paperless.

i would classify myself as an environmentalist.  a. prefers captain planet or tree hugger, but either way, i'm a lover of the earth and a fighter of her world.  but i'm also a bit of a hypocrite because i love (and i mean love) all the niceties of this life...i love taking my car on long road trips and flying in airplanes.  i love buying new books & beautiful paper.  i prefer to write to-do lists rather than type them.  & i love my gas fireplace and thermostat in the winter.  but i do try to reduce my impact on mother earth and the landfills as often as possible.  


two things that i've learned to heavily rely on are: paper towels & lysol wipes (obviously these don't reduce my impact).  these are two of the most convenient and easy to use products out there (along with ziplock bags).  but they are so wasteful & so easy to eliminate from my day to day life.  through some reading and a bit of inspiration from the no impact man, i have decided to take a stand against paper products in my kitchen.  for two reasons.  one, it's expensive.  paper towels, ziplock bags and lysol wipes are not cheap.  i remember when i was young, my mom would get mad at us for using paper towels to wipe our hands or to dry the countertops.  also, we re-used ziplock bags...mostly because of their expense.  second, there are alternatives.  lots & lots of alternatives.  there are dish towels and washcloths to replace paper towels, tupperware (preferably glass) to hold left-over food, and a natural cleaning solution can take over for the lysol wipes. 


the ease of these paper & plastic products make them so hard to give up.  but if i change a few things abut our kitchen, i'm sure after some time, they won't be missed.  so i decided, for one month, i'm going to go paper-free (in the kitchen).  some days this is going to be really tough & i'm going to have to do a little extra planning to make sure i can keep up this commitment.  but if the no impact man can do it, then so can i!  i feel as though i've moved somewhat in the right direction over the past few months as i try to buy what i can in bulk, cook meals as much as possible, and compost.  but this will take it to the next level.  it'll be the "greenest" kitchen on the block.


& i'm up for the challenge.  so as of today, paper & plastic products are no longer allowed in our kitchen.    no matter what.  for one whole month.  who's with me?