Day 15 of Daily Footprint Project. The day for round two of gum surgery. Oh, joy! I am to eat only soft food for the next few days. Fortunately, there is Whole Foods and its well stocked deli section.
The split pea soup with ham struck my fancy. I filled up the biggest size carton. Prad did the calculation. Per ounce, it is really the best deal.
As of late, I am relying more and more on Whole Foods and other outside cookeries to supplement our menus. With the children less and less home for our family dinners, cooking has lost some of its appeal. In fact, it has become a chore, that detracts from other creative activities I’ d much rather be doing. Blogging, exploring ideas for green ventures are where my heart is for now.
I may be happy away from the kitchen, but what does that do for the environment? The image of the throw away soup carton is haunting me. With each take out, I add to the landfill pile. I could go around the problem, by bringing my own containers. I have never seen anyone do it, but maybe I could start a trend. Actually, it would be kind of cool to see what people say. The more I think about it, I totally dig the idea.
Until I get a bike – number one on my green to do list – , there is also the issue of driving to get the soup. I can rationalize by thinking that I would need to drive anyway to buy the ingredients to make the soup. The answer to that one is twofold: one, get a bike, two, plan better and make less trips to the grocery store. Even more ambitious, would be to also cultivate my own vegetables. I am learning to be practical, however, and to consider only what I know myself capable of sustaining in the long run. Gardening is just not my thing. Better scrap that idea.
There is a third problem with relying on take out. Food sourcing. I give up any control on the types of ingredients that are being used. Same when I eat out at a restaurant. In both cases, I am abdicating my responsibility as a responsible consumer, leaving it to others to decide what goes into my food. Once you start, this kind of logic can be crazy making, and realistically, I am not going to give up eating out. Still, there is some truth in the thought, and maybe reason for a compromise. Like air traveling, the idea is not to give up such indulgences altogether. More sensible, is to limit them to special occasions, and make them the exceptions rather than the norm.
I can think of one good argument for not cooking in my kitchen. Foodpooling, as in carpooling. I just made up the word. It is much more efficient to cook for hundreds of people at once, as is the case for Whole Foods, than to each cook our separate meals. I am not aware of any study on the topic, but I am ready to bet that the energy saved must be substantial.
To summarize, if I manage to bike to the grocery store, and bring my own containers, I will come out pretty clean here.
Daily Footprint Project
Daily Log
Day #15
Water
personal:
flush toilet 3
wash face 2
brush teeth 2
wash hands 4
shower 1
full load laundry
mom:
rinse dishes
communal:
run full dishwasher
Electricity/gas
personal:
electric toothbrush 2
microwave tea 2’
microwave oatmeal 4’
microwave soup 4’
microwave milk 2’
laptop on half day
full load laundry washer & dryer
mom:
communal:
lights
run full dishwasher
Food
personal:
oatmeal with organic milk
organic persimmons
tea
organic milk
takeout split pea soup from Whole Foods
organic apple sauce
organic chocolate
mom:
organic apples
communal:
Waste
personal:
toilet paper
mom:
communal:
3 newspaper plastic wrappers
five day leftover chicken soup
Recycling
personal:
mom:
communal:
2 papers
milk carton
glass jar apple sauce
Transportation
personal:
drive to orthodontist 5 miles
mom:
communal:
Non food shopping
personal:
mom:
communal:
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