This old dog learns a new trick

Quite often I read about how it’s so difficult to get older people on board with changing to a more sustainable lifestyle and in my opinion, this is not reasonable.

We Baby Boomers, and older, just like everyone else, want to leave a healthier planet and people for the future, but I think we’re more skeptical about outcomes based on our experience.

We’ve seen ideas come and go, fads explode and “knowledge” be flipped on its head over and over in our lifetimes.

So no, many older people don’t live for new technologies or jump on board with the first person to claim something that goes counter to what we think we know.

We may take a lot more convincing than we did in our thirties, but believe me, we do still learn.

I thought I knew it all when I was young. Now I know I did not. And I’m more excited and open to alternatives than ever before in my life. Yes, often it takes more time and facts to convince me, but once I “see the light,” I have no problem giving up the old ways.

Here’s a great example.

When our kids were growing up, if Vaseline, ice, aspirin or waiting didn’t solve a medical issue, we headed to the ER.

I’m not sure when I first started using Vaseline, but probably as a teenager when I used it to remove eye make up and to soothe my lips.

Yes, it was sticky and the name disgusted me, but it worked…until the day not all that many years ago, the light bulb moment when I realized that Vaseline was the brand name, but petroleum jelly was the product! Petroleum as in gasoline.

The skeptics among you are likely thinking…”So what? You’re not blind from using it to remove your eye make up and your babies all grew up to be more or less normal human beings after having their bums slathered with the stuff. What’s the harm?”

I’m going to send you doubters over to Blisstree to read a good post about the subject to find some of the reasons, but personally, it was simply a matter of realizing the source of my once-favorite and knowing that no matter how clean it appeared, I just didn’t like the idea of using it. I knew there had to be an alternative, but at the time, didn’t think to search for it.

Then, one day months after I’d kicked the Vaseline habit, I was walking the aisles of our local natural food store, PCC, when out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a familiar shaped tube. I couldn’t believe they’d be carrying Vaseline, and on closer look, I burst out laughing. This was not petroleum jelly, but UNPetroleum Jelly! Yup, that’s the name.

I bit and I bought.

Once home, I looked the product up on Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Unfortunately, it isn’t listed.

On the other hand, from what I see, most of the ingredients seem to be OK even if they’re not organic. The only red flag is tocopheryl which is given a “fair” rating by the EWG—not too terrible.

Better yet, I just discovered a two-ingredient recipe for “un-petroleum jelly,” that I’ll soon whip up. I’m trying to do away with packaging as much as possible, especially plastic packaging (which of course also is made from petrochemicals), so making it myself, especially when it’s easy is a no-brainer!

Another new trick for this old dog.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.