Just some randomness...

I love my new house. I love it that I have a full-size kitchen and a utility room. I love that I can go out and collect flowers from the rose bush and the crepe myrtle and the butterfly bushes. Wily (my cat) loves it too. Having more space (and a yard FULL of birds to stare at through the windows) has reinvigorated him. He races around the house like a kitten.

My new home also has what I would call "REAL" recycling - i.e., I can recycle glass. For some reason, in downtown Houston, you can't recycle glass in your curbside bin. You have to take it to the recycling center. But at my new house we have full-size wheelie bins for recycling, which is great, because I recycle more than I throw away.

I would throw away almost nothing if I got into composting. There's a place in the backyard that's all set up to start, but I'm waiting until it cools off to get the outside of the house settled.

Also, I have to get the inside of the house put together. I can totally see how people move and then look around nine months later and they still have boxes... but I've made some progress. I have a dining table and chairs, and a desk (it's in a box right now), and a bookshelf is on the way. I really need to hang my art - that will make things start to feel like home.

I didn't do much around the house this weekend, though, because I was seeing friends and working on a skirt that I've been sewing all summer. My goal is to wear it on Friday. That means I have to have it done by Thursday. It's actually not a difficult project, but I was silly and started it right before the move.

I haven't been watching much of the Olympics. I hold the (very unpopular) belief that sports serve a sociological function of priming us for war - as  wikipedia puts it, it's a "symbolic competition between nations." Don't believe me? Here's an article for you.  I used to root for Russia (then the USSR) because my great grandmother immigrated from there. Other kids didn't appreciate that. Which sort of proves my point.

But it is kind of cool that Guatemala (where my great-grandfather hailed from - sort of; it's a long story) won it's first medal EVER this week. So? I'm a hypocrite. We all are sometimes.

And it was in racewalking. Hello?! Awesome.

Last night my friend Katie and I watched a movie called Take This Waltz. It's available on demand and is also playing in theaters. We ended up being really glad that we only paid $8 to watch it on demand, instead of driving downtown and each paying $10, plus money for food and parking and what not -- because we DID NOT enjoy the movie. It looked so promising - forbidden romance, Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman, Canada. Neither of us could really relate to any of the characters, though, and so we didn't care what happened, which wasn't interesting anyway. It's gotten a lot of good reviews, so I don't know ... maybe we didn't get it. But I think we did.

And just because you need to see this, here is a baby wombat:

Ultimate Recycling: The Beer Can House

This is Houston's famous "Beer Can House." Yes. It is a house made of beer cans. And yes, it is strangely, ethereally beautiful.

Seen in Seattle

Why can't this be seen everywhere?

Recycling on the Edge

The other day I loaded up several months worth of glass bottles into the car (I've recently become obsessed with Pellegrino, so there were a lot of bottles). On the way to the recycling center, one of those Houston late-afternoon thunderstorms shook up the sky (the kinds we usually get when we're not in the middle of a drought, but really there's no climate change - Rick Perry said so). It wasn't really raining, so I continued on to the recycling center.

As I was throwing the bottles into the giant metal containers in the middle of an empty parking lot, and lightning started streaking through the air, I thought:


this isn't really a good idea.


Note: September Pop-Culture Round-Up and Learn-Go-Do Reflection will be coming next weekend.

Devil Nectar

Oh, coffee!

How I love you so.

As a child of the Pacific Northwest, I started drinking coffee at the age of 12. My first cup was a raspberry mocha from Gloria Jean's (you know you're an addict when you vividly remember that first hit.) Ever since, a morning cup has been a major part of my life.

Coffee production has a number of environmental and community impacts that aren't great. However, I try to counteract some of those by buying coffee that is both organic and fair-trade (good for planet, good for people). Even two years ago, finding convenient and low-priced organic, fair-trade coffee wasn't easy. Now, Target's Archer Farms brand and Safeway's O Organics brands both offer fair-trade, organic coffee ... although, for some reason they don't often have it available pre-ground. I guess they figure that the upper-middle-class, liberal-elite, Obama-voting types who would want organic coffee have fancy stainless steel grinders at home and say things like, "I always grind my own coffee; you can really taste the mountain air!"

But now, this has entered my life:

So shiny!

Yes, this is our new coffee maker at work. A beautiful, single-serve Keurig coffee maker.

