Doing the Right Thing

Afraid to Shop, Starshine Goes Lame with Eco-Shame

They say guilt is a great motivator, but I'm unconvinced. If it were true — if disgrace and penitence could spur a gal to stand up and set things right — then I wouldn't be lying here, curled around my atrophying wallet in a shade-grown, grass-fed, phosphate-free paralysis.

I'm lame with eco-shame.

Do I read too much? Do I pay too much attention? Am I the only one confused and incapacitated by knowing the fiendish ways that every product on the market will impact our health, environment, and the progress of global human rights? Pesticides, PVCs, bioengineering. I'm afraid to consume anything for fear I might ingest E. coli, support sweatshops, or single-handedly deplete a rain forest.

I'm not one of those "let someone else figure out global warming; I loves me some Styrofoam" people, I swear I'm not. I'm conscientious-ish. I buy organic milk, free-range eggs, fair-trade coffee. I pack my kids' lunches in re-purposed hummus tubs instead of landfill-bound, petroleum-based sandwich baggies. I confess I still don't know what "sustainable" means, but I compost kitchen scraps for garden mulch. I even lease solar panels for my roof.

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