And Now for Some Thoughts on Yogurt

What? Surely he can't be against yogurt, everyone loves yogurt. But I ask you to do this. Next time you're in a grocery store, wander over to dairy and take a look at the yogurt section and ponder the fate of our environment.

There's like ten million yogurts in every store in America. Well, at least the ones I know. That's a lot of pieces of plastic guaranteed for a single use. I can't think of a time I've seen somebody using a Chobani cup for anything. And yes, I'm sure one of you is thinking "Um, my aunt is a watercolorist and she uses them for washing her brushes" but that's one Aunt. And how many watercolorist's brushes are there to wash vs. the wall of yogurt containers at your local Safeway?

I like yogurt, you know this blog is mostly about self-shame. I don't buy it often but it's only because I buy it and then it sits in the fridge until I guilt-eat it all in one day because it's been in there for three weeks. But this isn't about my neurosis. The point is yogurt is yummy and arguably good for you so maybe this is one of those cases where we just have to accept we're going to add some plastic to the waste stream in the name of a better life for ourselves. And that has to be OK to some degree. We accept it for toothpaste and Clarins eye cream. So yogurt is fine too, right?

I had a roommate who ate yogurt every single morning of her life. And she rinsed the container out and left it in the sink. But this isn't about my dreams of murder. It's about 365 pieces of intentional waste per year. And maybe that's ok. Maybe that's the amount of plastic waste it takes to live the life you like. I don't know the answer. I'm not sure there is an answer or if an answer is even the point. (How zen of me.) I guess the point is are we aware of our choice? Or we even making a choice? Or, are we blindly (mindlessly) dumping plastic.

I wish I could say just stop, here's an alternative. And you'd think that by now there would be a feminist dairy collective making yogurt and hitting all of the farmers markets to sell their yogurt bulk-style, ladling it into your carefully washed crock that you brought with you- like the growler approach to beer but for yogurt. And that might actually fly here in the bay area, but I can't see it happening broadly. And what happened before plastic? I guess everyone who ate yogurt made it themselves at home and I'm not about to try to convince anyone that's a great plan. Though you could probably do it in that pickling setup you got a few years ago at the office holiday party. No, there isn't really an option I can think of.

So is this a carbon offset kind of thing? Maybe if we want to eat yogurt every day or a whole bunch we have to agree we'll never use a plastic bag or a roll of saran wrap and we'll only buy bamboo toothbrushes. (Oh I've got my eyes on you, Philips Sonicare, you demon of feeling clean.) Like I said, I don't have an answer here. And maybe that's why I get so uneasy in the dairy section.