A cheap-ass short term kitchen

One of the nicest things I've found here is the abundance of basic foodstuffs in glass jars. Now I know, they have glass jars back home, it's just usually reserved for the more expensive brands. Here all of my jam, nutella, mayo, coffee, and so on comes in glass, not plastic. This is good news in two ways: glass jars are less harmful to the environment, and glass jars make excellent reusable containers that I won't feel attached to at the end of my stay here and can then recycle. No need for tupperware, heck, some even make good tumblers for my juice. It's perfect. Good for me, good for the planet...
Now if only I can cut down on the junk food that keeps going in them (I'm looking at you, carton of crème anglaise...)

Guys. The Grateful Dead played country music. Just saying.

I am not an activist. I just think I should make this as clear as possible. I do things for convenience, or because I like to. I don't try going around and changing other people's minds, because as far as I can tell it's a waste of time. No one listens, I don't have any sort of inspiring message to give, just hey, this is what I do.
That being said, I do try to make things better. Maybe I'm only doing it to make me feel better, but why should that bother me? Charity begins at home, so they say, and there isn't much else here. I'd rather have a happy conscience than a fat wallet, so if that means cutting out plastic stuff by buying slightly more expensive but greener things, that's good isn't it? Like twice as much on a stainless steel water bottle rather than getting a plastic one. Like buying a glass straw so I can stop using plastic ones. But how do I justify these to other people? Seems I simply say "oh, I hate the taste of plastic." Which is true, but how is that inspiring? Maybe : "I want this planet to exist for the rest of my life. Just mine though. I don't have/want any offspring, and no time lord has showed up to take me on a trip to the future or another planet. So as long as I'm stuck here it would be better if it doesn't all go to hell in a handbasket."

Hell yeah. Now THAT is inspiring.

absence makes something something

Making my life a little "greener" isn't always easy or convenient (just ask Kermit) but sometimes it actually can be.
While packing for my long séjour in France, an incident from my trip to Korea came to mind... Shampoo. Specifically exploding bottles of shampoo. You want to bring some because you don't know when you'll have a chance to buy any, but you can't put it in your carryon anymore because of the liquid rules and then who knows how safe it'll be in your checked luggage?
So I've found a solution. Shampoo bars. Like bars of soap, except for hair. They're a bit pricier, sure, but they are supposed to replace several bottles. Best of all, I can stick them in my carryon bag. Haven't tried it yet, since I figured I would use up my liquid stuff and save these for France. Hopefully it'll all work as promised, and if so, they may be a permanent replacement for the ridiculous amounts of plastic I waste on bottles of shampoo!
One step at a time. I'm going to try to make this trip as earth friendly as possible - it's the least I can do after all the earth's done for me!