one thing i take very seriously is doing my part in helping the environment.
i try to make less waste, i try to re-use, i recycle when i can (my city doesnt, and it's hard to find places to accept recycleables w/in a decent distance to drive!), i try to drive less, i am a vegetarian, so eating produce is important, health & nutrition is VERY important to me & my family.

My problem... organic foods (i dont always eat, but know many who only do), health foods, certain grains (quinoa, basmatic rice), and specialty foods (soba, udon noodles), herbs, herbal remedies, vitamins, natural fibers for clothing (cotton, hemp), eco friendly cleaners and chemicals... the list can go on for days...

my point... these things are SO expensive!!!

i want to live simply, in a sorta minimalist fashion... having what i want, and wanting what i have... y'know?

yet the things that i try to do in order to help all of us, me, friends, family, environment, and everyone around me... cost so much.

where's the financial savings then?

i stop by local thrift shops often, i buy most of my clothes from there. where i work i need "nice" clothes, so I shop when dept. stores are on sale... so i DO try to scrimp financially... but it's like we can never get ahead when the "good for everyone" things are so costly.

anyone have ideas? suggestions? complaints of their own?



thanks.

You really do need to kick up a stink about these things, we're lucky here that we have a door step recycling scheme that takes, glass, paper, food waste for composting. Unfortunately we have no way to recycle plastics where I live which is a bit of a bummer.

I agree with you about the cost of things and I will also throw in goods produced for people with food intolerances/ allergies...the cost of these are disgusting. As a person with many allergies and intolerances I find myself limited in what I can buy because of the cost of it all and add that to the need to have organic foods the cost is sky high. Of course if people do not buy the produce because of its cost they will more than likely remove the items from the shelves and replace it with something else!

Yesterday we went to the local farmers market as they sell goods that are local and alot of the time organic...I left sickened, on this one stall there were some pies, chicken and mushroom and steak, the smallest and cheapest pie was �5.99($12) this was the size of a side plate. The biggest one was the size of a dinner plate and cost �10(just under $20!!!!) I cannot understand these people, especially when they were in the local paper complaining a few weeks ago due to lack of "support" from the local people and that they weren't buying their goods but going to a supermarket instead.

Im in the middle of wording an email to firstly the stores where we do our weekly grocery shop and some of the companies involved. Every little bit we do makes a difference, if you can influence even one person then that person influences one or two people the effect can be astounding.

Thanks for replying... both of you.

first let me say, around here there was this awesome farmer's market. you could walk there in the early a.m. on Saturdays and buy fresh produce, even flowers... long stem roses for 6$ for a dozen or more!!!
I LOVED that place.

And then it got "sponsors"... commercial ones.
It moved to a building down the street from it's former place... w/a parking lot. No longer safe to walk to.
The prices increased nearly three-fold!
For a dozen brown organic fed hen-eggs... 10$.
For an organically grown bell pepper, red, just one... 3$.

WHAT happened?? Commercialism, that's what happened.

And now I can no longer support these farmers, these locally grown foods, I no longer consume.

It's sad really.
We too have here offered ostrich, buffalo and other leaner meats. These seem to sell rather well.
I've nothing against those who consume meat (my family does) - I choose not to (as I cannot properly digest it - nor am I fond of the taste/texture). But that's me!

I think i DO need to contact a few people and perhaps even then get a petition going on.

I simply feel like I can't do enough. Maybe that's my problem. I want to do it all... do everything i can do help us while we're here... and our children... and so on.

Maybe I'm already doing enough for my part... now it's to share this w/others.

Thank you again.