There are lots of benefits to this thing. Of course, it's almost impossible to mess it up - it really does seem to make a perfect cup every time. Since it's single-serve, water and coffee aren't wasted when too much coffee is made (I always tend to make too much and up throwing out burned coffee that's been sitting in the pot). I don't make as many random afternoon trips to Starbucks to fuel up, thus cutting down on the use of fossil fuels. And Keurig is owned by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a company that is known for its social responsibility - lots of organic and fair-trade coffees are readily-available in single-serve form.

But, then there are these:

These are K-cups. To make the single-serve coffee, you have to use these K-cups, which are made out of plastic (petroleum!) and aren't recyclable. Currently, Green Mountain and Keurig are working on other options, such as paper-based k-cups, but for now, the plastic ones are dominant.

For now, my strategy is to continue to make my morning coffee at home and bring it in my re-usable cup, and restrict myself to one afternoon cup made in the Keurig. I'm hoping that they figure out a way to make their product more sustainable, however, because it's becoming a bigger piece of the market pie, and if this type of coffee maker becomes standard, that means a lot of little plastic cups entering the landfills.

Watch what happens when big corporate and city government work together ...

I love this video, from Seattle's King 5 station, about how a big corporation (Starbucks) worked together with the city's recycling providers to figure out how their drink cups could be recycled.

And the incredibly attractive young mom you see in the video? It's my high school friend, Annie.

You Gotta Have a System

As I've slowly adopted more sustainable lifestyle habits over the last year and a half, I began to realize that my home wasn't set up to accommodate them. For example, when I used to use paper towels, I didn't need a special place to put them when they were used. Their special place was known as "the garbage." Once I gave them up, however, I suddenly needed a system to take care of clean and dirty rags.

Over time, I've devised many such systems:

Our town has some curbside recycling, for plastic, cardboard and paper. I keep a bin right outside the door for these items. Bottles have to be taken to the recycling center, so I keep a bag under the sink for those.

While there's probably no real justification for it, I don't like to put dirty rags in the laundry with my clothes. I put used rags and washcloths into this basket. I use a lot of rags because I spill a lot. Clean rags have a bin in the kitchen.

Sometimes (oh, horror!) I forget to bring my reusable bags to the store. If the place doesn't have paper and I can't just carry out my purchases in my hands, I get plastic bags. They get re-used for cleaning the litterbox. (True story - this box with a nice useful hole in it was named "The Funbox" by the company that manufactures it. I'll wait until you can stop tittering)

Because I don't want to put paper outside in our tropical, humid clime, I keep a separate bin for paper that's going to get recycled. The bin is for magazines and flat paper. The garbage can is for shredded paper, which also gets recycled. I sometimes need to print items for work, so paper that has been printed on one side goes into the printer to be reused.

These shelves in the kitchen hold reusables. The red fabric bin holds paper bags. I use those to put the magazines out to the curb for recycling, or to hold the bottles (also for recycling). The produce bags get reused for more produce or go back to Central Market for recycling (I'm really trying to cut back on these.) Once a Zip-loc bag is used, I wash it out and use it again. A Ziploc bag also holds tinfoil that can be reused. (I realize this paragraph is making me sound like a Depression-era granny. Good! They really knew how to reuse!)

What systems do you have to keep your green life organized?

Note: Sorry I've been absent for so long, Greenies! I've been sick with a bad cold, and have been pretty much reduced to staring at the TV for the past week. But I'm on the mend and hope to be posting more regularly!

Angel Vs. Devil

I have been a very bad blogger lately, but it's mostly due to the fact that I have been ridiculously busy for about two weeks now. And when I'm busy, not only does my desire to blog go out the window, but so does my desire to be green.

It's not that I don't want to be green, really. It's that the devil on my shoulder starts saying things like, "Do you really want to scrape the peanut butter remnants out of that jar so you can recycle it? Just toss it. You recycle way more than most people in Texas."

Then the little angel says, "But it's okay, it will only take a minute."

And then the devil says, "And while you're at it, why don't you throw away that junk mail, instead of opening it, discarding the plastic windows in the envelopes, and recycling the rest."

And then the angel does some kickass karate moves and takes down the devil - because usually, the angel wins. Unfortunately, however, when I'm so busy, this results in me being seriously ANNOYED at the angel, and really wishing it would just take a nap.

