Just one thing

So, how are those New Year's Resolutions coming along? Have we eaten that candy bar that you shouldn't have or missed the first day of going to the gym yet?

I purposely waited until now to talk about trying to make 2009 a different year when it comes to living responsibly on planet Earth because I really don't like New Year's Resolutions. We tend to make big resolutions, things that require us to alter our lifestyles in dramatic ways and then, well, let's be honest, about a week or two into the new year, they get blown.

There's nothing wrong with making changes in our lives to better ourselves and those around us. We just might start off small and work up to the major lifestyle changes; like maybe we'll start with not eating the entire tub of ice cream while watching the House marathon before we swear off ice cream entirely or deciding to walk around our yard or parking lot each day before entering the Boston Marathon.

Which brings me to my idea. Let's all decide to do ONE thing that is environmentally friendly, ONE thing that demonstrates that we are responsible tenants of this planet. Here are a few suggestions:
1).Have your local trash people bring you a recycling bin (if they have that program) and start throwing your recyclable trash in it rather than the trash can.
2). Collect those plastic bags you get each time you shop and drop them off at Publix or any other retailer that has a place to do that.
3). What about picking up a couple reusable shopping bags and using them some.
4). Get your oil changed on time and make sure your tires are inflated properly.
5). Plan you driving, so that you don't make 3 different trips when 1 would work.
6). Carpool
7). Instead of throwing away those items you don't use anymore, how about taking them to Good Will or Salvation Army. You could advertise them on Freecycle.org and not have to go anywhere, the people sould come to you.
8). Think twice before you throw something away if there is a way you could still use the item.

I think you get the idea. None of those things are that time consuming or would force you too alter your routine all that much. So how about it? Can we all do just one thing this year?

If you have any other suggestions, let me know and I would LOVE to hear what ONE thing you decided to do this year. I will have a post with all the things people are planning to do, so comment away.

My little "green" book

Some guys have "little black books." Not me, thanks to my youngest, Laura, I have my very own "little green book.

Laura gave me this handbook for Christmas. It's a pretty informative book. It's loaded with tips about Green living. What I truly appreciate about the book is that most of the examples are simple and fit with the focus of this blog: average people doing simple things to be responsible tenants of planet Earth.

Now, Laura regrets giving it to me because I've been spouting the details and statistics that are in the book. I can't help myself, they're cool. Hear, listen to this and tell me that it isn't cool:
recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for 3 hours! Is that not cool?

Being a single, lazy guy, I was ecstatic to find out that it is more Green to use a dishwasher to clean up my kitchen than to wash the dishes by hand! Oh Yeah!

My recommendation, take a swing by Barnes & Noble and pick up one of theses helpful books.

Another "Two Green Thumbs" Award

Today, Going Green is hip. Many businesses have realized that Going Green can bring in some green, so they've started selling reusable shopping bags and providing recycled products. I applaud this.

Occasionally though, a store looks beyond mere profit or at least direct profit and behaves in a way that marks it as a responsible tenant of planet Earth. For this reason, I'm offering my second
"Two Green Thumbs" award to Publix for this:





Egg cartons and plastic bags can't be recycled through our local sanitation commission, so this is great. I especially like the plastic bag recycling. We still use loads of these bags and those that aren't reused in our homes end up either stuffed under the kitchen sink or appeasing our local landfill's appetites. These bins are a step in the right direction, so let's encourage this behavior by using them.

Merry Christmas

To you and yours from me and mine...



Have a very Merry Christmas!!

A "green" Christmas idea

Are there things I can do to have a Green Christmas?

Some would say buying an artificial tree would be a start. I say...Bah Humbug!! It's a real one or it's nothing. The tree I bought was planted and raised for this very purpose and I re-use it through a Greenville County program to make mulch or fish habitat in local lakes.

Not wrapping the presents came to mind, but my whole point in this blog is that I believe we can live our normal lives with only slight changes and still be responsible residents of Planet Earth. I know saving wrapping paper once you unwrap a present and using it later would be a great idea, except for the fact that I'm a big kid when it comes to opening presents, so the pile at my feet on Dec. 25 is only fit for the recycling bin.

As I came home from shopping Saturday (remind me to never do that again) I noticed the colorful bags I was carrying and that's when it hit me. Why not use the bags to wrap some of the presents. The 2 gifts in red you see above are wrapped courtesy of a Macy's bag and the 2 in blue owe their garb to Barnes & Noble. Pretty snazzy wrapping duds if you ask me.

So there's a new idea for me. Anyone else have any ideas?

A Meeting of the Minds

Well... nothing so grand as that. This post is simply about where frugality meets going green.

For most of my life I have been concerned with saving as much money as possible to help my mother make her paycheck stretch a little bit longer. Now that I have had a job... even though I temporarily do not have an income right now... I want my own money to stretch just a little further.

Now, I do things that many members of my family think a little bit extreme. In my defense they should take a look at some guy whose name I can't remember at the moment who goes so far as to wash his paper towels, hang them out to dry and use them again. He even when he goes out to eat ask people at the table next to him if they are done with their food and eat that. I definitely do not recommend his actions but there is a middle line to be found.

I'll list out a few things that I do. For instance, when I have sun chips I will put them on a paper towel. Instead of throwing that paper towel away I will use the towel to wipe my fingers off on when I eat my lunch. If I do not use the paper towel at lunch I will keep the paper towel on the table to use later in the day.

Also, I am reading the Harry Potter books in Spanish to increase my vocabulary. I will write down the words that I do not know on a piece of paper. Instead of getting a new piece of paper each time I will use paper that I have written on perhaps one or two times thus making sure that those scraps of paper do not go to waste.

I could go on but that would most likely be quite boring. Perhaps in the future I will talk about other things I do but for my next post I will talk about ways that I will practice going green in the classroom.

Introduction

After many weeks of hounding I have finally shown up to post to this blog. After all, the trip is my graduation present. :D

For right now I will simply introduce myself and in the coming weeks post on going green by accident... something I am becoming increasingly more enthusiastic about.

I am 23 years old currently on Christmas vacation in between the last two semesters of my MAT program. Lord willing by next August I will be in my own classroom.

As my family can attest I am quite frugal by nature. When I analyze this frugality I notice that many aspects end up being green as well. For instance, to save money I always use plastic baggies at least twice before I throw them away. I could detail other instances of how I reuse things sometimes to the point of insanity in the eyes of my family. :D

Lord willing, in the next few weeks I will go more into detail about different ways to go green, specifically in the classroom.