food for thought

it's a lovely 20-something-feels-like-18-degrees outside. i think i have reached the point where i'm sort of feeling over it. you know, this winter business. i'm ready for the birds to return, for the grass to be green and dewy in the morning, for the sunlight to hang around for a couple more hours a day. and for it to not seem like 4 am when i have to drag my butt out of my nice warm bed at quarter to six each weekday. i'm kind of tired of being chilly in the house (we have been extremely cautious about turning on the heat at all this year, and have opted for using our fireplaces more and running those trusty delonghi heaters in the bedrooms at night. translation: the gas bill was insane last year.) and oh, it'd be really nice to put on a lovely vintage cotton dress and sit outdoors for lunch. ok, i'll stop now.

so i've had the whole "green movement" on my mind for a while now. i've heard some folks talk negatively about how it's just so trendy, and every other person is driving one of those funny looking prius things, and blah-blah-blah with global warming, but really? could it be a bad thing for it to be trendy to be environmentally conscious? as for hybrids, we've owned one (a honda) for a little over a year, i don't know how i could ever go back. if you really don't give a hoot about the environment, don't you want to just save money on gas and get more bang for your buck? and as for the bigger picture, i think all you really have to do is look around- at all the people, the waste, the vehicles and trucks and fast food places and wal-marts and strip malls and so much more. and think about where we'll be in 25 years, even. can we really just keep on keepin' on?

so it's got me wondering about you guys. is there anything that you've done in the new year to "go green"?

take for example, recycling- what i consider to be a basic. but maybe in your life, or in your location, it's not? do you recycle? does your town or neighborhood make it easy? i know for us, even though we've recycled for years, it's often a struggle to kind of "make it work" within the house. i'm on the search for a recycling station for my own home that doesn't really look messy or seem overwhelming, and that's close by the kitchen so that it's user friendly. and this is probably the one thing that keeps people from incorporating it into their daily life. it's not all that convenient, right? you've got trash hanging around, and you have to make an extra trip to the recycling center each week to get rid of it. you don't really have the space for 4 or 5 different bins, you've only got an area for the actual trash can itself. but you know, it's really not all that inconvenient, once you just make the commitment. and it really will make a difference. and you'll be proud of yourself for doing your part.

as for our family, we've made a few small (but totally easy) changes in the past couple months that i know you could do as well. and the thing is: i could go on and on about this. and i don't want to seem preachy, and i don't want to overwhelm anyone. so i thought i would create a new category in the blog, and maybe post about it whenever it's on my mind, maybe once a month. and together, we can tackle some of these issues. whaddya say?

so we'll start with an easy one: RE-USABLE BAGS. here's the thing. if you are like me, and you are the main 'domestic-go-getter' (for lack of a better term) in your household (you know, the grocery store person, the overall shopper), you can come home with a lot of plastic bags in just one week. if you go to the market and you have 8 plastic bags of food (sometimes the baggers will double bag the heavier stuff) then you are coming home with say, a dozen plastic bags per week. that's roughly 50 a month, 600 per year. just from the grocery store. where do these end up? under the kitchen sink, until the bag full of bags gets so big that you just get irritated and throw it away? do you take it back to the grocery store and stick it in one of those recycling bins? use it for kitty litter? the bathroom trash can? taking leftovers over to your sister's house? all 600 of them? and then there are all the other places that you move through in your daily life. target. department stores. the goodwill. the pet food store, and on an on. everyone is sticking your stuff in a plastic bag. even if it's just one item. in it goes. do we really need to bag a pack of gum? or a book? or a box of shoes, crackers, or new CDs? (it's worth mentioning: i've read that the average person takes home 1000 of these per year. one thousand!!!)

if you are a woman, you are one step ahead in that, you already (most likely) carry a purse. if you are a guy, perhaps you don't. but maybe you carry a messenger bag, backpack or brief case? well, maybe you can do what i do, which is to carry along a few re-usable grocery bags inside your purse or messenger for all those times when you are out and about and someone is handing you another one of those plastic numbers.

and, just like incorporating recycling into your daily life, this is easy-peasy. it might take you about a week to remember to take along your re-usables, and hand them to the kind grocery person before they get started with your groceries. and hey! if you are crafty, you can sew your own, if you are not, there are plenty of places that you can make your one-time purchase. even the grocery stores these days sell their own versions of re-usable bags. and often times they are like, $1 each and they donate them to a greater cause.

alright. something to think about. i'm going to get off my soap box now, and head into the kitchen to warm my chilly fingers by the fire. happy tuesday, everyone :)