When can you call your lifestyle “green”?

Almost all of my clothing is second hand and I hardly ever by anything new. I’m vegetarian. I have earthworms living in my balcony and I shamelessly bring my own bag with me when I run out to the bakery just around the corner to get some bread. My PC is refurbished. Almost everything I have is things that I actually use, I could pack everything I own in one huge suitcase and I do not see the need to buy much more. My social networks are full of images, videos and articles on climate change, sustainability and waste, but sometimes I still feel like a faker.

I fly way too much. My trip from Europe to Argentina added so much to my carbon footprint, and I am planing to visit Europe this summer, because I want to see my family and I have not one but two weddings coming up. I could buy much more things in bulk, but sometimes it is just so much easier to get in the supermarket. Majority of my food does not come from ecological production, as I find it too expensive. Sometimes I forget to control my fridge and I have to throw out food. I have space for urban gardening, but I still have not made one. My cleaning supplies and cosmetics are not ecological and I’m not sure if there aren’t microbeads hiding in some of them. I tried to go no-poo and let’s just say I am using shampoo again. My to-read list is getting longer instead of getting shorter. I do not speak up in a meaningful way as much as I would like and sometimes I wonder does anything I do actually matters. You get the picture.

I have a way of dealing with this overly critical voice in my head. 'Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good' is what I say to myself. As with everything truly meaningful, there are no shortcuts and no “easy ways out”. I highly doubt it that one day I will reach a moment of feeling perfectly at ease with myself, as after dealing with all the things mentioned above, I probably will come up with even longer list of things I should change. However, I prefer these doubts to a false clarity or ignorant bliss. There is too much of both, simplification and ignorance, in this world, especially when dealing with sustainability.

I ask myself, do the sustainability idols, people stopping the pipelines and keeping all the waste they produce in a year in a jar feel like me sometimes? Do they feel they are doing enough? And do you think your lifestyle is “green”? What change made you feel that way? Are you still on a fence like me, or are you sure that you are not “green”?