Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

Yup- did it again, standing at the check out with no canvas bag. Once again, I carted the groceries to the car, but this time there was a full cart, not just OJ and apples. Luckily there was a big box in my trunk that I had just emptied a bunch of used books out of. I filled it with my groceries, proud of my ingenuity. When I got home I just carried the box upstairs. Such an elegant solution – that is until it broke and I dumped the groceries, eggs and all, at the top of the stairs. However… I did save 8 -10 plastic bags!


It has become obvious to me that I need a two prong approach.
1. I need a reusable shopping bag that fits in my purse, LIVES in my purse. I found a great selection at ReusableBags.com
I am still waiting for it to arrive, but I have high hopes for this.
2. In the event that I forget to put the reusable bags back into my purse after emptying them, which is likely given my current track record, I need a back-up system. I just purchased a plastic (the ubiquitous plastic) milk crate from Wal-Mart (boy, it’s hard to stay pure) and now I keep that in the trunk of my car.


This turned out to work very well. Once again, I found myself standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, “Paper or Plastic?” “Neither” I burst out, I will role the cart to my car and empty the groceries into my new milk crate. The cashier was so curious about this system that she offered to help me. She handed me the groceries and I put them into the crate. The cashier suggested I just bring in the crate next time and put it in the cart. Yet another innovation! Carrying the milk crate upstairs was easier than carrying a bunch of bags. Long live the pinky finger! Never again to be strangulated by plastic bags.

I decided to start slowly and just try to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Using a canvas shopping bag is Green 101, after all.


My son was home sick with a cold and requested that I stop at the store for orange juice and apples. Standing in front of the apples, about to grab a plastic bag, I realized that I left my canvas shopping bag in the car AGAIN. I was talking to a friend about addiction the other day. Apparently a conversion, similar to a religious conversion is required to break an addiction. Well, my epiphany has not come yet, so I am relying somewhat feebly on my intellect to help me make the change.


So there I am in front of the apple display- I decided just to put the apples directly into my basket without a plastic bag. I don’t even know why I need a plastic bag for apples. Because my mother always did it? Because that is just the way it is done? I can understand wanting your veggies in plastic bags, otherwise they get limp in the fridge. (Note to self to check alternatives to that one! Almost Vegetarian has a good idea for glass containers.) I can’t think of any good reason to keep apples in a plastic bag. Didn’t people in the old days keep apples in their cellars or something?


My friend Terry told me the other day that when he forgets his reusable bags he just wheels the cart out to his car- sans bags. Great idea! That is what I did. Now I aways say, “If you can’t bring the bag to the groceries, bring the groceries to the bag.”


Then, of course, I had to bring the basket back into the food store, which is the same round trip distance had I just returned to the car for my bags in the first place. But wait! There is a point. I was not backtracking, which is important. There is also an important new idea evolving from this. If you have ever (and I know you have) carried multiple bags (paper, plastic, canvas- whatever) into your house from your car, you know that it is a pain. I always try to carry too much, two bags in my arms, one hanging off my pinky finger, cutting off my blood flow. How about an easy to carry, sturdy, re-usable box that I keep in my car? Taking a clue from Costo-they never ask paper or plastic- it is box or nothing.

Most people start new year’s resolutions on January 1st, but this year I started on June 1st. This just happened to be the day that I decided I didn’t want to be a total hypocrite any more. I want to align my life with my inner eco-values. Is that so hard? Actually it is, and that is what Sustainability Chronicles is all about.


In the Sustainability Chronicles I am sharing my personal experience of trying to live a life that is deeply satisfying. A life that is rooted in spirit, my connections to people, and the natural environment. My personal definition of sustainability goes beyond the sustainable use of resources into the values and actions of the humans who live on the land, beginning with the human I think I know best- myself! I believe that all social change first occurs as change within ourselves. As someone who cares deeply about the environment and people, I just can’t understand why I am no farther along in my quest for a natural, sustainable life than I was 20 years ago when I arrived in Hawaii.


