Small, But Radical

First, I heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on This American Life (episode 253: The Middle of Nowhere): despair, despair, despair. Then, I learned (via Apartment Therapy) about Taina’s project to eliminate the use of plastics for one year: more despair!

Why the despair at the news that one woman much like me (so I imagine) has taken on such a huge and marvelous project?

Well, however marvelous the project, it is so very, very big, and, as the work-at-home mother of a wildly energetic two-year-old, most days, I feel so very, very tired. I would love to do as Taina is doing, but to entirely eliminate something so pervasive as plastic from my life? The project is much too huge for me to take on right now.

Nevertheless, I’ve found that committing to small changes — one or two at a time, and regularly — just might be leading me toward a radical transformation of our small Brooklyn household.

Even before joining the One Small Change project, I had started to replace my usual personal care products with nontoxic, no-plastic alternatives — or had given them up altogether! I’m continuing to make changes in this arena, such as by replacing disposable feminine hygiene products with reusable cloth pads. (BTW, any suggestions for nontoxic, no-plastic lip gloss?) And greener cleaning is as yet a mostly unexplored arena — certainly to be explored, though, most likely later this year. But the biggest changes seem to be happening, a few at a time, where I least expected to see them: in our kitchen.

In January, I made the commitment: no more buying apples shipped here from all across the country! After all, New York is a major apple growing state — why buy apples from Washington? The commitment seemed — was — small, but I had an ulterior motive: to get our family to the farmers’ market, where we would have to go to get the local apples. And, once there, we could discover how much more we could get locally, rather than shipped from California or Mexico.

As it turns out, we can get so, so much more than I had imagined: squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, eggs, and even spinach! (Though, mysteriously, not cabbage, which had been pretty much all I had expected to find.) And I’m not stopping there. Can we get local milk? What about cheese? Could I possibly make my own yogurt? Could we eliminate all produce except what we can get at the farmers’ market or, when in season, in our CSA share? Heck, just how close can we get to being complete locavores?

These are not questions I was asking a month ago. And, though I’m in charge of most of the meals for our family, I’m no foodie. But I’m figuring it out, one change at a time. I’m excited. And it all started with just apples!

Rachael is a freelance writer and editor, poet, and creative writing teacher. She blogs about making her way toward work-life balance in a family of artists at The Variegated Life.

Small, But Radical