To Whom It May Concern...

… in the  U.S. "Nag People About the Environment” camp:

I’ll be 40 soon. I’ve lived some life and, as I’m gearing up for the Great Birthday, let me just say,

“I’ve had it with the guilt.” 

Guess what, tree-huggers of the planet -  I am a human being, I live on this planet, I’m gonna leave a “footprint.”

In fact, I’m SUPPOSED to leave a “footprint,” if I didn’t something would be terribly wrong.

My personal choices ARE pretty full of  tree-huggery:

• I only eat organic, WHEN I can find it (I’m not crazy, I’ll eat whatever, but I try to use my brain whenever possible.)
• I get my kids vaccinated but I turn down all the “add ons”  - no flu vaccines for us.
• We drink water that comes from a glass container, shipped to us from Arkansas-no fluorinated, chlorinated water if I can help it.
• I hate plastic and have been known to layer every evil plastic container and every piece of plastic wrap with paper towels just to avoid any of it touching my food. In fact, we have NO carpet (yes, it’s plastic) in the living areas of my house, at all.
• The recycle bin at my house is always full.
• My kids sugar intake is ridiculously low, compared to most of the rest of the USA. My kids think most sugar comes with a fruit skin on it. (I have been known to THROW OUT Halloween candy - horrors!)
• We do not drink any sodas - diet or otherwise. In fact, IF I order a two liter Coke with our pizza it often gets THROWN OUT before we finish it. And, it’s a big deal - my hubby will ask, 

“Oh, it’s been one of THOSE days, huh?”

• I really abide by the “if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn't be eating it,” mentality when it comes to food. I AM that annoying woman in the grocery aisle reading the back of every package. In fact, if we use it at all, I better be able to pronounce the ingredients. (Everything that we use in the house is as close to “natural” as I can get it, from toothpaste to toilet bowl cleaner.)
• I had a doula and a mid-wife with my third birth which was an underwater birth and definitely the best birth of the three. 
• I do "Parelli Natural Horsemanship" with Horse which, even in the horse-world, makes me a bit of a "touchy-feely" weirdo.

(Some of my choices aren't are so full of tree-huggery:

• I wear a diamond ring that my husband gave me when we got married, I have no idea if it is “conflict free” or is a “blood diamond.”  I’m thinking I’m gonna keep wearing it.
• I drive a gas guzzling, non-hybrid, keeping my kids safe, hauling my horse, F-150 TRUCK.
• I eat meat. There, I said it. And, I have no intention of not eating it. My body was designed to eat it. Carnivores on this planet eat other animals lower than them in the food chain. I am a carnivore. It sucks, I’m not arguing that point. It is the way that it is in this world.  Survival of the fittest, rules. I think it sucks what is done to animals in the name of “growing” them for consumption. It should change, laws should be passed, agreed. I’m not gonna stop eating my hamburgers because somebody else is acting like a fool. That said, I do buy “grass-fed, organic beef” when possible. It’s not possible, a lot.
• I breast-fed my kids as much as I could and then I put them on formula. I KNOW! FORMULA!!!  <sarcasm>  Hello, it ain’t rat poison. The point is to FEED your kids. Kids, fed.
• Hold on to your hats, I hate to admit this, it is soooo heinous -I used disposable diapers on all my babies!  Egads-shocker! )

Most of my choices would put me in the category of  “Tree-Hugger-Wanna-Be” and you know what? Even I’m tired of the guilt and the confusion. We’re all just doing the best we can with what we’ve got to do it with.

Our culture gives me a whole supermarket full of aisles of stuff to buy, urges me to be a good little consumer and then you nag me when I don’t consume the correct stuff.  In fact, you are always nagging me to buy the next earth-friendly thing. I’m beginning to feel like it’s all just a ploy to get me to BUY more stuff.


It’s not that I don’t think the environment should be protected.


It’s not that I don’t want to do my part,

but, believe me, Big Business is doing far
far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far
more damage to the environment than I ever will,
in my whole lifetime.

Pick on them for a change.

Kay?

Thanks!

     -A-Girl