The perfect is the enemy of the good
I like this variant of one of Voltaire’s famous quotes. It sums up a lot of our thinking lately in how we become greener. It boils down to the basic question: “Do we not try, because we can’t be perfect?” Our answer is resoundingly NO. We are not the perfect environmentalists. But we’re hoping to be bit better. We’re attempting to eat more local, which for the most part is an easy decision. However, we’ll still go out for a pizza if we’ve had a rough week. The key is to improve ourselves and continue to make strides forward without sacrificing all the fun. If it becomes a huge chore then it won’t get done like our laundry.
Baby in a pile of laundry
So that’s our plan, we’ll do a little at a time, as much as we can. But when we don’t have the time, it’s too expensive or we can’t accomplish it, we won’t feel bad. And we won’t stop trying to become greener.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I can’t believe you are making Jakey do all your laundry! 7 months is a great age to put them to work. Anyway, I like your Voltaire quote. I was just reading about Marx and how people critique him because he was too utopian and believed the communist dream would be realized. Therefore, they throw out his whole vision because it is too idealistic, which is ridiculous. So it’s very apropos. I am also trying to be more green, and try to not eat meat unless it is local and humanely raised. I need Stephanie to send me her roasted chicken recipe so I can cook the chicken I’m planning on buying at the Farmers Market on Wednesday. There are definite benefits to living in a place with year round fresh produce!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hi guys – what a great idea for a blog. I’m excited to see what new ideas you come up with that I can borrow. I haven’t read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle but her other book of essays Small Wonder really inspired me. But what really got me going with joining a CSA here in Brooklyn was reading Jane Goodall’s book Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. It really made me rethink what we were eating. And I agree that it’s something we’ve started thinking about even more since having a baby, and also for Min’s health. Can’t wait to read your good ideas!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Amy – somebody has to do the laundry, if Jake doesn’t do it it won’t get done! It’s about time he started earning his keep.
Erin – We’ll have to check out Jane Goodall’s book, we haven’t read that one yet. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle really started us eating local, and then we recently read Omnivore’s Dilemma which made us want to give up High Fructose Corn Syrup and eat only grass-fed beef. It is a really good book as is In Defense of Food. We can’t wait to hear what you guys are doing either, it is good to know other people are going through these same changes.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I’d love to see a post on HFCS. The ads they’re running
are horrific. So misleading. Some funny spoofs on YouTube though.
We did an inventory of our cupboards and we are now HFCS-free. But man it’s hard to buy around that poison.
Great post.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Hey Brent, We will definitely make a post on HFCS. I saw one of those commercials for the first time the other day and was appalled. I think it was the first thing I told Jeremy about when he got home that night. We did the same with getting everything with HFCS out of our house. I think some more may have crept back in, it is just so hard to find things without it.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
This blog is very nice and wonderfully done. I especially like the picture of Jake in the laundry basket! Very cute.
I am proud of you for taking such good care of Jake!