..if you insist on your coffee being organic, shade-grown (to protect the songbird habitat) and labeled “fair trade”.
..if you tote your rotten apple core 74 miles home to put it in your compost pile rather than pitch it in a trash can.
..if you limp when you walk because you recently darned the holes in your socks, and it is a new skill, so they are lumpy!
..if the only cleaning supplies in your house are salt, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and borax.
..if you haven’t used a chemical on your lawn since you read the ingredients and knew the dandelions and butterflies wouldn’t like it.
..if every time you see a child having an asthma attack and silently cuss out makers, sellers and drivers of SUV’s.
..if you only want to go to the food store when you have four items left in your refrigerator and none of them are tofu or fresh fruit.
..if you count down the days to Household Hazardous Waste Day to dispose of your used batteries, paints, solvents, household chemicals and computers and parts.
..if you think that Julia “Butterfly” Hill should have been Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for the two years she tree-sat in Luna.
..if you always cheer for the Indians in the old westerns—and you still regularly want to defend native peoples.
..if you watched 3 people on your block die of the same rare disease and begin to study eco-justice issues.
..if you use leftover water in glasses from meals to water your houseplants instead of dumping it down the drain.
..if you can describe the difference in mission of Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund and Audubon Society.
..if you struggle with the issue of living sustainably in a consumer world.
..if you’ve held a child in your arms as you read about degraded air and water quality and whispered, “How can we do this to you?”
..if your favorite “good clothes” came off the Final Clearance rack at Goodwill.
..if you’ve ever asked a loved one to save their bathwater so you can use it next, knowing aquatic life downstream need the next tub full more than you do.
..if you’ve read about sustainability successes Kerala, Curitiba, and Gaviotos and thought: “Why can’t we do this in more communities?”
..if your jewelry collection is made mostly from rocks, string and dried mushrooms.
..if you shopped your entire Christmas list while only buying things from groups that are committed to Earth restoration.
..if your friends can recite by heart your speech about the dangers of pesticides to children.
..if you’ve ever saved all your dryer lint to stuff a pillow.
..if you hang wet clothes all over the house, rather than use the dryer, because besides saving power it humidifies your dry winter house.
..if you’ve ever called the hotel desk and asked them to leave the same sheets on the bed for the 4 days you’ll be in the room.
..if you’ve ever stood in your backyard in the rain in your skivvies laughing at how good it felt.
..if you wretch every time you hear the word disposable.
..if you compost because you know that “a rind is a terrible thing to waste.”
