green is universal

By Mary Beth Gonzalez, iVillage.com

Since April is "Earth Month" I find myself with lots of Green events on my calendar - so many in fact that it is hard to attend them all but as with my philosophy about living green, I simply do the best that I can. So yesterday morning I woke up with a little green dilemma... I wanted to attend the Bedford Spring Antiques Show sponsored by St. Matthew's Church in Westchester County. This year's theme: "Renew, Recycle, Redecorate" is part of their "Bedford twenty by 2020" pledge to help Bedford reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by the year 2020. Furthermore, I've been attending the annual event for years and was excited to see their collection of antiques and some old friends. But I had suffered a neck injury earlier in the week and was under doctor's orders to rest. My original plan to lug myself (and whatever I might purchase at the show) from NYC to Bedford and back via trains and taxis didn't seem very restful. And given my stiff neck and lingering pain, I couldn't rent a car and drive myself.

Then I thought... Ozocar to the rescue! I contacted this hybrid car service (Prius and Lexus hybrids) and felt relieved about being as green as can be. When a large black Lincoln town car arrived to take me to Bedford, I was surprised and disappointed. Seems that Ozocar had run out of hybrids, and they didn't think to tell me when they called to confirm. I guess to some folks, a car is still a car. So I reluctantly got in and reassured myself that I had at least tried to go green.

Every year for over 15 years now, I visit Josephine Thrasher's antique jewelry booth at the show. She is nearly 80 years old now and running her small business alone since her husband died suddenly over 2 years ago. The first year after he died, I helped her work her booth at the Bedford show. In the car, I sorted through my Envirosax bag full of goodies I was bringing to her to recycle. Over the years, I had unconsciously collected a very wide assortment of small jewelry store boxes and earring storage envelopes. Josephine likes to give her customers their antique jewelry purchases in pretty boxes so I knew these would go to good use.

When I got to the Bedford Spring Antiques Show, I immediately saw all the thoughtful ways they were going green. In the entrance lobby stood a recycled cardboard box calling for your recycled cell phones. Signs encouraging you to "Dare to Recycle" led you to the ticket table with a raffle for his-and-her premium bicycles and an electric children's dirt bike. Their show program was a simple and effective 8 pages on recycled paper with listings of the sponsors rather then the typical 50 page, glossy ad filled, printed book. Then a close friend of my parent's, greeted me warmly and handed me a list of the 20 steps for the "Bedford twenty by 2020" pledge and a brown eco-friendly, re-usable grocery bag.

With my own eco-bag of boxes to recycle in hand, I made a beeline for Josephine's booth. She greeted me as only old friends can, with a big hug and wet smiling eyes. She saw my 40+ jewelry boxes and announced that "it must be Christmas!" as it seems she had been running low on her own supply. Conscious of the car service waiting outside, I tried to take in the show as quickly as possible. And I did make one special purchase - an antique 18 carat floral-engraved 200 year old, gold wedding band. A unique, yet more everyday choice compared to my diamond wedding band. Since it was antique and by definition, recycled, it was a green solution too. "A true find" remarked Josephine. Another old Bedford friend arrived at the booth while I was trying it on and called it "my-running-to-the-A&P" wedding ring. I smiled and said "rather, my running-to-the-farmer's market!" ring and paid cash.

On the way home in the car, I thought back to how nice it was that an event I've always enjoyed was now made even more special by going green. I thought about how "green" seeing old friends was because you didn't have to exert as much energy as when meeting new people. And as I twirled my new ring in the sunlight, I saw the inside engraving for the first time. "To Mel love Sylvia 2-12-74". Gosh. While I enjoy going green as much as I can, it sure can be full of surprises.

Mary Beth Gonzalez
iVillage.com
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