Although it could very well be. No, this is the picture of all the food waste that made its way to the garbage last night, on Day 1 of the Daily Footprint Project. Two day old wilted salad with romaine and radishes. One third uneaten steak from Catherine’s dinner. She does not like to eat leftovers, and I don’t care for red meat. Three quarter left of Angel Food Cake, that I bought for the kids, except it was only Catherine this week, and she can only eat so much of the stuff.
I had never done that before, line up all the food I throw away every day. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture did more to convince me of the decadence of my habits, than days of lecturing from Green Guru. From yesterday’s experiment, I learned a few other things:
- The act of simply writing down all of my actions, made me a lot more aware of what I consume in a day. I consider myself a compulsive label checker, but now I know, a lot escapes my relaxed scrutiny. Sensodyne, the toothpaste I have been using for months, bad stuff. It says to not use it for more than four weeks straight. I am switching to Tom’s. The Mango Tango Odwalla juice? Not organic. The 90% dark chocolate? Organic, but from Ecuador. I also discovered that the paper bags at Whole Foods are totally recyclable. Still I will continue to strive for the green bags . . .
- I got into a dilemma with the raspberries. I could either buy organic ones from Mexico, or local ones that were not organic. Between organic and local, what to do?
- I became a lot more conscious about my driving routes, and tried to make the most of my trips. I was able to squeeze in a grocery stop on the way back from my appointment yesterday.
- I put aside all the fruit and vegetable peelings. There was a whole mountain of it that could have made some nice composting material. Instead, I had to dump it in the garbage. The composter is overdue. If Prad does not come through, I am taking over the compost project.
- When Prad is out of town, I do not cook for myself, and just get takeout soups at Whole Foods. I realize with takeout, I lose control of the sourcing for the ingredients. Organic? Local? No idea. Also, there is the problem of the paper containers for the stuff. I usually put them in recycling, but I am not sure they belong there, with all that wax coating. Takeout is a bad habit. I should go back to cooking more. Or bring my own containers. I have not seen anyone do that yet. Maybe I can lead the way?
- I had a business meeting at the coffee shop. Only there, did I consider the problem of the paper cup. Something else to think about! Bringing my own cup next time.
- All three of my car drives averaged six miles, a perfect distance for biking. I need to conquer the inertia of old habits, and also my fears of getting run over by cars, and invest in an old bike.
- There is this voice in my head that keeps wanting to decide what is wasteful and what is not? I have been doing some research into the environmental habits of developing countries,and I realized, an African woman would have much different standards, and expectations than I do. What constitute a spartan lifestyle to me, may very well be luxury to her. Nowhere did I feel this more than with water. I take water for granted.
- So many of my actions are automatic, that they are not in my ordinary consciousness. It’s not just the toilet flushing, it is using paper towel to wipe every drop, leaving for Whole Foods without the bags, not being aware of what I throw away every day, grabbing the car keys for short errands, . . . It’s been the hardest part, remembering to pay attention, and step out of automatic pilot mode.
I dream of a world where green would be the only option available, so I would not have to think so hard, about what to do, and not do. Right now, it takes a lot of vigilance to navigate around my not so green world.
Daily Footprint Project Daily Log Day #1 Water personal: flush toilet 11 wash hands 2 11 wash face 11 brush teeth 1i rinse off shower at gym shampoo shower at gym mom: rinse dishes 11 communal: Electricity/gas personal: microwave tea 2’ electric toothbrush 11 laptop on all day microwave soup x2 microvave cup of milk 2’ mom: cook cream of wheat on stove3’ stir fry artichokes in wok boil artichoke on stove heat bread in toaster oven broil steak on stove communal: lights in the morning, kitchen and office Food personal: organic: local grapes Chocolate, Rainforest Alliance producer, from Ecuador soup from Whole Foods takeout in paper carton coffee at Peets, paper cup, plastic straw, paper wrapper organic raspberries organic oatmeal, organic milk slice of organic bread cup of soup from Whole Foods 3 madeleines, non organic mom: organic: grapes Odwalla Mango Tango Krafts cream of wheat with organic milk steak, asparagus, bread, artichoke, all organic except for bread from Al Fornaio communal Garbage personal: scraps, should be composted mom: saran wrap prepackaged asparagus half of whole salad (head of lettuce and bunch of radishes) almost whole angel foodcake 1/3 uneaten steak communal: two newspaper plastic wrappers Transportation personal: Round trip drive to appointment 6 miles, stopped at grocery store on way back Round trip drive to appointment 6 miles Round trip drive to health club 6 miles mom communal Non food shopping personal mom communal
La Marguerite 
[…] From LaMarguerite: […]
This is a fascinating project you are undertaking – I applaud you and how insightful it seems for you. Way to go.
