It's Not Always Easy Being Green

For instance, I have been searching high and low for a 100% organic shower curtain.  I had no idea it was going to prove to be so difficult to find one.  This past Saturday, I went to Evanston and went to two different "green" stores.  The first one, Ethical Planet, is an all vegan general store, but it is small and does not carry things like sheets, towels, clothes or shower curtains. The second store, Healthy Green Goods, had one type of shower curtain.  It was 100% organic cotton, but it was not my style at all.  I even tried Cost Plus World Market as well.  They had 100% cotton shower curtains, but they were not organic.  

The reason I want an organic cotton shower curtain is because cotton is the most pesticide-intensive crop grown on the planet. Check out the Organic Consumers Association for more troublesome facts about cotton, a fabric that people assume is "natural."  However, cotton shower curtains are better than vinyl shower curtains-the cheap, plastic-feeling shower curtains you can get for a few dollars from just about any store.  Check out the toxicity of vinyl here.  

Yesterday, I was downtown and decided that I would try and find a 100% organic cotton shower curtain again.  I tried Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens and Things and Crate & Barrel.  The first two stores were extremely disappointing.  Crate & Barrel did have a lot of organic towels and bath mats, they also had a lot of bamboo products.  They had 100% cotton shower curtains, but they were not organic.   

So I am going to try Target on Friday.  They have a lot of organic bath products on-line, so I am hoping to find an organic shower curtain in the store.  If I can't find one at Target, there is one more store I can try called A Cooler Planet.  I would much rather patronize a local store and save a ton of carbon emissions then buy an organic shower curtain on-line and have it shipped across the country or even the world.  I feel like that really defeats the purpose of being green. I am not just doing it for myself but for the planet as well.