In 1989, I was sitting in an Italian restaurant in Boulder, Colorado glumly eating my last bowl of spaghetti. “This is probably the last bowl of spaghetti, I’ll have for a long time,” I remarked to my friend. I was leaving the next morning for Hawaii and was under the illusion that Hawaii was still somewhat primitive, and people lived simple, natural lives. I was 23 and quite naive. In actuality, landing in Hilo in 1989 and being immediately skirted away to Kalapana and Waipio Valley (think naked hippies eating papayas and coconuts) things were pretty simple. But as I expanded my horizons to Maui, Oahu and the rest of the Hawaii Islands, I began to see what one sees anyplace in America- McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, KMart and some years later Borders, Costco and WalMart. My disillusionment was complete. I lost my eco-virginity.


I launched into work, a child, a master’s degree, a marriage (in that order) and found myself living pretty much like most Americans. Two cars (and yes, one is an SUV), 2100 square foot house, huge mortgage, credit card debt, electric garage opener, electric appliances, kid in private school, lots of garbage and recycling, shopping at the food store, etc.. need I go on? This is you too, right? It’s been 18 years and many bowls of spaghetti (bought in bulk at Costo) since I arrived in Hawaii and I am no closer, actually I am farther away from my original vision of a simple, natural life.


I am wondering, does one have to be either really rich or really poor in order to live simply/softly in the modern world? I would love to run my house on solar or wind power, but I do not have an extra $20,000 around to implement that idea. I am sick of making excuses that I don’t have the money or time to align my life with my values. I am someone who cares deeply about the environment, about my carbon footprint, about healthy foods, and yet by every measure I am contributing to the global problem. In addition to being a global problem, this is a personal problem for me on a number of levels.


As I heard Garrison Keiler say on Prairie Home Companion one night- “People who wear Birkenstocks should just not be driving Hummer’s, it’s just not right.” That’s how I feel- eco on the outside, but guiltily consuming resources on the inside because “I can’t help it, its how our society is set up.”


Financial stability is an issue facing many Americans right now. My husband and I work flat out all the time and it is a challenge to keep up with the mortgages (Yes, I have two houses. How eco is that?), health insurance, car payments, etc… Are my consumption habits contributing to our financial stress and our planetary problems? You bet.


I believe that our food supply is not as stable as it seems and that for reasons of food security, health and waste reduction I need to grow more of our own food. Sounds simple, except that I am not a green thumb. Actually I think “black thumb” or “thumb of death” more accurately describes what happens to plants in my care. I was recently speaking at the Hawaii Island Food Summit where everyone before me described themselves as coming from Three Generations of Family Farmers. I am from three generations of family shoppers. I did not grow up on a farm, I grew up in suburban New York. When we wanted food we got it from the food store- duh!


Our reliance on fossil fuel in Hawaii is nearly complete. Living on an isolated land mass, we bring in everything- all of our food, fuel, and consumer goods (the mot important of which is toilet paper!) We have a small biodiesel supply (from recycled restaurant oil) that comes from Maui, but no other alternative transportation fuel and no reliable public transportation. They don’t call it the Big Island for nothing- we do a lot of driving here. About 30% of our electrical energy is generated by renewable sources (wind, geothermal, solar), which is pretty good by national standards, but not even close to meeting the definition of sustainable. And we have the highest electricity costs in the country. Our monthly electric bill for a three person household is $250/month and rising and we don’t use heat or air conditioning.


If I hear one more person say that “saving the environment” is important because “they are not worried about themselves, that are worried about the kind of world they are leaving for their grandchildren.” I am going to scream! While I appreciate the sentiment, true seventh generation consciousness dictates that we make decisions NOW based upon what is environmentally sustainable seven generations from now. Too many people today are simply pushing the responsibility forward by not making the hard choices for themselves today.


I invite you to join me on my journey as I try to figure out how I can attain and maintain a sustainable lifestyle. A lifestyle that encompasses spirit, people, nature and work- and that functions within our modern American reality. I want to arrive at a place where my beliefs and my actions are the same thing.