Here's the thing, though, if I didn't have the blog and know that at least eleven people are going to hold me accountable, then I probably would let the devil win. Thanks for reading and keeping a digital eye on me.

Not Easy, or: In Which Andy Gets His Promised Shout-Out

This is a blog about easy ways to be greener.

Lately, however, I haven't found it easy at all. In fact, just call me Catfish the Grouch. Notice that I haven't been blogging much lately. That's because I'm a little ball of negative energy. Maybe it started with the announcement that Canadian geese aren't migrating, because it never gets cold enough in Alaska to make all the effort of flying south worth it. Or maybe it was because my new office, despite being filled with socially-responsible types, has only plastic forks and cups and spoons, and not a re-usable towel in sight. Or maybe it's because my neighbors decided to throw away all the recycling that they've been saving, instead of simply waiting until Tuesday to put it on the curb.

Grump.

Argh.

Blergh.

To top it all off, my A/C is busted which just makes me cranky -- I know that using air conditioning is not green, but it's pretty necessary to make life in Houston bearable. We've been having a run of 90+ degree days.

Boo.

Hiss.

Frown.

It's time for an attitude adjustment. Or, as we said at the camp where I worked, whenever things went awry: "That's the best." So, I'm going to give props where props are due, and give Andy the shout-out he's been waiting for, in hopes that pondering his kindness will turn my frown upside down.

It all started last weekend, when my friends and I rented a beach house. We brought massive amounts of food and beverages, and had a grand ol' time. There was, however, no recycling available at the beach.

"What should we do with all of the bottles and cans?" someone asked. (In case you were wondering, they were milk bottles and soda cans, obviously). "Should we try to recycle them?"

Now, I know I should have jumped up and revealed the big "S" on my chest for Super-Recycler, but I just didn't see myself having time the following week to make it to the recycling center. To top it all off, someone said, "You're the green blogger. Shouldn't you take it?"

I am a contrary Mary, if there ever was one, and that is the sort of statement that makes me want to scream NO! It's a character flaw, I know, but it's my character flaw.

That's when Andy got all gallant and noble and said, "I WILL TAKE THE RECYCLING."

And I admit I was relieved. Because, yes, I am the green blogger.

But did I mention that I am cranky?

Grumble.

Harumph.

Humbug.

Andy turned to me and said, "I better get a shout-out on the blog." He was kidding, but he does deserve a shout-out, because really, this whole green living thing isn't going to work if every person has to go it alone. Sometimes, when we get green burn-out, someone else has to take the recycling.

But I promise, I'm working on my attitude. No-Buy Month is coming up -- woohoo! -- and maybe some of you will want to join me in eschewing non-consumables for 30 days. Sounds depressing, I know, but actually, it's a spirit lifter.

Apartment Cleaning Smackdown - Round 2

Round 2 - The Living Room

So, after I spent a day going through piled-up mail and leftover papers from my office, I had piles of shreds to go to the recycling center (I really like shredding ... I have a little thing for destruction, what can I say?)

All that mail was piled up here, on the desk. Much cleaner now! I think I could actually do work here... I don't think I will, but I could.

I was ready, then, to begin cleaning the living room. Here's a rundown of the green/light green/red cleaning methods I used:

Green:

• I dusted using my homemade rags.
• I swept the floors using green energy (my own elbow grease)

Light Green:

Not dusty anymore! Thanks, old T-shirts.

• Zero - nada - none. I was not light green in the living room. I was either super green or totally ungreen.

Red:

• I used the random floor cleaner and a disposable mop for the floors, but I did use the disposable mop head for much longer than standard.

Speaking of green vs. red cleaning - I've been thinking a bit about green guilt lately. Of course, I read a bunch of green blogs to get ideas for things to try in my own home/life. I occasionally run across statements such as, "I would never ... (insert non-green lifestyle choice here)."

I sometimes wish I was as committed as these folks, but I think that we, as a movement, should be careful that our "I would never -" statements don't alienate people who are still as light green as new leaves in spring. They'll get to be a darker green as the days pass - if they, like leaves, receive lots of sunlight and love. However, if they feel like they can't be good enough to be "green" then the leaves might shrivel up and die (like the extended metaphor?).

The fact is, there's no official definition of what it means to be green. I try to be as green as I can, with the time and money I have available. I use a disposable mop head. I have air conditioning (I live in Texas!). I sometimes go through the Starbucks drive-thru. And sometimes I feel guilty about these things, and sometimes I don't. But I'm doing the best I can, and I hope that we can support all of the little changes people make.

