Suddenly Frugal Blog

So many people think that in order to live a green life, they’ve got to live like Ed Begley, Jr., and I know from my own experience that this isn’t true. Like with so many things, when it comes to behavior changes, you’ve got to take it one step or one day at a time.

That’s why I like this idea of “transitioning” to a greener life. For example, if you want to reduce how much trash you produce, you can make one change toward that goal. You can refuse bags at a store and bring your own. You can start a compost pile, and do your best to keep organic matter out of the garbage can. (I’m still working on my kids about putting apple cores in the compost.) You can choose to buy products based on their packaging–or lack thereof.

This summer, when our CSA farm is up and running, we’ll make a transition to locally grown, organic produce. Sure, I might have to pick up a cucumber or two from the grocery store from time to time, but I’ll be doing my best to keep my veggie carbon footprint as small as possible.

We all know that Wal-Mart is doing its best to endear itself with the green world, what with its packaging mandates and promise to build energy-efficient stores. This past Sunday there was a Wal-Mart insert in my paper, and it had a special pull-out section on green products.

The headline was “Can low prices make a better world?” with the logo “Save money, live better.” I guess this is Wal-Mart’s new way of branding itself. Nonetheless, I enjoyed looking through the eight-page flyer–not only because it included my favorite reusable shopping bags that I made a part of my holiday giving last December, but also because it had something that I’d never heard of–transitional cotton.

Here’s how the insert explained what transitional cotton is: “It’s cotton grown on fields that recently converted to organic farming methods, but not yet certified organic. When you buy a transitional-cotton T-shirt, you’re helping farmers make the switch to more Earth-friendly organic farming.” (You can find more details about transition cotton on Wal-Mart’s corporate website.)

It helps that these shirts are wicked cute, too. The shirt (above right) is from Faded Glory and costs only $6. There are also shirts made from recycled soda bottles ($7.50) that say things like “Recycling is Hot.” The insert says these shirts are 52% cotton and 48% recycled plastic bottles. OK, so it would be better if they were 100% recycled plastic bottles, but I’ll take 48% to start.

I hope that eventually these kinds of hybrid fabrics become more commonplace in all retail stores around the world. I mean, wouldn’t it be great if shirts made from recycled plastic soda bottles became the norm rather than the exception? That would make all of our transitions to greener living a lot easier.