Green is the Color I Most Wish to Be.

Although we are total slackers here. And now, thanks to Chicken Betty you'll all see where we succeed and where we fall short...

The Guidelines:
1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers
2.Link to whoever tagged you
3.Include meme number
4.Include these guidelines in your post
5.Answer questions (erm - that bit’s quite important)
6.Tag 3 other green bloggers.

Green Meme #1

1. Name two motivations for being green:
I believe, in addition to a whole lot of other stuff, that we were given the Earth as a gift, and that we have a responsibility to care for it and all of the inhabitants thereof. Really that's the only motivation I need. Selfishly for my grandchildren and their grandchildren and so on and so on and so on.

2. Name 2 eco-unfriendly items you refuse to give up:
My electronics media. Laptop, cell, mp3 player, even the tv and dvd player...all disposable crap I could and really should live without but if they die? I run right out and replace them!!
The pathetic ventures to Orlando to visit The Mouse. I...I just can't give it up. I salve my conscience by not letting housekeeping change my sheets or towels, and bringing in water in my own bottle from the tap. But really there's no reaonable excuse.

3. Are you at peace with, or do you feel guilty about no.2?
HAH! See above - no reasonable excuse?! I feel very guilty knowing that I could do better and don't.

5. Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?
110 tons is the U.S. average for a four-person household.
22 tons is the world average.
(calculator here)
I used the detailed calculator, I get 17.7 (phew!). We'd do better if we ate less meat and found another way to heat water. I did another similar calculator just the other day and was kind of sad that it did not give a modified omnivore diet, like one that reduces but does not eliminate meat, or commercial versus locally produced meats. If I could kill off the oil burner and the grid...oh, how happy I would be!

6.What’s eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?
Eco frustrating:
I can only get from here to there via personal auto or bike, even if I am willing to be flexible with scheduling. No trains, no buses, nada.
The cost of renewables, although I guess that's global really. Wood we have, solar we cannot afford in the current marketplace, hybrids cars the same.
Confused Christians who think planet stewardship is not 'their' problem. It's in the Handbook; we are to care for what we're given. There's some confusion on this and it makes me sad. Very sad.

Eco fantastic:
Katywil. We can't partake, or we'd increase our footprint in terms of travel, but it makes me so, so hopeful and happy.
Be a Local Hero program. I remember when this was in it's infancy, and am so glad it thrives. We bear a bumper sticker and we look for the logo.

7. Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow you own?
We eat local where we can, and we support restaurants that serve local food. I shoot for a less than 50 mile range. It's nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be.
Most of our meat is local, although it's difficult as I have a bit of a rule from a very good friend and NP about avoiding farmed fish. Our beef and pork come from a farm we know and do chores at during the farmers' vacations. We eat our own eggs when we can. Since the coyote attack I've had to purchase eggs, which just about kills me.
I buy organic, although Mr. W. cheats with his weekly apple purchase, and sometimes will sneak non-organic bananas in. But then, he's cheap.
We have a garden and we're expanding it, and adding fruit and nut trees. We're rebuilding still from the garden we left behind 4 years ago when we moved.
Right in my yard there's blackberries and black raspberries that have gone all wild, and fiddleheads, and nettles. If I hop in the evil gas sucking vehicle and drive 20 minutes, there's all the blueberries I can carry, for free. I'd be stupid NOT to forage!

8. What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?
We're down to economics now. The solar plan is only held back by cost. The expansion of the chicken outfit to include real meat birds, ditto. A gray water system, composting toilets? All cherished dreams, and all held captive by the new American god, the greenback. Money, money, money, money.

9. Do you have a green confession?
Chocolate. Just. I. Just. I cannot, cannot let go of the deep rich super dark very far away chocolate.
Also. Well, I will bask in a tub of oil-heated water to warm my cold and white toes. Here I assuage my guilt by pointing out that I suffer from Reynauds Syndrome in my toes only, although the fingers have been acting weird this year too, and the warm-water soaks make them not ache to distraction, but really that's lame. Pain builds character, right?! Also yarn. Sigh. Lots and lots of not so green yarn in the stash.

10. Do you have the support of family and/or friends?
Mostly. I encounter fiscal arguments from Mr. W. He'll not flush for yellow, but ask him to shell out twice as much for organic bananas and he goes...well...BANANAS!

Tagging:
Katy
uh oh.
I may be out of green people right there...