Apartment Cleaning Smackdown - Round 1

Round 1 = The KitchenLook! The galley is shiny-clean!

As I mentioned the other day, I am transitioning to a new job soon, and am blessed to have a few weeks to chillax before that job starts. Of course, being the person I am, which is the sort of person who likes to give herself projects and goals, I set a big goal for my first week of "freedom."

Each day this week, I plan to clean one room of my small apartment - but not just clean. Deep clean. Organize, do the floors, take everything off the shelves and scrub them. I figured one room per day would give me the opportunity to do other things each day (of course, I have goals for that "free time" as well).

Each day, I'll be blogging about how I wrestled dirt and germs to the ground, using cleaning methods of a variety of shades of green. I'll be labeling them Green, meaning I used the least environmentally-harmful methods I know; Light Green, meaning I was used methods that were somewhat green; and Red. Red means traditional cleaning. I hope you'll be able to try out some of these methods as well, and if you have any suggestions for my Red cleaning options, let me know.

Green:

• I cleaned the cupboards, shelves, stove, fridge doors, and pretty much everything else with undiluted vinegar, spraying it just as I would a store-bought cleaner and wiping with a wet sponge.
  
• I used a combination of vinegar and baking soda to clean the sink. First I filled the sink with about an inch of vinegar to cut the mineralization, then rinsed it and scrubbed using the baking soda as a mild abrasive.
• I used homemade rags (cut up T-shirts from my closet-cleaning adventure) to dust and dry.
• I recycled a bunch of containers and cans, and found some reusable stuff for Goodwill.
  

Light Green:

• I washed the dishes with Mrs. Meyer's dish soap, which uses plant-based cleaners.
• I used about 5 paper towels. They were a recycled brand - Small Steps. They work well, I've found, as compared to some others I've tried (see below).
  

Red

• I washed the rags, rug, and towels with Tide Essentials with Baking Soda. I don't think it's really any different than Tide, because it has the same material-safety data sheet. It doesn't, however, have the uber-chemically fragrance of regular detergent. When I have tried more environmentally-responsible detergents, such as Seventh Generation, they have not worked AT ALL. I actually had to wash my clothes again after using Seventh Generation, because they were still stinky. What's the point of buying "green" products if they don't do what they're supposed to? (Seventh Generation is on my bad list for this particular reason, after their paper towels also failed me.)
  
• I used some floor cleaner that I had under the sink to mop.

Tomorrow: The living room!

Greening My Closet

Recently, I received my weekly Gorgeously Green newsletter to find an article on how being green demands a certain level of forethought and organization. This resonated with me, as I've noticed that eating fewer processed foods, saving energy, and consuming less all involve planning. For example, those savvy Light Green readers who have followed me from the beginning (you know who you are!), may have noticed that July should have been another No-Buy Month for me. Unfortunately, my lack of planning has tripped me up.

At the beginning of this year, I resolved that every third month, I would not buy any non-consumables for thirty days. January and April were successful, and some friends even joined me in April. However, because I didn't even realize that July was here until the third (which, I think, speaks volumes about the degree to which I am wrapped up in So You Think You Can Dance, to the exclusion of, you know, actual reality) I was not able to prepare for No-Buy Month. I realized that I needed some additions to my professional wardrobe for an upcoming conference. What's a girl to do?

I decided that although I was going to have to make a couple of purchases, I should not go about it willy-nilly, but attempt to be a better planner and truly evaluate what I actually needed and what I did not. To do that, I had to get a sense of what I owned that was appropriate for five days of professional dress. That would involve ... CLEANING MY CLOSET (cue opening strains of Thriller).

This has become the Holy Grail of Household Chores around here, because my clever cat, Wily, has discovered that it is fun to pull things off the shelves in the closet. I shove the clothes back onto the shelves without folding them, resolving to clean it up on the weekend. This has been going on since January. You can probably visualize the mess that's been created, but if not, here's a look-see:

Wily surveys the destruction he hath wrought.

Throughout the process of cleaning my closet, I came up with a few organizational tips that you might be able to use if you want to green your closet, garage, etc., all going back to the three R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).

