Here is the grand total of all the plastic I bought or had to take, the plastic bag is not included, I had that in the house already!:
Then this is what it looks like all laid out:
That one above includes the bread bags which I did allow in the initial rules, but not the milk. I didn't buy much soya milk anyway as I had a few cartons in already, so this is what it looks like minus the "allowed" items:
On the left there is a bag from some potatoes that my greengrocers insisted we have (they seemed to think it was hilarious and refused to sell us the unbagged potatoes), there are 3 tags from some spring onions, some painkillers (I was quite ill!), a straw which I picked up without even thinking on the first weekend of lent. A packet from some veg, I forget what, it turned up in plastic from the greengrocers in their delivery, a packet surrounding some burgers inside a card box. I'm sure they never used to be wrapped in plastic as well. There's a plastic cup I got half way round a 9 mile race. There is a plastic plate and cup I got when I was on a conference and hadn't thought about lunch before going, I could have taken my own plate and cup had I thought. Anyway, decided I would take them and not go hungry, but I took them home, washed them and took them back the next day so I didn't use a second plate and cup! There is also a packet from some biscuits and one of those things for taking tea bags out with, this one is really silly - I carefully selected a paper cup not a plastic one, had fruit tea so I wouldn't need the milk in the plastic thing, and then stoppped thinking and took my tea bag out and ate some biscuits, then realised :oops:
So as you can see, more stupidity and lack of forward thinking than anything else. That said I have run out of everything and am ready to go to the shops and get some replacements! Also, it would not have been possible if we hadn't already had some things in the house. Like we already had some long life pate for our sandwiches, and a block of cheese. It was certainly inconvenient though.
I don't know as I would do it exactly like this again just due to some of the ethical dilemmas (some of which I picked up on in the previous post). In general I would like to see plastic and packaging reduced, but not at the expense of something else, and I worry that this might be what would happen, and is already happening in some places where they make it appear they are being greener. I would want to know and understand some of the issues in more depth, which I don't think is all that possible unless you are a journalist or a scientist or somehting and you actually have paid time to find out!
That said, obviously I try to make greener choices, and this is why I chose this for lent (and why indeed I have this blog). It has made me think more about things, and there are some things which I will take away from this as everyday things. So, I will never put my fruit and veg in those plastic bags in the supermarket anymore, I will take in my own paper bags, which are given to me by the greengrocer and I can compost at the end of their natural life.
Ultimately I would like to lead the most natural life possible, but I think we have to be careful that some things that appear more natural may actually be worse for the environment.
I wish it wasn't so difficult to know what to do.
I also think I may start taking my own straw out with me. It sounds daft and it's only a straw which is small, but I like drinking my drinks through a straw, but if we reduced straw consumption I imagine that would be a fair amount of plastic reduced. You can use about 10 or more straws per night out. If I take my own I will only use 1, and could rinse and re-use as well.
Those 2 things are really very trivial in the grand scheme of things though.
I do try to do things which have a wider impact on the environment too though - we get our electricity from http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/, I try to walk and take the bus/train instead of the car. We only own one car between us and purposefully bought an energy efficient model (and plan on a hybrid when we need a new one, although I am now not sure about this as I heard they are very bad for the environment). Hardly ever have the heating on. I'm vegetarian and restrict dairy. I pretty much never fly.
I also feel that even with all that (and a bit more that would sound like a self-righteous monologue if I went through it all), I am only making the tiniest difference, and mostly only to my own conscience. And it is all wiped out and more the minute Gordon Brown builds a new runway, or a new coal fired power station.
I think I am going to start going to climate camp and doing more campaigning for political change. I think individuals have a small personal responsibility but ultimately I think it is political change we need. Of course individual responsibility extends to voting for a party that will make a difference. And if there isn't one then voting for a party that wants to change the system and make it more likely that there will be more real options for which party will govern the country.
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