Look at the discovery and the inquiry – find the positives, not worth being hard on yourselff
I acknowledge the thinking, pondering, wondering – it would so make my brain hurt
a few comments if I may from my alternative foods and nutrition education backround – tom’s toothpaste is a great place to start as an alternative. It’s what I used when I discovered the horror’s of typical toothpaste
I found as I began investigating further for me that I didn’t want flouride, sorbitol derived from corn, nor did I want silica
( sand ) as an abrasive, it was not good for my particular chemistry or my teeth – too abrasive. Tom’s since then has developed a toothpaste w/o flouride, as well as a product for more sensitive teeth – they are recognizing their demographic – that’s good! The one I use now is an organic product that uses egg shells as an abrasive, is flouride free and sweetened with xylitol – tom’s uses xylitol also which has natural cavity prevention qualities.
I eat out very rarely but most places I go use paper only for their packaging or I eat in. I bring my own cup always – love this little habit and however you lead the way – just know I am always a topic of discussion at places that don’t really foster recycling etc – midwest has such a ways to go –
cooking for yourself is a wonderful thought – especially if you make it special and eat things your family hates but you love – if I can help get your mind around any of this conceptually I’d love to, this is another area of expertise of mine – cooking for meetings and friends is such a lovely example for others – while going out is convenient imagine a potluck or community instead creating a meal
I buy local organic when at all possible, organic secondly and typically seasonal fruits – raspberries I buy frozen. I adore them fresh just can’t justify the price or how far they travel
seasonal fruit eating at the moment here is lots and lots of apples!!!
Lot’s of ways to use veggie and fruit scraps other than composting – soup stock, fruit scraps blended w/ juice can be made into ice cubes and used in smoothies – I am personally not that devoted, but it’s possible.
simply stop buying paper towels and see how creative you can get w/o them. I have been using rags for 25 yrs. I think I told you I am counting my paper towels – since 1996 I am at 59 rolls. What do I use them for ? Cat barf – ewwwww, dog messes she increased my count alot this last year.
Today I left my bags in the trunk of my car while grocery shopping – – I so thought of you!!
I went at lunch so the parking lot was full — I had to park way down the block. I bought 10 days worth of basic food – will have to do a veggie run in there, anyway I heaped all of it into the cart, trecked it down the block and bagged it myself at my trunk
I felt rather proud of myself.
Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com
Such a wonderful and in depth comment! Thank you Karen. Lots of good info you are giving. Maybe you should make a post out of it?
month end still has me crazy – 4 more days, my freelance work is ramping up (yeah!) I am at the dr again tomorrow ( plus it’s halloween – boo!!) and a newsletter is due on monday – sortof feeling it
however sharing this post crossed my mind too 🙂
maybe we could chat stumble this weekend? I am intrigued
I am so glad that you liked my comments and that I can contribute in some way to you and what you are up to
Mother Earth
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com
La Marguerite,
Thanks for sharing your day’s consumption and lack thereof. I’m writing about wasted food in America, but haven’t seen a photo that encapsulates the “full meals” we often throw away. I hope the photos continue. The prevailing wisdom is that every person tosses more than a half-pound of food each day. If you can throw away less, you’ll be making progress.
If given the choice, I go with local over organic because you can always ask that local producer how they do things and why they’ve decided not to be organic (sometimes they have good reasons).
Good luck getting the compost bin started. You should go for it–even if you’re not making the best dirt, at least you’re keeping food out of the landfill.
P.S. I’ve had reusable shopping bags for more than a year and I forget to bring them, oh, every other time! We’ll get there eventually!
Thanks Jonathan for visiting, commenting, and all the great info. I will post photos of all the food I waste whenever applicable. On Day 2 for instance, I hardly wasted anything, but I made some other interesting findings, soon to be photographed and posted up later today . . . I will make sure to visit your site. You got me intrigued!
[…] this photo represents the food waste footprint of one brave blogger, La Marguerite. I admire La […]
[…] component of green parenting, in regards to my need to nurture with more food than necessary – Day 1 of Daily Footprint Project -, and my difficulty setting limits, as in the laundry example – The Complicated Landscape of Green […]
Personally, I would probably choose organic rather than local, at least in this instance. A farmer that’s choosing organic is more likely to be committed to his or her own environmental causes and organic uses than one who’s local and not organic. So you’re supporting the planet that way. Plus, in this particular instance – Mexico is not “that far away”, plus, even if the farmer is not committed environmentally, Americans in general have a larger per capita footprint.
So in the case of the local non-organic, what makes them not organic? Maybe the FOOD is local, but the fertilizer and chemicals are trucked in from somewhere else. Net nothing on the local!
Good catch Christine!
And a good reminder of the need to consider the entire product life cycle.
[…] of guilt while watching “The Ball”. The movie acted as a mirror for my outrageously wasteful lifestyle. It is no consolation to learn that I am joined by the rest of my fellow Americans. One quarter of […]