Gilbert - The imperfect environmentalist: a practical guide to clearing your body, detoxing your home, and saving the earth (without losing your mind)

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

When a friend gave me a 300-page book on the ecological implications of laundry, I knew the environmental movement was doomed.

As a working mom, I hardly have time to do laundrylet alone read an epic tale about it. I wanted to call that laundry author and demand a synopsis: Give me the two-minute version on dirty clothes.

As individuals and as parents, we have so many everyday issues to be concerned aboutfood, clothes, cosmetics, cleaning products, what needs to be organic, and what doesnt matter so much. Its easy to get overwhelmed. But then it occurred me. There are Cliffs Notes on the complete works of Shakespeare and Victorian novels reduced to Twitter feeds, so why not quick interviews with health and environmental super-brains to illuminate all we need to know in a few pointed moments?

I came to the environmental movement young, with big ideas about saving the planet. My eighth-grade science teacher, Ms. Davis, taught us about the environmental impact of putting meat on our tables, so I became a vegetarian. It was only later that I found out what they put in American meat (no, you dont want to know, but Ill tell you anyway on ).

I signed on with the Ban the Box campaign in the eighties. Surely a few of you remember those giant cardboard boxes CDs used to come inthe long boxes, impossible to open from any corner?

But heres the deal: Those boxes dont exist anymore. Activism works. We consumers saw all that absurdly wasteful packaging and said, No. We want our Cyndi Lauper without killing a whole forest, thank you very much. It was an amazing feeling: We the people had the power to change the world, one long CD box at a time.

I was so excited I decided Id really ramp up my activism. Yes, Id join PETA in a protest against animal testing by a big cosmetics company! The spokesperson for the company was a famous actress, and we were protesting outside her housewith a man in a bloody bunny suit. As you can imagine, this didnt go over so well.

Thanks for forgiving me, Cybill.

I settled into less radical tactics and got involved with other causes, ones that were a little more low key. I became a vegan and committed to buying organic whenever possible. I fought against global warming and tried to save the seals.

But as years rolled by and my life got busier, sometimes it just seemed like there were so many damned catastrophes. My dreams of saving the planet ended up on the back burner.

Then I became a parent, and I started thinking about the future in a new way. What kind of world would my children grow up in? What about my childrens children? When I found out that the flame retardants in my sons mattress, pillows, and pajamas were actually toxic to the brain, I went into a mild panic.

My sons bed was literally killing him?

How had I gotten too busy to save the planet? And if I couldnt save the planet, surely I could save my own kids. The same toxic choices that are killing the planet are making our homes unlivable and our bodies sick. I had to do something, but what?

Enter that 300-page book on laundry. What was I going to do with that? Use it as a doorstop? Donate it to the library?

The laundry book wasnt going to save the world, so I picked up another title, one that promised simple steps to a greener life. I opened to a random page and read that I could make a real impact buying candy without wrappers.

Okay. Pause. Take that in.

Candy without wrappers?

Sure, wrappers can be hard to recycle. But there wasnt a Ye Olde Candy Shoppe in my neighborhood. At least I could recycle the book.

...

Im committed to being green, so if Im overwhelmed, who isnt?

I think about my mom, about the people I work withtheyre not happy about climate change or lead paint or obesity rates, but theyre not excited about the environmental movement, either.

Yes, Sara, I am recycling this, they promise, sort of defensively when I say Good morning. As if the mere sight of me represents some kind of nag factor.

I dont want to nag anyone, believe me. And I know that if we dont make this easy, well never get back to the feeling and reality that we the people have the power to change the world.

Eighty percent of the worlds forests are already gone.

Air pollution has gotten so bad that those of us who live in major cities live on average two to three years less than people who live in cities with cleaner air.

Thinking youll just stay inside? Because of common household cleaners, pollutant levels in the average American home are actually two to five times higher than they are outdoors.

But this book isnt some Chicken Little routine about the current mess were in. Its about starting the cleanup. Its clearly not about being perfect, eitherthere have been weeks when I didnt recyclebut then, I did use a hippie cleaning product to clean my kitchen. Its about doing what we can when we can and empowering ourselves to make a difference.

Having said that, I understand that the temptation to throw up our hands and say Forget it will always be there. I feel the allure of a shimmering new SUV just like the next mom. Im so sick of this small hybrid, I muttered under my breath as I climbed into my six-year-old Prius the other morning.