Living Plastic Free: Milk

EnviroWoman was having a MarthaMoment. And the recipe called for milk.

Now, EnviroWoman has never been a big milk drinker. Maybe soy milk on the rare occasion when she’s baking. ‘Cuz drinking milk…well, it’s as natural as morphing into The Incredible Hulk when the sun goes down.

Oh sure, it’s natural while you’re a wee babe still dependent on mumsy ….just like it is for all mammals. But once you’re weaned and noshing on cheerios and strained bananas, Mother Nature intends for you to answer ‘Got Milk?’ with a big fat 'NO' from then on….no matter how good the ad campaign is.

And drinking the milk of another species is…well…a biological abomination. Yeah, yeah, sure, in some artificial situations you’ll find some kind-hearted female with heightened maternal instincts willing to nurse a furry little orphan that would never be part of her own litter. But that is so, so rare.

Nope… drinking milk (especially a cow’s) when you’re an adult human is just not natural. Of course, neither is wearing clothes, driving cars, religion, flying in planes, marriage, painting toenails, wearing makeup, pets, cooking and lots of other things…including plastic. And yet we think all these things are as natural as breathing air. Yup, we’re one OuttaTouchWithNature species aren’t we?

Anyhoo, the recipe called for milk.

Now you might be thinking 'EnviroWoman, this one’s a no-brainer. Milk comes in wax cartons’.

Oh my sweets, you should know the drill by now….there’s plastic in them thar’ containers. Yeah, ‘tis true. You think its wax, but it’s really plastic.

And, if milk isn’t in those waxy-plasticy cartons, well it’s in a plastic jug. Or in a tetrapak which also has a layer of plastic deep inside. And even milk in a glass bottle comes with a plastic lid nowadays.

So, EnviroWoman headed to the baking needs aisle to hunt among the cans of evaporated milk for boxes of powdered skim milk. No luck…all packaged in plastic bags. She tried all her usual haunts, including the bulk bins at Dan-d-Mart. Still no luck.

So she donned her ruby red slippers, jumped into MyLittleCar and made the long trek to the land of Super Store.

Now it’s not often her ruby red slippers touch down there, ‘cuz SuperStore is a harsh reminder how decadent our society is. I mean, is all that stuff really necessary? Is all that choice really necessary? Hell no!

But they’ve got bulk food bins coming outta the ying yang.

And when EnviroWoman asked ‘Got Powdered Milk?’ they answered ‘Yes.’

Now, several weeks ago EnviroWoman had a ‘there’s hope for the planet afterall’ moment at Safeway when she realized more and more people were starting to shun the plastic grocery bag and bring their own cotton bags.

Well, I gotta say, all hope is now in the crapper.

EnviroWoman was standing there in the checkout lane at SuperStore with her trusty wire basket and reuseable chinese take out boxes filled with bulk bin treasures….looking at the throngs of shoppers around her. And all their stuff. Most of it unnecessary. With all that packaging. Filled with all those animals. From deep in the ocean. From factory farms. Shipped from all around the world. Responsible for all those green house gases. All at the expense of Nature.

All those ignorant people steering our planet to disaster. Even EnviroWoman.

It made me so mad….I almost morphed into a green-eyed monster!!!

Anyway, so here’s how things add up:

Category: Milk
SAINT: Powered skim milk from bulk bins
Price: The same or cheaper
Quality: Hmmm, not as good
SINNER: Island Farms, Naturel, Natura, Valley Pride, Rice Dreams, So Nice, Dairyland, Lucerne, Beatrix, Olympic, Caper's Organic, SoyDream, Vita Soy, So Good, Avalon

Lessons Learned:

• Hope for the best. But prepare for the worst. 6.3 billion people will not be able to wake up and change their ways enough, and in time, to preserve life as we know it. So ditch the beach-front property. Buy heritage seeds. And a little plot of arable land...way inland. Start building the eco-bunker. The times, they are a changing. But people aren't.
• EnviroWoman should stay away from Super Store. And if she needs to go there, to partake of the bulk bin treasures, she should wear loose fitting clothing. Just in case she gets so angry she morphs into The Incredible Eco-Hulk.