So what's the purpose of Green in the Real World? Like many children of Baby Boomers, I recognized early in life that the way my parents and grandparents were running things, I and my kids were going to have to deal with some serious challenges. My first political memory was the oil embargo in the late 70's. When I heard about Earth Day in the 80's, I got very excited, and convinced my parents we needed to recycle. I started shopping at second hand shops out of necessity way before it was cool or hip or eco-friendly. In the 90's I studied global agricultural production, and decided our food production system is (pardon the phrase) unsustainable, not to mention sad and potentially dangerous. And now, working in health care, I see the effects of poor health choices have on our collective well-being, physical, mental and economical.
And then I started reading up on proposed solutions to these challenges. Look, in a pinch, I will do whatever needs to be done to keep myself, my family, and my community healthy and happy. But installing a composting toilet in my house? I'll probably try several other, less stinky options first. My husband has given me an ultimatum: I can either have farm animals or a marriage, but not both. So there will be no backyard chickens at the Rettmann household for the foreseeable future. And my kids whine if I try to sneak the thermostat even a few degrees lower.
Thus, this blog. I bet I'm not the only working parent out there trying to balance the demands of family, planetary survival, making a living, community enrichment, and maintaining some semblance of sanity. I can't be the only one who has stood in the baking isle at the grocery store for 20 minutes, debating my sugar purchasing decision. Sure the generic white sugar is on sale this week, but what chemicals did they use to purify it? Is it sugar cane or beet sugar? Does it matter? What about the workers who produced this sugar? Do they make a living wage? Or am I a defacto slave owner? Why am I being so neurotic about sugar? Should I even buy sugar in the first place? What about Type 2 Diabetes? You've been there, right? And that's 20 minutes of life that's not coming back.
I will be the first person to say I don't have definitive answers. Anybody who does is selling you something. You may agree wholeheartedly with my take on the different topics I intend to post about. Or you may think I'm one can short of a six pack. That's fine, in either case. Actually, I think if I irritate both the far right and the far left, I'm pretty close to the sweet spot on an issue. The point is, we need to be talking. We need to share our experiences, our fears, or solutions, our stumbles and mistakes, and our hopes for making life better. Everybody knows we've got problems. My question to you is, what are you doing about it? I'll tell you my stories, and I hope you will tell me yours. We may each learn something valuable.
Plus, I just like to write. Thanks for being my proof-readers. Feel free to correct my grammar at will. I may choose to ignore your corrections because, hey, this is the Internet, not 9th grade English class.
So again, welcome. I look forward to going Green in the Real World with you.
Jenni Rettmann
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