Day 21 0f Daily Footprint Project. Yesterday, I wrote an article on, ‘Thanksgiving, a Time to Shop or to Lighten Our Environmental Footprint‘, where I emphatically pronounced my disgust for all shopping conducted under the guise of Black Friday. I held my promise. Did not buy a thing. For myself. Catherine asked if I could give her some money. This was the day when all her friends would be at the mall. She ‘needed’ a new pair of jeans, she had only one pair left that really fit her. She also wanted a rain jacket, and the latest Ugg boots. Heavy duty shopping here. My daughter’s got expensive tastes. I did not want to do her the disservice of overindulging her, but then, I also want to do right by her. After all, she did need a rain jacket, and new boots. And the expensive pair of jeans, she promised she would pay me back with her next paycheck. I did go with her, however, to manage the expected significant cash outflow.
Our first stop was J. Crew. They had the perfect jacket. Made in China, great fit. The line to pay, stretched all the way to the back wall. To appease the weary customers, a girl was going around, passing out mini plastic bottles of water. I was thirsty. Still, I declined her offer. I was buying a jacket ‘Made in China’. The least I could do, was to show a bit of fortitude and save one more plastic bottle from joining the Synthetic Sea.
Next was Nieman Marcus, for the jeans. The ones Catherine picked, surprised me with a Made in U.S. label. That meant less miles to transport the prized item, and less carbon back into the air. I am sure it is not so simple, but I will take anything to assuage my guilt.
Last stop, Nordstrom, the fashion temple for designer shoes. The sales racks were overflowing with boots, winter shoes, evening slippers, most of it on the floor. It was towards the end of the day, and hordes of shopping crazy women of all ages had gone through the merchandise. ‘Mommy, are you taking in the scene?‘ Catherine knew what I was thinking. The sight of all these women running around, and grabbing shoes at random, trying them on quick, and then moving on to the next pair, was almost surreal. We had reached the Uggs counter. Uggs are known as much for their Made in Australia cachet label, as for their ultimate comfort. Catherine could not decide. Between grey, black or brown. ‘The black ones, take them, black goes with everything.‘ She checked in the mirror, and decided to go along with my suggestion.
She wanted to stay around at the mall. Had been texting her friends. They wanted to compare their purchases. I drove home, with the receipts tucked into my wallet.
Daily Footprint Project Daily Log Day #21 Water personal: flush toilet 2 wash face 2 brush teeth 2 wash hands 4 shower 1 mom: rinse dishes wash strawberries wash vegetables communal: Electricity/gas personal: electric toothbrush 2 microwave tea 2’ microwave oatmeal 4’ laptop on all day mom: communal: lights cook soup 1 hour Food personal: tea organic milk organic strawberries organic oatmeal organic persimmon mom: communal: organic turkey vegetable soup leftover home baked bread Italian cheese leftover green salad Waste personal: toilet paper mom: communal: 3 newspaper plastic wrappers squash tart from Thanksgiving dinner (not a big hit!) one old sweet potato vegetable peels from soup leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving dinner Recycling personal: mom: communal: 2 papers junk mail strawberries plastic baskets and paper carton Transportation personal: drive to mall 4 miles mom: communal: drive to renters’ house 5 miles Non food shopping personal: mom: one jacket made in China pair of boots made in Australia jeans made in US communal:
La Marguerite 
Hang in there. I think you are doing a great job of educating yourself and Catherine. I enjoyed her knowing you were going through the wringer over the shoe rampage at the mall.
It brought back memories of 16 years ago – standing in an athletic clothing store and ranting to my 17 year old son about his brand addiction. I’d been unemployed for 4 months and was pretty frantic. He was insisting on Champion and he wore me down. The funny postscript was that I picked up a pair of navy sweatpants in a really good (albeit) synthetic fabric. I found them in the men’s area for $5. He wanted to borrow these pants of mine for at least 2 years. I still have them though they are now shorts, with runs in the fabric and wonky elastic. Even so, it was my best argument to date for ignoring brands.
A question: When you have your wormery set up you will get to remove the food scraps from your daily log, right?
Thanks Kate for your gift of empathy, and for your gentle nuge about the composter 🙂
Lamarguerite, it really was a serious question. I didn’t go back and see where your daily log form came from and what the rules are.
By the way, I had fun the other night reading about worms at Red Worm Composting, a link from NIM. I had never noticed this link before.
The thing I got from that site and all the great photos is that my smoldering pile of decay isn’t a vile thing in the worm vernacular. So, I don’t have to wallow in unnecessary guilt myself. The other thing I learned was I could have been adding a lot more paper to the bin than I had been adding. It cracked me up to think that I could throw all of those schnivels of paper with my name, address and other identity information right into my wormery instead of borrowing a shredder every few months. Nobody is going to tear through my wormery muck to steal my identity. (I really crack myself up with this.) I will have to use this at my own place somewhere as a tip. (BTW, I just saw that you paid a visit. Neat)
No, I think the nudge was for myself, lamarguerite, because I haven’t touched it.
The composter is going to have to stay in its box for a while longer. I am focusing on getting a bike. . .
Sounds like Catherine needs to visit Revered Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping to confess her sins. 🙂
She and her friends do not feel the need to confess so far . . . Maybe a matter of age? More likely the pressure from a consumerist culture of affluence.
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