Because of my heightened interest in ecology and “going green” I assess on a daily basis what I do to make the planet a better place.  this is a furstrating situation for some one who has not given a tremendous amount of thought about it in 64 years.  I have always been concious of the environment, in past years insisting that my daughter use rechargeable batteries in place of throwaways.  I question the impact this has made.  Now, I am trying to assess what I actually do…

Water Conservacy

I try to use less water.  when I shave, I fill the basin with hot water instead of leaving it run.  But when I often do dishes, I tend to let the hot water flow to rinse dishes.  No savings here.

Recycling

I have a thing about plastic bags.  I reuse them for such things as trash liners and to clean the cat litter box.  But the plastic goes into the landfill eventually, there to languish for 1,000 years before disappearing.  I walk to the store to shop for groceries to save air pollution from driving, but end up coming home with plastic bags.  Gotta do something about that…

Paper

I use a ton of paper towels.  I admit it.  I wonder about alternatives to this, and have yet come up with an acceptable answer.  We must clean the home.  and if I use cloth rags to do so, I will use energy to wash the rags.  Any solution to this?

Transportation

I live in town.  I can walk to just about every where I need to go.  I do own a vehicle, however.  It is a 2002 Dodge Dakota 4X4, and gets low mileage.  No gain there.

Food

I am leaning towards a vegetarian diet.  I am vastly aware of the impact on the environment that raising and shipping and cooking red meat has.  I am not a treehugger that loves furry little animals, and have no lasting relationship to them.  But I hate to see the way they are raised and slaughtered to feed me.  And the impact on the environment from raising them is horrendous.  Going vegetarian would decrease my carbon footprint greatly.

Utilities

I try to conserve energy.  I use CFL bulbs in the home.  Yet I leave my computer on 24/7 because it is a server and runs a MYSql routine daily.  In my line of work as a freelance writer, I tend to hog the kilowatts.

Solutions, Folks?

I would love ot open a dialogue with people having the same concerns.  Please comment - it would make an old man happy…

Peace,

Charlie~

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