:: Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update ::

Graphic from InfoBarrel

Oh week three...how thee has been so quiet on the reusable bag front, but so busy overall. =) I went shopping all of ONE time this past week and that was only for groceries (Children seem to get fussy when there is a lack of food in the house....geez whiz! LOL).

I must admit that I was bummed that I didn't get to go shopping more than once a week with my new reusable bags. It was such a busy week and I guess....I really didn't need anything. Yes, this is a good thing all at the same time. =) I was bummed because I felt like I was on such a roll with using the bags last week that I thought this week would be filled with more remembering to put the bags in the truck and bringing them into the store. Oh well...next week will be another week to go shopping as my oldest will be home starting Wednesday night until Sunday. She'll eat me out of house and home for sure.

I was kind of successful at the grocery store. I did remember to bring my bags in. I was only going in for a few things, but thought enough to bring in several bags with me....thankfully. I did run into a bit of a dilemma  dilemma. I purchased some pork ribs and some turkey breasts that will be put into the crock pot later this week. Given the nature of these products, I did not want to just stick them in my reusable bags. I prefer to put them into a plastic bag so they don't leak all over. I stood there packing my bags wondering what the heck I was going to do with those meat products. To put them in the reusable bag or in a plastic bag..........grrrrr! In the end, I put them in a a plastic bag. As I sit here now and think about the whole situation, I realize now that not only are the resuable bags reusable, but they are also WASHABLE!!! It wouldn't have mattered if they had gotten dirty....I can always wash them. The answer was already in front of me...I just needed to step back and see it. Lesson learned.

I'm sure my daughter will want to head to Wal-Mart this weekend without me. I'm going to make sure she takes the reusable bags with her, so she too can save a sea turtle by not using plastic bags. =)

:: Eye Opener - CSPI ::

Have you really stopped to think about ALL of the processes that go into the foods you truly enjoy? Have you ever really thought about how much water it takes to irrigate, not only for the fruits and vegetables that we enjoy eating, but also for the crops that are fed to the livestock we eat. Because my blog focuses on water so much, I want to point out just how much water it takes. While touring the food supply chain on the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) website on eating green, I learned that irrigating feed-grain crops and raising livestock requires about 15 TRILLION gallons of water per year. That is over half of all irrigation water used in the US. To produce just ONE pound of beef, it takes about 18,000 gallons of rain and irrigation water. That is MORE than it takes to grow a pound of fruits and vegetables. This is absolutely unbelievable. I would have never guessed that it would take that much water to grow crops just to feed cattle.

Irrigation, while good for crops, does have negatives associated with it that I had not thought of before. When lands are over-irrigated, erosion occurs. This washes away the soil, pesticides and fertilizer into nearby streams and rivers, which in the long run pollute the water, harms the animals and upset our delicate ecosystem. I did not realize that in addition to all of that....over-irrigation also affects the soil quality, including lowering its nutrient content. This certainly is a wake up call for me.

I do realize that we have many areas across the country that have times of drought and have a strong need for irrigation, but I certainly did not realize the impact that it had on everything else in the food chain. It isn't just the farmer that it effects. If his crop doesn't grow, then we don't benefit from his food, be it the fruits and vegetables he is growing or the crops for his cattle. For the consumer, we are end up with food that could have a lower nutrient content because of the excess fertilizers, lower soil quality, and all the pesticides that are in the ground. This information has made me want to look into alternative irrigation methods.