A little while back, usernamenumber* posted a fantastic entry musing about what we can do in this day and age to live a litlte more environmentally responsibly by taking into account small things that make a big difference. I really admired how thoroughly he thought the idea through and he gave me lots of things to think about regarding my own level of environmentally-conscious effort.
Ways I Do Well:
- I'm very conscientious about recycling. All my discarded paper or cardboard, any piece of garbage plastic, every shard of scrap metal or glass. I have been known to hold onto my soda bottle or cardboard snack box for hours after I'm finished with it until I see a place to recycle it.
- I stopped buying bottled water years ago. When I need to have water with me, I use my Brandeis-issue metal water bottle.
- I reuse paper compulsively. Whenever I print something out and it has extra space remaining on it, I put it in a box I have under my printer, either for scribbling on or printing on the other side. I have a folder full of directions I printed out in case I ever need the hard copy again so I don't need to make another. At work, when asked to make a copy to keep a record of something, I scan it and save it as a PDF in an organized folder rather than copy it to paper.
- I am working to minimize my use of disposable things. Since I live in a house without a dishwasher it can be very tempting, but generally I use real dishware that I wash rather than plastic that I throw away. And on the occasion that I do use plastic, I make certain to recycle all the pieces. Also, it's a small thing, but in the last month I had made sure to keep at work a ceramic mug, a metal tea ball, a metal spoon, and a canister of loose-leaf tea. Everything is washable and since I quit using the disposable cups and plastic stirrers, the only thing that gets thrown away is the packet the sugar comes in. Perhaps I should start bringing my own sugar (or even better, honey) in a plastic container. Honey is tougher to transport without another eventually disposable container, but at least that container is recyclable.
- I keep four reusable shopping bags in my car so I don't have to remember to bring them along and have been making a real effort to use them every time I go to the market. I am also training myself into the habit of saying "No bag, please," when I buy things I can carry in my hands.
- I make an effort to walk places rather than drive whenever possible. I like getting the exercise, but honestly if I'm short on time I am more inclined to save the travel minutes and just go by car.
Ways I Don't Do Well and Will Try to Work On:
- Other than paper, I am not so good about reusing. Reuse, I know, is superior on the hierarchy to recycling, but I dislike keeping anything that looks like trash around, so I am unlikely to ever be able to do things like turn plastic vessels into planters or anything like that.
- I often forget to use those reuseable shopping bags, even when I bring them with me in my car. :-P There are about ten trillion plastic bags stashed away in my house. I reuse them as trash bags for wastebaskets, but there come in faster than they go out. Also, there are often items in the grocery store like produce that are hard to bring home unless you put them in a little plastic bag. I am considering getting myself some resuable produce bags, but many of the ones I've seen seem ridiculously expensive, so I think I will hold off until I see a reasonably priced option.
- I don't know if I'm terribly responsible with electricity. I dislike waiting for my computer to boot, so I usually leave it running with the screen off when I'm not using it. Still, I try to turn off lights and other eletronics when they're not needed, I never use an air conditioner, and I only turn on a fan or a heater in really extreme situations. This is necessary for my pocketbook as well as for the earth.
- I eat a lot of meat. I don't have any ethical issues with this, but I know that the meat growing industry is tough on the environment. I would probably do better to cut down to eating meat only a few times a week, but I crave protein in the worst way, and non-flesh sources of it never really seem to satisfy it. So while I could stand to reduce my meat consumption somewhat, I doubt I will feel all right if I do it too drastically.
- I feel like even though I do recycle very carefully, I generate a lot of material to recycle. I love bottled drinks like Coke and Snapple. I line pans and cover things with aluminum foil. In general I prefer using ziploc bags to awkward, space-claiming Tupperware. My penchant for clean, contained, managable things in my life leads me to use stuff that I can get rid of when I am finished with it. I should look into reducing just how much garbage my habits produce.
So that is where I stand. I am planning on making a conscious effort to improve a lot of these things. Every litlte bit helps, right?
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