photo credit: Ignacio Leonardi - www.ignacioleonardi.com.ar
I’m prepared to be pinched today but not for the reasons you might be thinking. For those who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I have struggled to come to terms with the green movement.
I am of the mindset that the eating habits of our country need to change as does the food manufacturing processes. However, I do not believe in the fool idea that we can rid our grocery shelves of preservatives, sugar, and other refined foods. I also think you’re a fool if your thought process is that if we just add healthy things to unhealthy foods that will make it all better. (That would be the Mary Poppins theory of food reform – a spoonful of sugar.)
So I’ve decided that it is not necessary for me to go green. At least not full monty anyway. In our home we are trying to eat healthier and live better but we also have come to learn that it’s going to cost us more to do that (and before anyone tries to tell me otherwise watch this video interview with Alice Waters on Charlie Rose where she herself, (yes she the “queen of green”) admits it is a more expensive lifestyle.) The city charges us to recycle, food on the store perimeters are more expensive, we live in a rental and our garden plot has been limited to a two foot by six foot plot. We do what we can.
For the rest of you who can’t decide how much to buy into with all of the hootin’ and hollerin of the two sides of this debate here are some tips that I’ve decided to live by with my family:
Eat the best you can – shop first on the perimeter of the grocery store and then make targeted stops down the aisles (don’t wander up and down waiting for something to grab you). Oh and a special refined flour treat won’t bring to pass the end of the world.
Keep reading – Educate yourself about who, what, how, where, and why your food is being grown, processed, handled, and shipped.
Turn on your brains – and then listen to both sides of the argument. Tell your local and federal governments that yes you want chocolate, and soda, and ice cream. But that you’d also like to buy clean produce for less than the arm and a leg we’re asked to sacrifice now.
Accentuate the positive – applaud companies who are working to improve their processes don’t condemn them because they are still in the business of making bottled water and sugary treats! We live in a capitalistic society they’ll make what we consume and there is nothing wrong with running a business for profit first that’s why it’s called a business.
So yes, I will have some green in my life this fine Saint Patrick’s Day but not enough to make me invisible to the green meanies who think we should all live in solar paneled yurts eating only locally grown, organic, foods seasoned with salt we “farmed” ourselves, and on and on and on.
