This makes me sad.

Can you believe this shit?

I'm not saying I don't understand how hard it is to shrug off a lifetime's indoctrination into a consumerist culture, and shift into a more conservation-ist lifestyle...but there are relatively easy things that can be integrated with little or no impact on overall way of life. Switching to CFLs. Driving less. Taking bus or train instead of flying. Planting more bio-region-friendly plants, instead of imported exotics. Trying to eat less meat, eating wild-caught meat, or buying meat that's locally and humanely raised and slaughtered. Getting your veggies from the farmer's market in the summer, instead of the freezer section. Printing fewer reports at work, and recycling what you do print.

These are little things I have personally done myself, and by no means am I any kind of poster child. I still shop too much for clothes and shoes; I still eat oranges from California a few times a month; I still don't recycle as much as I could. Like anything else, it's taking me awhile to make such major shifts....but living within my values is so important to me that I'm willing to start making the effort to look at things with a view to ecological and social justice impacts, and to try to make the very best choices I can for a sustainable lifestyle. Sometimes this works out (I love Amtrak and the CTA! I hated being addicted to coffee anyway...); sometimes it's tougher (I don't love spending nine years cooking every night, and tracking down local produce is a lot of money for my cheap ass to shell out for the privelege...). But it's worth the effort to save the planet.

So, I'm trying. I wish it seemed like more people were.