reduce my environmental footprint

Okay, my father went out and bought CFL spotlights for the recessed lights in the kitchen.

They’re WONDERFUL. The light is much clearer and stronger. We’re going to be putting them into Mom’s sewing room as well.

Surprisingly, when I ducked into Target about a month ago to pick up some markers, I saw the cutest little fold up bag. It as .99 and it works beautifully. (I embellished it with my initials so I could use it to shop at Target and not have to carry the reciept.) It’s not offensively emblazoned with “target” although the artwork is definitely a part of their advertizing.

I’ve used it for everything from hauling my lunch to picking up some books at the library. It’s sturdy, but isn’t cotton. It’s manufactured by greenbags.com.

Still, I like it and use it, so that makes it more effective than the stack of bags I have waiting to go to the grocery store.

1) We didn’t throw out the many rocks we dug up while working in the garden. Instead we cleaned them off and used them as filler stones for the border.

2) I did the dishes because unlike my parents, I don’t let the water run while I’m doing it. I’ve given up on trying to make them change their ways. Instead, I’m just trying to do it myself.

3) Turned off the television. Instead of watching TV, we worked in the garden this weekend. (Cost us more, LOL, but we were putting in plants rather than sucking up electricity.)

4) Mom found a closer recycling center which will make it easier to keep ahead of the mixed paper and cardboard recycling which never seems to make it from the bin into the recycling truck. Funny that.

5) Remembered to take my recycling bag back to work. People are starting to get in the habit of putting their cans and bottles into my voluminous bag. It’s a lot better than letting it all go into the landfill and since most people crush their bottles for me, I usually only have to take it home once a week.

Well, it’s amazing what deciding to give to a charity does to the amount of bags, boxes and paper you use. I haven’t had to shop for over half of my list. I did order some pins from the charity I’m giving to, to send to everyone I’ve donated for, but that’s an envelope, not a box, with paper and tissue and another box to then ship it into.

The only ones I didn’t do this for are the babies (one’s one and the other is twoish). I got a Mr. Potato Head for the toddler (so I can play with him!) and I got some Baby Einstein Music blocks and teething keys for the baby.

Still, it’s a huge reduction in the amount of shopping and wrapping I usually do. I’m trying to find things to do for Christmas next year. Charities for the adults (I don’t give anything more than a card to my cousins). A couple toys and passed down books for the babies (I have to keep my rep as Auntie Mame and ruin them as much as possible for their mother.) And donations for my friends.

I’d really like to volunteer in their name (donate hours instead of money) but at the moment, I haven’t been able to simplify my life enough to get started on that!

http://neighborrow.com/index.html

This works on the sort of principle that freecycle does, only you aren’t giving things away, just allowing people to borrow them for awhile. It makes perfect sense. I can’t possibly watch all the DVDs I own at the same time. I loan out my Firefly boxed set quite often and it doesn’t bother me. I think this is worth looking into a bit more.

The company I work for as my day job, has finally instituted mixed-paper recycling as opposed to just white paper recycling. This is a wonderful step.

The not-so-wonderful issue is, they don’t have bottle/can/plastic recycling available. Now, it’s not so much and issue for me at a personal level because I just carry home my cans and bottles.

However, at a company wide level, we have several cafeterias and many buildings that have vending machines and cantinas run by the employees, all of which have soda and water cans and bottles. The majority of these aren’t being recycled. I know the issue has been raised more than once, but there’s been a problem with implementation.

It becomes the responsibility of the one person within the building who’s willing to do the hard hauling of the recycling to a plant. This should be a corporate funded activity as opposed to a volunteer one.

Baby steps though right?

I found myself incredibly ticked off today that I didn’t have a compost pile. (HOA Regs don’t allow them.) I had a bunch of berries that aren’t good for eating anymore, but could easily have gone into a compost pile instead of the trash. I’m trying to figure out a way to not only do this, but convince my family that it’s a good idea. (I have enough trouble getting my dad to put out the mixed-paper recycling instead of throwing it in the trash. A compost pile might be a little too much for him.)

It bothers me because I’m seeing a lot of food-waste that could go to the compost pile being thrown out or going down the disposal. We had one at the house before this one, but the HOA-Nazis have gotten people to vote down compost piles and solar panels. Freaking idiots – all of them.

I joined up with localcooling.com

The program puts your computer into hibernate automatically after a certain amount of time and stops your disc readers from spinning. It also keeps a running total of how much energy you’ve saved by putting it into effect.

There’s even a 43things team if you want to join it.

Around the office I work in, most people leave their systems up and running. They’re a “shared resource” which means if it isn’t locked anyone can use the machines by logging in.

The tech team also pushes out virus software and things overnight.

However, even if your machine is on, if no on is logged in, the upgrades don’t take effect. I’m turning of my computer each night now. It’s not a lot, but it’s a cumulative effect.

Okay, I’m doing some research for my day job company. (Very large company) I’m trying to find cardboard recycling bins / boxes that are white and run 20”x13”x32” to match the ones we “inherited” from our landlord. The company needs to be American. (Don’t ask.)

Does anyone have any clue where I can find these?

(I’ve given up on trying to convince them to use plastic ones. They’re too “costly”)

Thanks.