Going Green.
When recycling first hit the news, like fifteen years ago, I was all over it. My little fourth-grade self got my family in check. I organized our recycling bins. I made sure we cut those plastic thingees off the six-packs of soda. I ensured that we emptied and crushed our cans before taking them over to the recycling place.
I don't know what happened.
It's time to reclaim the green.
Smitten Kitchen recently linked to a post about greening up the kitchen, and this just spurred on my desire to try to limit my impact on the environment.
I will never drive a Prius, but I do drive a Civic, which is an Ultra Low Emission Vehicle. and gets excellent gas mileage.
I have recently attempted to stop making my contribution to the plastic water bottle overload:
According to the Contra Costa Times:
In 2006, 28.3 billion gallons of bottled water were sold in the United States, according to a report by Beverage Marketing Corp. About 86 percent of those bottles were thrown away, not recycled -- alarming to environmentalists because a buried water bottle takes up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, says the Container Recycling Institute. (emphasis added)
So, transitioning to my trusty little pink store-bought,reuable water container is something easy that I can do. And that you can do, too. Check out these great water bottles with which you can accessorize your newly green self (this might just be because everyone and their mother had one in Berkeley, but I need options that go beyond the Nalgene):
HipSips Diva Water Bottle
Stainless Steel Water Bottles
Camel Bak Water Bottle
Other resources for going green:
Tips from National Geographic
Tips from Oprah
The Washington Post Chips In
Living an eco-friendly existence, even just one tiny step at a time, will ensure that our planet is around, in a livable way, as we get older and as the generations that come after us are born.
What are some ways that you can cut down on your environmental impact?
3 comments:
This is something that I'm currently very big on - I'm OCD about reusing things and I'm a recycling fiend. I also bring all my own bags everywhere so that I don't use plastic bags.
I know it's a nalgene, but I just got one of their new bottles that says "refill not landfill" and I big-time love it!
Bre - I keep telling myself I'm going to start that "bring my own bags" thing, but I keep forgetting. Must. Remember.
As for the nalgene, I have nothing against them except that too many people had them in Berkeley - but yours sounds awesome!
Whoo real Wednesdays, one of my favourites! I'm so late (almost a week!) but I had to comment. Once again I think this is a great post on a really relevant issue. I just read a book called "The world without us" and the amount of damage we are doing to the environment because of our plastic consumption is just plain scary. I'm down the the Nalgene. I didn't know it was the 'hip' water bottle to carry at first- I just bought it because it was really big and pink!
Post a Comment