I’m not as environmentally friendly as I’d like to be because I like stuff. Since all stuff becomes garbage eventually, I’m more of a garbage-y person than someone who distains stuff.

I can deeply enjoy hand-me-down or reclaimed stuff, I’m nervous about thrifting at stores or garage sales. It reminds me of childhood and wigs me about bedbugs. I want trustworthy stuff, and more than that, I want it wrapped up with a label that has a good font on it. I like fonts and matte finishes with interesting colours but not too busy. Whitespace. And I like items that are shaped beautifully or are interesting.

I am a sucker for style.  

Me. I’m who they’re marketing to.

I also am not good at buying organics. Well, they’re pricey unless you go across the border to Trader Joe’s. (Trader Joe’s has some nice labels.) And that’s not terribly local – I do try to buy local. Only everyone will need to help me pretend that pineapple and bananas are grown in the Okanagan. 

Also tomato paste in cans.

So what’s been happening, as my id’s heard some sort of environmental directive, is that my parsimony and my greed for nice stuff have married to produce an affinity with “reusable stuff that reduces our waste and also is styled such that it reads as roughly middle class bohemian (with a side of twee.)”

I think it probably really started with my menstrual cup. Not many stories start there, I’ll bet, but the idea of getting rid of the litter during my cycle lead me to lunapads; and lunapads made me realize I could get cute sets of stuff that would make me feel like I had stuff for Good and not Evil.

We have the reusable grocery bags, but they don’t match, and therefore I don’t like them in quite the same way. I think I like sets, matched on some ethic even if they’re all unique. (Like pottery, for example.) I have a few reusable produce bags I’m trying out – Carebags, they’re called – which are like see through spandex mesh for your veggies. THEY MAY BECOME A SET, YET.

And yesterday I ordered reusable snack and sandwich bags from Etsy.. I didn’t even know! We’ve been doing wash-and-reuse plastic bags, but they get sticky and bizarre after a couple times, so now I am happy!

Etsy’s so cool.