1) Reduce. Or ... Lay your embarrassing level of consumption out on the table (or bedroom floor as the case may be):

In contrast to many Americans, I think I have a low-level of consumption. My apartment and car are both small, and what I can buy is limited by the amount of room I have (or don't) to stash stuff. Nevertheless, I find that twice a year I'm a little sickened by how much I've accumulated. The key is to really get a good look at the stuff, and evaluate what can go on to another, happier life. I happened to throw my stuff all over the bedroom, then asked myself the following questions:

2) Reuse: Can your stuff help someone else?

When I evaluated my things, I found there were lots of things I didn't need, but that others could use. That big pile in the middle of the floor? That all went to Goodwill. I choose to give to Goodwill, because I like the focus of their work, but there are many charities that also need your donations. You can find one that suits your sensibilities.

3) Repurpose and Reuse: Can you use your stuff in a new way?

These T-shirts were too grungy to go to Goodwill, so I was going to throw them away. But then I realized that they could make lovely cleaning rags, thus reducing my dependence on paper towels.

4) Re (or Up)-Cycle: Can your stuff be transformed?

Due to my long-running fascination with boho chic, which has once again become de mode, I had a lot of clothes made out of cool vintagey fabrics, with beautiful screen prints, or that were too sentimental to give up. I did not want them cluttering my closet however. These, I boxed up for upcycling. They can become the linings of knitted handbags, embellishments on clothes, or the raw material for handmade greeting cards.

Here's the finished closet:

I was happy to discover that, after all of that, I needed to buy only a cardigan and a blouse to create the five days of professional outfits that I needed. And I'm much happier every time I look in the closet.

Just a note: This week we passed 1000 hits! Huzzah! Thanks for reading, and keep coming back for more.

Coming up: As promised before I sprained my hand, recipes for homemade hummus, and an Auntie Chronicles. Also, a few thoughts on greenwashing.

Revenge of the Paper Towels

You may remember that in March, I reviewed Seventh Generation paper towels and toilet paper. And I was not a fan. But, because I have been using fewer paper towels, I didn't run out of them until this week! They have just been sitting there for almost 4 months, annoying me and waiting not to absorb things. I've cut down on paper towels a lot, but I find that for things like cat vomit, it's invaluable to have a few around.

That's why my annoyance has grown. Over the past week, I have attempted to buy paper towels several times, but have found no recycled options at any of the three grocery stores I normally frequent. Green products are all over the place these days. I even noticed organic cotton at Target, and clothes with recycled fiber content in Old Navy. Is a recycled paper towel too much to ask for?

If green products are too hard to find, then people's excuses grow: "Well, I was going to buy recycled, but they didn't have any, and I didn't have time to go to another store." Let's make it easy to be greener, grocery chains!

Luckily, the cat has not vomited this week.

Starting An Office Recycling Program

As you may remember, I've been occasionally frustrated by the fact that we do not have recycling at my office. Recently, however, my co-workers decided to start recycling.

Starting a recycling program is worthwhile (save a tree every time you recycle about 120 lbs of paper!) but it takes planning. Here are some steps you can follow:

Step 1: Find out if anyone is interested. If no one at your office cares, your attempt will end with you glaring disdainfully every time someone throws a piece of paper away. Most importantly, ask your boss if she will let you start a program.

Step 2: If folks are interested, do some research. Find out a) what you can recycle; and b) where you will need to take it.

Step 3: Set up collection areas around the office. It's nice to have those blue plastic bins, but really, a cardboard box works just as well.

Step 4: Label your bins according to what you are going to take. If you are me, you will need to make cute signs to go on the bins. Cute signs build excitement, and make people want to walk the extra steps to the recycling bin. It's true!

OMG! That sign is so cute! I wasn't going to recycle, but now I am, because I want to look at that cute sign!

Step 5: Communicate! Send an email to your colleagues, letting them know what they can recycle and when you will empty the bins. Nicely express your expectations (for example, it is OK to expect that people do not put soda cans in the bin without rinsing them and drying them first) but if they don't meet your expectations, communicate directly. Under no circumstance should you leave a post-it note with a veiled message to your co-workers warning them of the consequences of continuing their impolite behavior. You don't want to end up on passiveaggressivenotes.com. Ask if anyone else wants to volunteer to help you, but be prepared to do the work yourself.

Step 6: On the appointed day, collect all the recycling. Take it to your car. Go forth and save the planet - or in other words, drop the stuff off at the recycling center.

