Progressive Dilemmas
I am struggling with shopping at Wal-Mart. Take Dog Food - I can buy a ten pound bag of dog food at the local grocery store for about $12. I can buy a forty pound bag at Wal-Mart for about $22. I can drive an hour over the hill each way and go to PetSmart in Santa Rosa and get the forty pound bag for $32. And that's about $15.00 in gas, so I might as well go to the grocery store four times.
I know it is wrong to shop at Wal-Mart knowing what I know about their business practices and how they treat their employees. But it's a waste of gas to drive over the hill just for dog food. And it pollutes. And I can't afford to feed my dogs at the grocery store prices. And anyway, PetSmart is a giant chain as well. And then I like to support my local economy, and technically, shopping at Wal-Mart supports the local economy more than shopping in Santa Rosa (Lake County versus Sonoma County). But if I drive over the hill, I can visit my sister, and there's value in that. But if I have to go to the bank in Clearlake anyway, I can hit Wal-Mart on the way back and not waste any gas or pollute any more than I am already anyway.
Then there's the fact that I own an SUV. Some of my friends give me grief about that. But I say, if I can take five people on a long drive to the beach in my car instead of going in two cars, that's better in the long run. And if I bring a plastic bag with me and pick up garbage, I'm doing more good than harm, I think. And besides, I work at home. So my Trooper sitting in the driveway while I work is better than anyone's Prius.
A plastic bag to the beach? How about the grocery store? Paper or plastic? Hmmm, cutting down a tree versus plastic that (maybe) takes forever to bio-degrade. Are the bags made from recycled plastic? Are the paper bags made from post-consumer waste? Buy canvas bags?
Speaking of cutting down trees - Real Christmas tree or Fake Christmas tree? Rachel hates the "tree graveyard lots." I say, they are cut down already, so it's more wasteful to let it sit on the lot and die. And we could go to a tree farm, but that's another drive over the hill. But then a fake tree is made out of plastic. I'm leaning towards fake now since it will last longer than me. Maybe we will pass it down to our kids.
It's tough, man. And no matter what I do, my friends like Ted and Kimra will always be better than me at this stuff. But then, I'll always be better than my parents. Maybe if we work on Jake he'll be better than us and keep making things better in the future.
But then maybe the Earth's core will cool and we'll lose our magnetic field and all die anyway.
I know it is wrong to shop at Wal-Mart knowing what I know about their business practices and how they treat their employees. But it's a waste of gas to drive over the hill just for dog food. And it pollutes. And I can't afford to feed my dogs at the grocery store prices. And anyway, PetSmart is a giant chain as well. And then I like to support my local economy, and technically, shopping at Wal-Mart supports the local economy more than shopping in Santa Rosa (Lake County versus Sonoma County). But if I drive over the hill, I can visit my sister, and there's value in that. But if I have to go to the bank in Clearlake anyway, I can hit Wal-Mart on the way back and not waste any gas or pollute any more than I am already anyway.
Then there's the fact that I own an SUV. Some of my friends give me grief about that. But I say, if I can take five people on a long drive to the beach in my car instead of going in two cars, that's better in the long run. And if I bring a plastic bag with me and pick up garbage, I'm doing more good than harm, I think. And besides, I work at home. So my Trooper sitting in the driveway while I work is better than anyone's Prius.
A plastic bag to the beach? How about the grocery store? Paper or plastic? Hmmm, cutting down a tree versus plastic that (maybe) takes forever to bio-degrade. Are the bags made from recycled plastic? Are the paper bags made from post-consumer waste? Buy canvas bags?
Speaking of cutting down trees - Real Christmas tree or Fake Christmas tree? Rachel hates the "tree graveyard lots." I say, they are cut down already, so it's more wasteful to let it sit on the lot and die. And we could go to a tree farm, but that's another drive over the hill. But then a fake tree is made out of plastic. I'm leaning towards fake now since it will last longer than me. Maybe we will pass it down to our kids.
It's tough, man. And no matter what I do, my friends like Ted and Kimra will always be better than me at this stuff. But then, I'll always be better than my parents. Maybe if we work on Jake he'll be better than us and keep making things better in the future.
But then maybe the Earth's core will cool and we'll lose our magnetic field and all die anyway.
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 4:16 PM
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