happy earth day
i feel like i’ve written about my contribution to being green already, but after scouring my archives, i suppose i haven’t. perhaps i’ve confused myself with 1) the billions of words already written on the subject or 2) my own self-proclaimed fascination with an apocalyptic demise and the fate of mankind that may or may not actually relate to environmental awareness.
thanks to wire and twine, i found this pretty comprehensive list of things one can do. and i’m happy to announce that me and the boy are pretty above average on most everything.
- biking. we do it. nearly every. damn. day. and if we don’t, we ride public transport or carpool with those who have cars.
- recycle. though, admittedly, we use our neighbors’ blue bins. our landlady is a bit wacky, so i don’t have the balls enough to ask her to look into a recycle program from our current waste management system.
- plastic bags. this was a hard one since we have a dog, but we finally gave them up. and no, this doesn’t mean we stopped picking up poop—biodegradable bags are now purchased for that dirty job. we do get the occasional plastic bag when we’re on outings sans bike (thus sans bike bag), or we forget to grab a canvas bag on the way out. but perhaps stores should stop offering them as an alternative altogether, so that it’s not such an easy fall-back.
- light bulbs. our main lights have been switched out to CFLs, though now i hear there is reason to be concerned over too much mercury. regardless, i subscribe to the ideology that if something affects my pocketbook for the worse, i make amends to change the offender. meaning: i just turn lights off when they’re not necessary. end of story.
- vegetarian. well, mostly.
- online anything and everything. trying to put an end to all paper catalogs. all but one of my financial institutions allows for paperless statements. all bills are paid online. phone books? pfft. who needs ‘em when the internet is right there at your fingertips.
- and personally, bottled water is simply an annoyance and reeks of pretension, imo.
things to work on: our usage of water and my occasional trip to a coffeeshop.
- short showers are difficult for me. and baths, well, the boy and i both take them probably more often than we should.
- rinsing dishes before going into the dishwasher. listen, we’re in an apartment with low-end, non-energy efficient appliances. and that alleged “dishwasher” needs a little help before the cycle begins.
- but, in effort to make up for it, we don’t run water while we brush our teeth, nor do we use the washer and dryer frequently. sounds gross on the laundry issue, but really, aside from underwear, do your clothes need that much laundering? how stinky of a person are you? besides, washers and dryers (and the mainstream detergents) are not particularly good for the health and longevity of your clothing anyway.
- and really, i will stop by CVS or walgreens soon and pick up an insulated coffee mug. i don’t drink coffee, but need an infrequent warm beverage. and every single time i do, a pang of guilt hits like a freight truck when i walk out with my paper cup. bad me!
so overall, not too bad of a round-up. but at least i know where we need help. and, i know that many of my everyday choices1 are already for the better anyway.
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1 i recently had to remind myself that though we need a particular piece of furniture, it’s ok to wait and scour craigslist and the like for pieces already in existence, as opposed to contributing to mass consumerism, mass production, packaging waste and fuel dependency on shipping the product once purchased online. so yay me. :)