For Pete's sake

When Hub-D and I were at our cousins' house in Washington State, we came down with a horrible stomach flu which marooned us in our cousins' bathrooms for hours at a time.

You might not imagine how this would benefit the environment (all the water usage, paper usage, electricity and harsh cleaning products that were needed), but it has.

See, I was trapped in that bathroom with just one publication. It was called "yes!" and it was their global warming issue. It was my only lifeline to a world that didn't include explosive diarrhea, so I read and re-read every page of that magazine. In particular, there was an article with Pete Seeger that really got my mind off of "things."

Pete Seeger is so CUTE and old and soothing but alarming in his sentiments about the environment, and he got me at a vulnerable time, to say the least. I'm a convert to his the-Hudson's-clean-now-what-about-the-polar-bears attitude.

So this month, I've tracked down a bunch of ways I can reduce our family's carbon footprint. In fact, if things come together like we expect, we may even install solar paneling! How do you like that, Pete!?

Yes, we're cloth diapering (I'm trying it, plus cloth wipes as well), and we are turning off the lights and keeping the thermostat off. I've all but stopped using paper towels, I'm walking more instead of driving (even thinking about getting a bike for farmer's market runs), washing out and reusing plastic bags, changing my driving habits (no more gas-burning jackrabbit starts), and only running the dishwasher when it's full and turning off the "heated dry" feature. Oh, and I went around and unplugged any appliance (electric keyboard, etc.) that we aren't using daily. AND we're installing a drip irrigation system in the garden. Oh ho ho, eco-locavores, don't be jealous!

Plus, I've started a new mantra, which is "enough." We have enough. We have enough clothes. We have enough shoes. We have enough food. We have enough toys and electronics. We can use second-hand everything (except food) and stop China from cranking out all of the useless products we don't really need.

But here is the annoying thing, Pete. I feel like I'm putting forth all of this effort and my neighbors are wrecking the whole thing.

They are really nice people, but since my bathroom conversion to Al Gore's Army, their living habits make me feel like all is for NAUGHT. Who freaking CARES that I'm reducing my time in the shower when they use paper plates for every meal? When every one of their kids' leisure time devices leaves a carbon footprint the size of a T. Rex?

Their son goes to school a quarter mile from our house, a bucolic walk away, and every single day his mom ferries him back and forth in her minivan. I don't even want to think about that minivan idling in front of the school because that will send me into apoplectic shock.

They have five cars for three adults and everything they eat is packaged.

I guess it's not that family specifically that bothers me, it's that I suspect that 90% of Americans are just like them. It's what they symbolize to me -- the normal people in this country who didn't have a potty-bound come-to-Jesus with Pete Seeger.

And if I want to drive myself up a wall, I'll think about my other neighbors who idle cars for hours on end, and who spray ladybugs "just because they annoy me." Al! Pete! Jesus! It's enough to make a woman run for the Pampers.

Don't worry, I don't plan to backslide on my new, better habits. I've heard the starfish story and I know it matters in some little way.

Right?