If you’ve read my blog before you probably know that I am a fairly “green” person. I have reusable shopping bags (and I actually use them!), I shop the farmers’ market and grow some of my own food, I drive a hybrid car, I recycle and compost and I’m starting to buy food with less packaging.
But as green as I am there are still a few things in my life that I just can’t seem to move over into the green or eco-friendly territory. These are my eco-vices. Today I present just two of them and I’m not sure how to kick the habit on either (or if I even want to).
My first confession is that I love to take long, hot showers. Even though I know I should speed it up in there, I still continue to take my sweet time. I love the feel of the hot water and luxuriating in the soapy bubbles.
I know I am using a lot more water than I need and that I should really reduce my consumption. But it’s as if the hot water hypnotizes me into moving in slow motion and the “green” part of my brain just switches off. I try, I really do, to take shorter showers but nothing I do seems make my body move faster.
My second major eco-vice is bananas. You might be thinking “what? bananas? how is that an eco-vice?” Well bananas don’t grow in Kansas. Or anywhere else in the United States. Banana grow on entirely different continents. Which means they have to travel a long way to get to my kitchen.
These particular bananas are from Honduras. And Honduras is about 1800 miles from where I live. Not exactly local. These bananas use up a tremendous amount of fuel just to get to my house.
And yet I love them. Bananas are essential for making smoothies and banana soft serve. I love them immediately after a long run as a way to refuel. I haven’t found anything more local to replace bananas so I continue to buy them.
Now tell me, what’s your eco-vice? Can’t seem to recycle? Drink bottled water? Drive a gas guzzler? I’m sure we all have an eco-vice. No one is perfect!
Everything Is Homemade 
I’m with you on the long, hot showers! It’s my favorite eco-vice!
Pineapple…it is grown in the United States, but it takes a loooong way to get to my NYC fruit stand. Nobody’s perfect…I thinl I’ll have a banana on the side too. lol
I had some fantastic pineapple in Hawaii. And I didn’t have to feel guilty because I bought it at a farmers market!
I’m horrible and forgetting my reusable bags in the car… With the kids to remember they unfortunately get left behind more often then I would like. I really do enjoy a hot shower but don’t get to enjoy it nearly as much as I would prefer!
If you like your hot showers and if your hot water heater goes out or needs replaced there are great hot water heaters out there that are more efficient and will ultimately pay for themselves with lower utility bills! I know this now because I’m working with the first GreenPlumber in KS and MO! Give me a call if you need anything!
Hey Jen! I will definitely call you when our water heater goes out. I’m wondering if it’s on it’s last leg anyway because sometimes the water is not very hot.
To help remember to bring my shopping bags I started putting them right back in the car immediately after unpacking them from a shopping trip. That way they are always in the car and I can grab them from the trunk or backseat. Or if I forget to bring them in, I can run back out to the car to get them. Of course I don’t have kids so that’s easy to say for me!
My eco-vice is paper towels. I can be good for a while and hardly use them at all, and then I’ll find myself whipping through a roll in no time, usually when I’m cooking up a storm and have used all my dish towels or am cooking great quantities of something that would ruin my dish towels.
Paper towels is a good one. I would love to stop using them but cleaning some things (like cat vomit) require a paper towel.
Avocados, bananas, and pretty much anything citrus. My options are pretty limited in Canada. But I make up for it by drowning in homegrown tomatoes and zucchini.