doing sustaining myself?
Well, like many women, that one seems to be the hardest. I try to do one thing at a time. To really be in the moment. I try to get in exercise as often as possible. I try to laugh at myself and not take things too seriously. And I try to play with Corbin as often as I can. I mean really play. Not just sit with him and say, "uh-huh, uh-huh,” while I think about the emails I have to return. This morning I even said no to sitting on another committee. One step at a time. Just like going green.
As for dinner tonight? Well, the methane produced by the cattle industry is second only to cars in terms of CO2 pollution and I just can’t seem to forget that poor little fish. It looks like I might be going back to vegetarianism. Aaah, the web of life.
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Wow. Just wow. How very profound, and it couldn't have come at a better moment for me. Thank you.
I've struggled w/ the expenses too, but seeing as I'm both a teacher and pregnant, the future is something I'll invest in.
Great article! The only thing, don't rush to get a hybrid. The pollution caused by mining and making the batteries for the hybrid is larger than building and running a Hummer for 10 years. I get so frustrated with the damned if you do, damned if you don't. I wish public transportation was better in Atlanta.
Thanks for your article, I am getting started with going green and clean, and trying to eliminate toxins in my household as much as possible. I started by finding non toxic cleaning products as well as personal health care products, I changed my laundry detergent to non toxic and cleaned my rooms with non toxic, antiseptic type products, and my husband has really noticed a difference in his breathing. Our skin and hair feel fresher and healthier with the soaps and hair care products were are using, all non toxic.
I'm so glad I read your story, it is so motivating to hear that there are other people out there who are trying to do the right thing for themselves and others.
The comment about the hybrid is not true. This info was being sent via e-mail by a conservative group that doesn't believe global warming is real. It is true the mine where some of the materials for the batteries come from was once, many decades ago, an enviromental mess. It now has won international awards for the reclamation of the area. As a hybrid owner when this e-mail first started making the rounds I had to research the validity of it.