Kit's Eco Un-Friendly Car And Pet Moment of Truth Confessions

by Kit K.
(Dickson, Tennessee, USA)

I consider myself to be a very ecologically minded person. I recycle, am mostly vegetarian (which is a great help to the planet, given that eating this way uses a lot less resources to produce food supply), and try the best I can to conserve energy. I use fluorescent light bulbs, minimize water usage, turn the heat down and wear a sweater if I'm cold, and so on. Got to protect good old Mother Earth, right? I certainly think so. Hey, she's giving us a place to stay and hasn't complained too much (yet, though she may be starting to), so I think we certainly should return the favor by being as considerate as we can of the old girl.

I'll admit I didn't think about this much when I was a kid, but as an adult I've certainly paid attention and have kept my carbon footprint as small as I possibly can. Well, mostly, anyway.

That is, I have a couple of really big "no-no's" when it comes to ecology and conservation, and I'll never be quite sure what to do about them. The first big no-no I constantly struggle with is in regard to my cats!

They're lovely, friendly, constant companion "babies" of mine, and I'll never get rid of them. However, their litter box leavings also comprise probably 60% of my garbage. Short of trying to toilet train my cats (which will never fly, considering how well I know my cats), this isn't something that's never going to change. So I toss out probably 20, 30, 40 or more pounds of used litter into landfills every single month, gnash my teeth -- and do it anyway.


The second big "no-no" when it comes to the environment is my gas guzzling, decades old Ford station wagon. She is the only car I've ever had, she works fine (not really pretty, but runs good), and I'm just not in a mood to upgrade until she goes to that great big garage in the sky. I try not to drive a lot and to plan my trips carefully so that I'm as efficient as possible, but still, yes, my car spews a lot of pollution into the air, and I know this but for now a new eco friendly car is not in the budget, although I wish it was.

So there you have it: my two big "ongoing" moment-of-truth confessions that will probably never change. They are the ecologically unfriendly sore spots in my life!

Incidentally, it's probably true that the cat situation is never going to change, likely, since I know I'm always going to have cats. However, one of these days, I certainly will buy a "new" car, and at least I'll help mitigate that little nugget of remorse at that point....

Until then, you just do the best you can do, right?

Kit