i'm a little confused

everywhere we look these days, on the news, in magazines, even on oprah, everyone is talking about reducing energy use and greenhouse gases, recycling, being more earth-friendly. and i think it's great. i'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, but i do think that things need to change so i'm glad people are talking about it.
we're supposed to use reusable cloths instead of paper towels, we're supposed to change over our light bulbs, avoid chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, bactericides. we're supposed to save the polar bears and the honey bees. i hate throwing away plastic things, like the massive amounts of ziplock bags we go through during the school year with our little bag-lunches. so i wash them. yes, i wash my ziplock bags that cost about 3 cents each. they say it takes forever for plastic to break down in landfills... okay, so i'm supposed to put my lunches into reusable plastic containers. but then they say that i shouldn't be microwaving my lunch in these reusable plastic containers because they're giving off xenoestrogens into my food which will eventually give me breast cancer. well, i don't want that, so at work i take my food out of my plastic container and put in on a plate before i microwave it. but now i've made even more dishes which means i'm using up more water and they say that we need to reduce our water use because it takes energy to heat it and is hard on our little earth. i'm confused.

i would like to live healthier. i mean, we try to eat healthy, eat a lot of fruits and veggies, try to make food that's low in all the bad fats. i'd rather walk somewhere than drive if it's within walking distance (yes, even in -30). lately i've heard a lot about using all-natural household cleaners. that would be great, but how much does that cost? i would also love to have a car that's nicer for the environment, say, a hybrid, or better yet, an electric car or that car they designed in france that ran on compressed air. sure that would be great, but who has the money for these things? and how come these things aren't more available?

the other day i was at a bookstore and i was skimming through a book that was all about how to spend less time on housecleaning. it was full of good tips. sounds great. i was all into it, reading about 5-minute bathroom tidy-ups and getting rid of dust mites in the bedrooms. it was good. but then... a tip on how to dust your plants every once in awhile. wrap the pots in plastic bags, put the plants in the tub and give them a quick shower. and then just toss all the plastic bags. okay, good idea, but i was slightly surprised at that last step, since everywhere i look we're talking about saving the planet. even a book on the display beside me is called "1001 ways to save the earth". i keep skimming. i'm now reading a chapter about cleaning the kitchen. kitchen sponges and towels, they say, are so full of bacteria that when you use them, you're just spreading the bacteria around and giving them a new place to grow. their solution: change your towels daily and get rid of all sponges, just use paper towels for everything. really?? i keep reading. "to save a few minutes of cleaning up, line all your pans with tin foil before you use them so later you can just throw it out." [hmmm, that seems like a lot of waste....] "cover your entire countertop with wax paper whenever you make a meal, so you don't need to wipe it later." [what?! how long does it take to wipe a countertop??] but this was the last straw: "your kids don't need to eat on your good dishes. you can save 20 minutes a day by having your family eat with disposable plates and cutlery." are you crazy? every day?

i shut the book and put it back on the shelf. okay, so maybe i don't use geothermal heating or recycled toilet paper, but that all seems like a ridiculous amount of unnecessary waste. i think that we're doing okay, with our canvas grocery bags we bring to superstore and when we turn the car off when we have to wait at a train-crossing. and i think i'll just continue to wash my little ziplock bags.