This is a couple of week's worth of recycling at my office. All of those boxes are full of paper. I figure that we easily saved 1 or 2 trees with this load. Can you believe we were throwing that away?

Some Things I Like

Nothing fancy, just some Light Green stuff I'm liking right now.

First up, this notebook from greenroom.

I don't really need more paper products in my life, but I saw this at Target and I got it anyway. It's definitely only light green - 60-70% recycled content. It is, however, printed with soy-based inks. And it's lovely, with its chrysanthemum theme. I'm into chrysanthemums right now.

Next up, Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub.

Do you know those old NBC PSA's, "The more you know ..." and a shooting star would travel across your TV screen (admit it, you hear the song in your head right now)? Well, the thing about being Light Green is, the more you know, the darker green you start to become. Once you glance at the back of a beauty product label, and see a line up of chemicals that you can't pronounce, it's hard to then slather that on your face.

So, I started looking for some more natural beauty products, although I haven't been particularly lucky quality-wise. I've enjoyed this scrub, however. It has ground peach stone for an exfoliant and willowbark extract, which is a natural alternative to salicylic acid. Back in our family's hippie days, my mom always used facial scrubs made with ground peach or apricot pits, so the scent of this product is nostalgic. And while many times you pay double for natural vs. conventional, the cost of this scrub is about the same as less-natural products, between $6-8 for 4 oz.

I also like this gift certificate from Kaboom Books, here in Houston:


Yes, it's the cover of an old book, and the gift certificate is handwritten on the back. What a cool and stylish way to reuse! I haven't used it yet, though, because I'm thinking about some books I might want. Any suggestions?

Finally, I like this:

When my neighbors moved, they left behind a bunch of cacti. I do nothing to promote the growth of these guys, figuring they get enough water in humid Houston. The last few weeks, one of the cacti has been blooming.

It reminds me of that old Joni Mitchell song "Cactus Tree." You can watch a live performance from 1970 below.

Cell Phone Recycling

Friday night the UPS man brought me by brand new Sidekick LX. I carry a Sidekick, rather than a more "adult" phone such as an iPhone or Blackberry because I, a) love my T-mobile service; and b) I have the same level of sophistication as a 12-year-old cheerleader.

Notice, I chose the purple phone, and as soon as I got it, I added a butterfly background. Yes. I'm 12.

Sleek new Sidekick LX, next to old Sidekick 3. Good-bye Sidekick 3. I will miss you. You were awesome when, in the Season 2 finale of Veronica Mars, you saved Veronica's bacon on that rooftop. I got you just because you looked so cool when Veronica used you to solve mysteries. And -- did I mention I love T-mobile, although they do not pay me to advertise their wonderful service, particularly the service provided by that one guy in Mumbai I talked to that one time I had a problem? Sidekick 3, you were rad.

So, I really like Sidekicks, and I really like T-mobile. But now I like them even more, because they have a cell phone recycling program.

I did a bit of research, and it turns out that most cell manufacturers and carriers have recycling plans, in part due to the EPA's Plug In to eCycling program, which promotes the recycling of electronics. Now, you might wonder if recycling a cell phone really makes a difference -- they're so tiny compared to, say, a computer monitor or a Ford F150. Does a cell phone in a landfill really take up that much room?

I'm glad you asked. Think about how many times you've upgraded - 2? 3? 5? What did you do with your used phones? Now think about everyone else in America and how many phones they've been through. Only 10 % of cells are recycled. That's some landfill.

In addition, cell phones are made with precious metals, copper, and plastics. When these materials are recycled, it reduces the effects of mining and manufacture, and saves energy. Also, phones in good working order are often donated to help those who need them, particularly soldiers overseas. So, it's pretty much happiness all around if you recycle your phone.

Partners in the EPA's project include: AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot,Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless (info courtesy of the EPA).

Like I said, however, I really like T-mobile. If you log onto their website, several banners urge you to take part in greening your account, by moving to paperless billing and email notifications (I checked out the other major carriers - they did not advertise their environmental messages, although Verizon did have a tiny recycling sign next to their paperless billing button).

Digression: And yes, I realize that most companies who have to bill their customers want you to switch to paperless billing not only for the environment, but also because it saves them money on postage and printing and envelopes with plastic windows. So what if their motives aren't pure? I love it when market forces and environmental forces meet and make a baby that won't be accepted by either family. Paperless billing, you are the bastard child of commerce and tree huggers, and we light greenies adopt you as our own.

