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I like to think I'm a good person and at least a pale shade of green. My recycling trash container is always much fuller than than the one that contains, well, trash. I buy recyled, local, organic, advocate for sustainable solutions at the architectural office I work at. I know what Cradle to Cradle is, unplug electrical things when I can and when they aren't needed....
I really really try to be a good person.
But my partner's daughter gave him a Keurig coffee maker for Christmas.
Now, you first have to understand--we really enjoy coffee and drink it morning, noon, and night. When we first got together I did have to teach him that grocery store brand ground coffee made into pale brown water is NOT coffee. I introduced him to the coffee grinder and Trader Joe's Organic, Shade-Grown, Fair Traded Coffee. (It's the way I salvage my guilt over what I know can be an exploitive, environment destroying, high pesticide product.)
And then the Keurig showed up. And I mocked it--who know what kind of coffee really was in those little plastic K cups? I mean--PLASTIC? And they don't recycle.
Then we had the first cup of dark roast.
"OK," we agreed, "Not bad for when you just want a cup. Or for company." Quick, easy, flavorful, and kinda fun--all the buttons and the hissing noise, and bright lights.
Nice on occasion , we agreed.
The first hit was just experimental. Why would we abandon our old coffee maker which held so many cups and could be programed to have a full pot ready before we got out of bed?
In the next few days we blew through the samples that had come with the Keurig like a politician grabbing face time on TV. No limits.
Then--the supply was running low. Panic set in. Where do you go to get more--who's your connection?
Turns out Costco carries a big box of 80 of Newman's Own for $33.00.
I brought it home. John added up the cost and gave me THE LOOK. "Do you realize how much this costs a cup?" No. He told me. I just could not keep the number in mind; it always drifted away.
Besides, while not cheaper that making a pot, well, you know, sometimes we didn't actually drink the whole pot and then we wastefully poured it out. And the Keurig brew is certainly cheaper than Starbucks and their ilk.
I try not to look at the old coffee maker which seems to be lonely and saddened, asking what did I do wrong? It doesn't seem to be buying, "It's not you, it's me."
I don't even tell myself I can quit anytime. Turns out we ALWAYS want only one cup.
Really.
We pretend that pile of little plastic cups in the trash does not exist. And--after all--it is Newman's Own: organic and fair traded. The Newmans are very environmentally aware you know.
Now I'm wishing we had a Keurig at work.
I know I need help.
Is there a support group out there for me?
We could have coffee.
Gwendolyn Hudson Lauterbach http://barefootontheground.blogspot.com/
