Happy Earth Day!

kelly — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:00:50 +0000

Clean Water | Happy Earth Day!| Clean Air

Here’s hoping that the changes we think about making and the ones we’ve already made stick. I’m glad I found an acceptable water bottle so I could give up bottled water. From the maps it looks like our new house has a lot of cool places within walking distance, including a nature preserve, city park, library, ice cream shop, pizza place, gym… so maybe there will be less driving this summer?

Earth Day Response

kelly — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:47:56 +0000

Why a response and not a post on Earth Day? Well, quite frankly, I just never got around to it. I was too busy saving the planet. Just kidding. I was just busy. Besides, didn’t you get just a little tired of it all by the end of the day? I know I did.

How did I celebrate? I didn’t really do anything special, if you must know. I rode the bus to work, as I normally do (except days when I have class) – KSTP5 was there filming for some special on the news that may or may not have aired. The bus was friggin’ crowded with people who were trying to feel good about themselves by taking the bus once a year. I wouldn’t mind, because they are trying, I suppose, but our bus is already crowded. Nothing unique happened during the day. At ‘s we benefited from her Jewish co-workers who recently celebrated Passover by emptying out their kitchens into hers, so I suppose that’s earth-friendly. Perhaps to celebrate Earth Day she should make something artsy with all the rejected paint samples.

The small changes I have made this week include setting up a pile both at work and home for re-usable paper (that is, paper that has already been printed on one side but can be re-printed on the blank side for non-important documents), installed a printer driver that is supposed to help cut down on excess printing from the internet (though I’m not fully in love with it, so I don’t want to extol its virtues too much, but it’s called GreenPrint and you can try it for yourself if you want), and made a commitment to attempt to bring my reusable grocery bag when we go shopping more often. I’ve also tried to print out fewer emails at work and deal with them electronically instead, though that is difficult for me to do sometimes (depending on the task).

Honestly, though, I feel pretty good about my interaction with the earth. Compared to some people, I am quite “green.” I recycle everything (which annoys some people I live with, *ahem*), use public transportation when possible (I was nearly 2,000 miles short of my 3,000 mile oil change when the 3 months had transpired), try to turn off lights in rooms when they’re not in use, etc. I know I take longer showers than is probably advisable, am still a consumer at heart and so I don’t help landfills much that way, and am not doing everything I possibly can to protect the planet. But I do good, and feel OK with that.

By the way, a report came out that put the Twin Cities not just in the top 25 green cities, but at #8!

Two vaguely related articles for you today (because almost everything else in my “to blog about” folder is food-related):

8 Ways to Reuse Plastic 2-Liter Bottles (from Make Magazine, via Apartment Therapy)
50 Ways to Save the Planet (from Wire & Twine, via Apartment Therapy)

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