In addition, T-mobile didn't just tell me I could recycle. They provided me the means to do so:

My new phone came with this envelope to send in my phone. Yaay! I love it when it's easy to be green. Kermit would have loved to live in the green era!

Break-throughs!

Recycling Break-through #1!: The folks at work decided they felt bad about throwing stuff away. I mentioned (not for the first time) that I took home recycling every day, and I would take home their stuff too. "Oh," someone said, "Is that why all those plastic bags are sitting by the sink?" We all agreed that, even though there is no recycling at our building, we would buy some bins for our office and take the stuff to a recycling center.

Recycling Break-through #2!: One of my neighbors saw me dropping off a coupon circular in the recycling bin and asked me when they take the bins. I launched into my recycling spiel and he was positive in his response.

Score 2 for Mama Earth!

City-wide Break-through!: Houston now has an initiative to build solar-powered, super-energy efficient homes for low-income families. This makes complete sense. Who needs to save money on energy (well, more than the rest of us). Low-income families. Yet, too often, green living is a luxury rather than a necessity.

Score for Houston, Mama Earth, and the Good Guys!

Please pardon all the exclamation points - but haven't we been waiting for some good news?

Happy Earth Day - What did you do for the planet today?

This is a cute video about how to be green at work. The actors look delighted to be green.



My work is not green-friendly. We don't have control of the termperature, many of the lights, or the windows and outside doors. There is no way to recycle. Every day, I bring home used paper, plastic yogurt cups, and soda cans to recycle here at home. I've asked others if they want me to take their used items home as well - but they don't.

p Preachiness Alert p

Which brings me to my next point. I, like most people, surround myself with like-minded individuals. This can give one the impression that everyone agrees with you. My friends tend to be artsy, activist, vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly, recycled-toilet-paper-using types. So I was a little surprised when I clicked on some Earth Day links (MSN has a cool story about green scams) and saw the vitriol being spouted in the comments sections. Just head over to YouTube and read the comments below the video seen above. Many people are ANGRY about the greening of our culture. It's funny, because to me, green living can only be an economic and social benefit.

Take global warming. So, I happen to want to make out with Al Gore, and therefore believe every word he says. But let's say that evil gnomes made him say all that stuff in his movie. Let's say global warming is the biggest glob of horse spit ever heard on earth. The changes we make due to the belief in global warming, however, can only be positive. Less pollution? Awesome. Less waste? Cool. More public transportation? Sign me up.

It just goes to show, fear of change - any change - runs deep.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Green Etiquette

I live in what I like to call a "compound." Reminiscent of the Kennedys at Kennebunkport, the compound contains the "front house" and the two smaller garage apartments in back. I live in one of the garage apartments. It's tiny, it suits me ... one thing I like about it is that it is totally full. I can't fit anything else inside. That helps keep me from being too acquisitive, which is good for my financial and spiritual well-being.

Living in the compound, however, means that one is especially close with one's neighbors. We've recently had a transition, with new tenants moving into the front house. Previously, the four adults and baby twins (diapers!) living in the compound rarely filled one garbage can each week. Instead, we filled many, many recycling bins. (An aside: isn't it interesting how the word "bin" has been ascribed to all recycling receptacles? No? Well, I thought it was interesting.)

See! It's a giant garbage can! How could we fill the whole thing in a week?

But our new neighbors don't seem to recycle, and now, only 5 days since the last trash pick-up, the garbage is already full. Here's a picture of the recycling bin, with my piddling little stash of recyclables (the one you see next to it is the glass bin, which has been sitting there since the old tenants and which I need to take to Center St. recycling.)


Disturbed that the compound has lost its green cred, I thought, "What's a neighbor to do? I can't demand that they start recycling."

Today, however, I had the chance to email the new tenants, so here's how I phrased my recycling plea:

Did our landlord tell you when recycling goes out? I think it's every other Wednesday, but I'm not sure of the exact rotation. We can recycle paper, corrugated cardboard, and plastics 1-5 and 7. Not glass, but if we keep one recycling bin just for glass I take it to the recycling center sometimes, as long as it's rinsed out. They take green, clear, and brown glass.

See, I was trying to frame it subtly. How did I do?