Difficulties with changing!

12/21/2012

I have been trying, and failing for the most part, to be more eco friendly. It's not easy to change your lifestyle and even harder when your husband isn't really on board. Him saying he completely supports me in whatever I want to do is different than completely supporting me.

I stay home all day and probably use more electricity than I should. I watch a lot of television to pass the time since school is out for a month and I don't want to spend money going out given that I'm not working. We started recycling over a month ago but all of our recyclables never made their way to the recycle dumpster, because I asked my husband to take them and they sit in his truck......  It's been very frustrating to me also that I bought a post consumer content travel cup for my husband to use at work rather than disposable plastic cups or styrafoam yet he refuses to use it and instead always uses the disposable cups! I don't understand why!

I have instigated Meatless Mondays since learning more about the inhumane treatment of animals bred for consumption. I would rather eat an animal that had a good life, even if it was cut short, than an animal that had lived out its natural lifespan in horrid conditions. Animals shouldn't live in cages! They should see the sun, the grass, their babies! After seeing footage of undercover investigations of different factory farms I was deeply upset, but I still eat meat. That makes me a very weak person and gives me so much respect for vegans and vegetarians. I don't ever plan on being one, but I do want to cut back on my meat consumption and find a local source where I can visit and insure the animals are treated humanely and enjoy a good life!

My first meatless monday was a disaster. I tried a BBQ tofu recipe on allrecipes.com that had great reviews. Chris, my husband, and I had a few bites and wanted to get sick. The texture of tofu is atrocious! The second meatless monday was easy enough, we didn't plan anything special just avoided dishes with meat. I'm planning on trying a new recipe every monday to get meatless monday to be a healthy dinner night with vegetable dishes or some good soups! I've saved a few recipes on allrecipes but if you have one leave it as a comment and I will try it.

My husband has cheated on meatless mondays as while. Even when I remind him in the morning he just eats meat while he is at work and has a meatless dinner! I get frustrated by his cheating because I have a weak constitute. When he cheats than I'm more likely to, and then give up. I'm not good with change, and neither is he, but this change is important so "try, try again".

My friend recommended a book to help stay motivated and focused. I have alot of books that I have heard about in documentaries or were referenced in books I have read. I'm going to request them all at my library and get back to reading more often. I love learning new things, plus it will help me conserve electricity! I'm not very good at watching tv and reading! ;)

I would love to hear back from anyone following this blog. Leave me a comment or better yet a vegetarian recipe or a bunch of recipes!!