Trying to change my color

Apparently being "green" is becoming trendy. I just noticed that Yahoo! has added "Green" to the list of services which include yellow pages, personals and shopping. Somehow that seems incompatible.....shopping and sustainability.......unless you're shopping for items that would sustain the environment. Fans of Pottery Barn will be happy to know that they have started selling organic linens and furniture made from wood grown in sustainable forests. That's great. But I have to wonder if those are token "green" items to soothe shoppers' guilt. How much of the rest of their stuff is made in China??? I'm sure I sound like one of those crabby liberals who is never happy with anything -- I just don't like hypocrisy.

Speaking of hypocrisy, I remember the day, over a year ago, that DH and I watched an Inconvenient Truth. I had not questioned the reports about global warming, but when I saw the evidence I couldn't even finish the rest of the movie. It scared the poop out of me. I knew in an instant what a hypocrite I had been for aiming my righteous indignation at the Republicans for calling global warming a hoax, while I was not really changing anything in my own personal, day-to-day life. I asked myself what sacrifices was I making to preserve the world for my kids? OK, I recycled (and was a bit of a Nazi about it), but what else? Soul-searching and action ensued.

I doubt many people are actually reading this, but if you are, what comes next may sound like a "Na-na-na-na-na-na! I'm better than you are!" That's not my intention AT ALL.

So, here's what we're doing so far:

fair trade coffee (grown in the shade!)
vegetable gardening
composting food and yard waste to use in aforementioned garden
turning off lights when not in use
long lasting light bulbs
thermostat set at 74 in the summer and 68 in the winter
alternative feminine products (there are quite a variety available)
buy food in bulk without all the packaging (and convenience)
using glass containers to store food
vegetarian (really more like a flexitarian)
re-use ziploc bags
buy locally grown/produced food as much as possible
organic as much as possible
RECYCLE, RECYCLE, RECYCLE
Freecycle (check out freecycle.org for more info)
buy used (yard sales) especially kids' toys and clothes
reel mower
no chemicals on lawn or gardens

What I would like to do if I weren't so vane and lazy:
buy less new clothes and shoes ***
no make-up
no hair dye
use cloths for cleaning instead of paper towels or those throw away wipes
use cloth napkins instead of paper
use less water
have less stuff in general -- we have SO much stuff
no TV
ride my bike to the office

So, I'm trying but definitely not REALLY green. We are some of the best consumers I know. I guess you could call us "good, red-blooded Americans." I have a real problem with the clothes buying. I'm hoping this book can help me out with this issue. But that means I have to buy it. Hmmmmm

One final thought: If you're not "green" then what color are you? Maybe brown because that would represent dirt. With no plants growing in it. Or maybe black because that represents evil and surely anyone who isn't for being greener is evil. Then there's red. That's the color opposite green on the color wheel. As far as my color, maybe I'm a paler shade of green, like the shoots that peek out of the earth in the earliest part of spring. I just need more time and growth to be that lush, mid-summer green.