reduce my environmental footprint

....for almost a month now, I’ve been taking the bus/train to and from work every day. Today, my schedule was out of control crazy, requiring me to be all over the map…so I figured I’d take my car to make my time a hair more manageable.

Wouldn’t ya know it, it took me 45 minutes to go the 8 miles to work (same as the bus/train now that I have the schedules down), and I was almost run off the road twice by Road Ragers. My car was assaulted by three cigarette butts, and I dumped god knows how many tons of carbon dioxide into the environment.

Halfway through the day, when an accident jammed up two 6-lane freeways for at least 5-6 miles (!!!), I parked my car at the nearest DART station and finished my day in peaceful comfortable bliss on trains and buses…reading my paper, listening to my IPOD, and outlining a business plan for a new business venture. Not to mention, it was a damn fine day to be outside.

No more cars for me, if I can help it. I had not realized how much stress I had eliminated from my life the last 30 days.

Come join me…get yourself a monthly DART Pass for $40 and try it out. www.dart.org

Went to the Dallas Farmer’s Market Saturday morning…for about $20, I got a week’s worth of fresh vegetables/fruits. Only about $5 more than what I normally spend on fruit/vegetables, which tells me I’m not eating that many fruits and veggies.

Already grilled some local Texas grown sweet corn in the husks…awesome. Made a tomato jam with local Texas grown tomatoes…tasted better than most anything I’ve eaten this summer. And fresh cantaloupe and apricots for breakfast….yum. Oh…and the bananas tasted the most different, although they were from costa rica, I think, they were sweeter and less “gummy” than store-bought bananas.

This may become a Saturday morning regular event for me…it was fun tasting all the fruits and veggies, and met some fun people down there too.

...I bought reusable grocery bags. I went to about a dozen grocery stores, and one would think I was asking for the secret formula to Coke…some of the looks I got were priceless. Finally found a Whole Foods, where I purchased two Green Bags for less than $6.

When I got to the car, I realized the cashier put them in a plastic grocery bag for me….and I didn’t even realize it.

Moving to a smaller apartment at the end of the month. Cuts my rent cost by 15%, and it is a better floor plan with more shade so it’s easier to cool in the summer.

I’m really starting to see that reducing my eco-footprint and carbon emissions can actually yield pretty good savings. After I move, my savings will be about $350 a month…money I can put towards paying off my credit card, saving for a down payment on land for my winery or money to add to my law firm startup funds.

....since seeing Inconvenient Truth, I’ve:

1) replaced all my incandescent light bulbs with CFLs. The light is actually a lot better, too.

2) replaced analog thermostat with Energy Star thermostat – and am using their recommended settings (78-82 degrees). My landlord installed it for free, as long as I bought the thermostat (cost of thermostat was only $35). It took some getting used to, but with some ceiling fans and open windows, I’ve made my apartment really comfortable, even with daytime Dallas temperatures in the 100s.

3) use a laundry rack to dry my clothes…still use the drier for sheets and towels, though. (The first three things on this list cut my electric bill from $92 a month to $75…in June!!)

4) Take DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) to work four days a week. My employer even subsidizes the first $100 of public transportation costs every year. Have saved $35 in gas each week for the last four weeks….which just bought me a new sports-jacket. I have to say, too…the bus/train ride is only 20 minutes longer than driving, I get to read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover before getting to the office, and I am not all stressed out from stop-and-go traffic, long lights, and the moron in front of me that can’t signal before he cut me off. It’s like a short vacation every morning and evening!!

5) Work at home one day a week. I get more done, the phone rings less, and I don’t have to listen to that annoying bastard in the next office sing to himself all day. :)

6) Need more ideas…anyone?