Have you hugged a tree today?

I don't know when exactly it happened, but somewhere along the line, I became what my father likes to call, "A Tree Hugger."

I'm that girl who scolds if you leave the water running while brushing your teeth, insists on recycling, reuses paper shreddings as package stuffing, buys organic everything whenever possible, dreams of a hybrid car, wants to know why her parents don't save water by putting a brick in the back of their old toilets and has books around the house advising which foods are most contaminated by chemicals and how best to avoid buying fish that are farm-raised and fed a diet of other fish bits (ew). And that's just a sampling of my "This World Is Going To Hell & By The Time I Have Children They'll Have To Deal With The Toxic Wasteland We Left Them" mentality that has been the voice of my conscience for years now.

In waves I start to read more and more about certain subjects, resulting in outrage that urges me to share factoids on whichever subject I've just become a self-appointed expert. Unfortunately for my immediate family members, I usually dump it all on them.

I am aware of how annoying friends or acquaintances are who constantly yap at you about their beliefs and/or opinions, while you really just wanted to go out for a beer or make a Target run. So I try to swallow my opinions in order to avoid being that person. For the most part. However, my family is required to love me no matter what, so they are often the sacrificial lamb to my rants of injustice, wrongdoing and rectifying solutions. Especially my parents, because as parents, they're obliged to at least pretend to be listening, whereas with sisters...well, they sometimes just let their eyes glaze over moments before turning around and walking away.

There are enough sites out there and stories on the news giving helpful tips on how to lighten the footprint you leave behind, so I won't do that here. At least, not today. I will say though, that if you want your dad to crack you up with comments like, "Oh look, Sara! A tree! Do you wanna go hug it?", or "Hey Tree Hugger, I had to dig the elm out of the front yard. Did you want me to bring you the stump so you can cuddle with it at night?" - well, then it's time to start demanding organic milk, low energy light bulbs, recycled paper towels and the reusing of Christmas wrapping paper.

And as an end note, yes, I sense the irony to be found in my sometimes-environmentalist ways converging with life in LA, a city infamously covered with a layer of smog resembling the color of fire-roasted marshmallows. Gah!

(Image sent by Dad & titled, "Where's Sara?")