It ain't easy being green

Learning is such a funny process for me. For instance, Sweet Husband is on a renewal resource / environmentally friendly tear. Not that we all shouldn't be, but still, it is a bit surprising to find my yuppy consumer husband now insisting we use as little of any given resource as possible. But I digress.

So as part of the environmental forced march we're currently on, it was strongly suggested to me that we switch to fully recycled content paper products. Great. Easy enough, I've seen them around, surely they will be easy to get my hands on.

Oh, wait. I live in Mayberry, land of the single source. No recycled paper goods here, those were 45 minutes away in the Land Of Plenty. So... do I drive 50 minutes in my incredibly wasteful SUV, have them shipped by UPS from another source, or waste trees by using plain old paper towels? Which is the best choice? Is there one?

I am overwhelmed by my confusion. If I have to "waste" resources to get them by driving or shipping, does that fully negate my recycled paper towels? And I know I should switch to cloth napkins - but then I'll be doing even more laundry then usual. Which puts me back in the increased energy & water usage category.

And don't even get me started on other product warnings of late. Do I no longer use plastic water bottles because of the Bisphenol A (BPA) warnings? What about the face creams I use - do I get rid of them if they contain anything scary? And then what do I choose? Does just buying organic cover it? Or do I need to try and buy locally, too?

I'm usually pretty good at making a decision, but in this case, I have no clue what I'm doing. With everyone embracing the green movement, it's hard to tell the hype from fact. I know I can make a big difference with the small things like light bulbs and recycling, but what happens when you want to take the next step? I realize I may be overthinking it here, but still - how do you make any kind of decision?

Is anyone else overwhelmed with the information overload on this one?