Tuesday, April 22, 2008

EARTH DAY

Hey I forgot to mention today was Earth Day! We are pretty environmentally sound for the regular consumer types I think....I mean we're no composting green nerds or anything, BUT this is what we currently do:
*Use Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs (CFL) in almost all our light fixtures
*Use cloth grocery bags - we take them to Target and Walmart too
*The biggie: hubby WALKS TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm fairly certain our lack of car pollution alone is massive--and we save lots of money on gas that i saw today was $3.71 per gallon for regular cheapo 87 octane.)
*Recycle paper, glass, plastic, aluminum cans
*put compostables in our yardwaste can--fruits/veggies, coffee grounds, tea bags, grains, shredded paper, egg shells
*We have High Efficiency appliances
*Use organic cleaning products
*I buy organic cotton when available (Kyle doesn't know this--it costs more still)
*I buy organic produce
*Kyle totes a reusable water bottle to work daily
*wash only full loads

After watching tv on Earth Day this is what I feel inspired to do from now on:
*strive to reduce and/or eliminate disposables, i.e. paper towels (wow-I use a lot), ziploc bags etc
*Kyle needs to take his own silverware to work so we currently use standard non-biodegradable plastic picnic ware. I will search for the kind that looks like plastic but is really made from POTATO or SUGAR CANE!! Can you believe that? If I can't find this I think I will buy some cheapo actual silverware to be designated as the carry to work kind.
*stop getting the sleeve on my starbucks
*consolidate our trips to the store (we were doing well at this in Jan and Feb, but lapsed back into our wasteful ways)
*eliminate saran wrap and aluminum foil. I think I want to search for cool vintage pyrex with lids for storing food in the fridge.

These are fairly small endeavors so I think it will be totally doable. IF EVERYONE I know does ONE MEASLY earth friendly thing our cumulative effort will be big.
If you choose to not be earth friendly, just remember I will be silently tsk-tsking you every time you use a paper towel!


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