Green with Envy, Riddled with Guilt

Clean Slate

January 5, 2009 at 10:15 pm Leave a comment

The holidays. They’re over now (phew), but I’m still feeling the aftershocks. It’s time for a confession.

Christmas is about gifts, and this year I bought a lot of them, made a couple (too few), and received even more. There might be a recession on, and Americans might have experienced a leaner holiday this year, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the mountain of loot that I brought home on December 26th. It’s worth noting that a few of the consumer goods I received were fairly green – I got a compost bin, some gardening tools, and a gift certificate to buy vegetable seeds from Seeds of Change. I also wrapped the presents that I gave in the paper that I saved last year. But for the most part, this Christmas was a nauseating display of consumption and waste.

And there was also food. Too much of it. And lots of alcohol to wash it down. I ate until my stomach hurt on more than one occasion, and threw a New Years party which resulted in a morning-after recycling bag full of bottles and cans whose girth rivaled that of my 1995 volvo sedan. Even a couple of days ago I caught myself eating and drinking to the point of gluttony, excusing my behavior with the pathetic phrase, “it’s the holidays, right?” No, it wasn’t the holidays. It was January.

And it still is January, which means that I’ve still got an opportunity to repent for my holiday season sins and start 2009 with a clean slate. I’m not sure if I want to make an actual resolution, although I did have success with last year’s resolution (there’s a snot-filled hanky on the table next to me as I write this now). The changes that I want to make are too many and too big to be grouped into a single resolution, but if I were to have to make one big umbrella resolution, it would be to cut back. It’s time to trim the fat off my lifestyle, to get rid of wasteful habits and to embrace an attitude of asceticism. Less is more in 2009. Clear is the new black. My new years shopping tip: don’t go shopping.

We’ll see how well this goes. I’m easing into it – for starters, no more paper towels (I’ve got lots of dish cloths, anyway). Maybe then I’ll work my way up to something bigger (no clothes shopping for a year?). Let me know if you’ve got ideas.

Entry filed under: conservation, guilty displeasures, rant time, Uncategorized. Tags: "green living", environment, green, Gwen Schantz, holiday, living, new year, New York, seasonal, sustainable.