Ok, so my husband and I took our kids out to eat and noticed that at this particular restaurant, they use recycled paper towels as napkins. That is, the paper towels are made from recycled stuff, not that they themselves are recycled...because that would just be gross.
I thought that was really cool and decided to get some of these for myself at the store later that evening. I also wanted to get paper plates made out of recycled materials. At Target (my favorite store off all time which makes this painful to write about but I think I'll get through it) I was looking high and low for these products and two workers were standing in the aisle putting things away. So I asked one of them if they carried paper plates made from recycled materials and he said, "No. We used to, but nobody ever bought them." So then I asked for paper towels from recycled material and the man said, "We don't have those either." I replied with a somewhat serious, somewhat sarcastic, "then how am I supposed to be good to the earth?!" To which he replied, "well, you do know that wood is a sustainable product, right?"
Hhhmm, I wish I would have had the courage to say to this smart***, "sure it is, except that it'll take decades before another tree is grown to maturity to replace the roll of paper towels that I'm going to use up in a matter of days (fewer if my children have anything to say about it)." But I didn't. I just smiled politely and nodded my head.
Harumph. Wood is a sustainable product. Well, he wasn't wrong, but a tree takes so long to replace! And for what? To be cut down again for another roll of my paper towels? Bamboo is better, but I'm pretty sure that my Target brand paper towels aren't made from bamboo.
I gave in...this time. I bought the paper towels made from non-recycled paper. I was defeated.
On another hand, I found post-its made out of recycled materials. The saying holds true: One step forward, two steps backward.
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I'm really glad you're chronicling the challenges, in part because you're making clear how much the "default" option in the US is so consumption-heavy. On a similar issue, people are finally beginning to recognize that the obesity epidemic here is a social, cultural challenge, not simply an individual challenge. How do we change the systemic elements that contribute to our dilemmas?
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