Funny. The Guardian reports on an American couple who decided to go a year without producing garbage (not unrelated to No Impact Man's project) and have run into a bit of a hurdle: their cat won't use biodegradable litter.

"The older cat would have nothing to do with it. She held it for about two days and would not go into the litter box," said Adam Korst. "We do not have a green cat. We tried hard with her, but she is pretty stubborn. She is not going to change for us and we have to allow her to have the lifestyle she is used to."

Well then. Sounds like the cat will have to go.

Seriously, though: There's a bit of a trend on live local right now to avoid plastic bags; these types self-challenges make efforts to minimise footprints more interesting, but they also reveal the many ways that unsustainable conveniences have invaded everything we do.

What do you do if your cat won't go for the biodegradable litter (ignoring for a moment the important issue of Who invented non-biodegradable litter in the first place, and what's it made of)? What are you supposed to use as a kitchen garbage bag if you eschew plastic? What if your new baby is a really exhausting thing to have to deal with and dealing with cloth diapers on top of everything else makes you want to cry?

The easy answer is "suck it up". But a better answer might be to ask. How do you handle the annoyances and difficulties that arise when trying to make choices that go against the easy (and less local) way of doing things?