Water Bottle Waste

I just heard from a friend that this week is National Drinking Water Week, sponsored by the EPA. She told me that as she was watching "Good Morning America" she realized just how great of an impact bottled water has had on landfills, and so I had to hear for myself. According to the show, Americans consumed 50 billion bottles of water in 2006, and 38 million landed in land fills. That is a significant recycling effort, but there is still the matter of the ones that didn't make it to the recycle center. After giving an interesting estimate of how many times we could go to the moon and back with a line of these bottles, they featured two newer companies which "bottle" their water in paper packaging. The great news about these is that they are not only recyclable, but also compact when empty, making them more efficient to transport to the bottling facilities. Those that don't make it to become notebook paper or napkins, are also less likely to crowd up land fill since that are mostly biodegradable.

My personal thoughts lean more towards the use to reusable bottles that can be fill infinitely. I own a green one from the company Nalgene, which I fill with filtered tap water and take with me on the run. I can see where the convience factor of bottled water comes in because you never have to clean the disposable bottle or search for it in your apartment when you are running late, you simply grab a new one on your way out. But with the growing number of problems we have introduced to this planet, maybe we should take a step back and wonder what the fate will be for the bottle you just grabbed from the vending machine. Is it going to end up in a mount of garbage for hundreds of years? Even with the best intentions, most of us have at least been tempted to toss a bottle into the trash to keep from toting it around until you find the next recycle bin. I would like to say this has never happened to me, but there have been plenty of times I tossed recyclables into the trash, thinking just one bottle can't hurt. But there are over 300 million people in the country who may have the same thought. This kind of thinking, I'm sure, is reponcible for many of those 38 million bottles.

Choosing Greener Produce

Lately I have researching how I can make greener choices at the grocery store. Many of the things I have read or thought of myself are common sense, but I figure that few of us take the time to worry about this issue. Today I plan to just focus on fruits and vegetables.

My first tip is to start being more conscious of waste. As a college student, this is troublesome because there are always coupons and deals that get us out of the apartment or dorm. (My roommates and I have a weakness for 50 cent pizza rolls on Tuesdays.) Whether you plan to eat more at home or be more realistic at the store about what you can eat, cutting down on waste is important because more than likely lots of transportation and chemicals, to include fertilizer and pesticide, went into the growing of that crop. Another way to cut back on waste is to buy groceries more often. I know what you are thinking- more trips means more fuel emissions, but if you do your shopping on your way home, this will be less of a concern.

Second, purchase foods that are in season. This one may be less obvious. If a fruit or veggie is not in season at the time you buy it, take avocados in winter for example, then the food may have traveled a long distance, from where it is in season, to get to you. One thing you can do to "boycott" these environmentally costly foods is to read the stickers on the individual foods. One I commonly see is Mexico; quite a long way for fruits and veggies to travel.

How about unnecessary packaging? The manufacturing of plastics and styrofoam to make produce more appealing contributes landfills and requires energy to produce. I've seen bell peppers, baking potatoes, apples, and oranges all wrapped in packaging. If you are brave enough to endure the strange looks, you can try to loose the plastic bags they offer at the store for produce. Occasionally, I'll see people pushing carts with loose apples, bananas, garlic, bell peppers, and such. Many times, I've noticed, these people are foreigners. Hopefully this trend will catch on in the US!

Buying fresh is always a good option because these foods are unprocessed. Either way you slice it, canned, dried, and frozen fruits and vegetables have all undergone some sort of heating or cooking to ensure food safety. This means energy was expended to create this product as well as the packaging it is sold in.

Saving Electricity with Smart Strip Surge Protector

It has been a constant struggle trying to remember to unplug appliances that aren't being used. I've caught myself walking away from both the toaster and blender without unplugging them. Pulling cords from electrical sockets after my roommates has also become frustrating. (They made no promises to participate, and I suspect they get agitated when they have to fish around for the cords.) In my solo quest to reduce my carbon foot print I have been trying to remember to switch my power strip off when I go to sleep or leave the apartment, but this has also been a failure.

While browsing on the web this evening I finally found a solution! Its called the Smart Strip Surge Protector. It does more than just protect your computer from power failures; it stops the flow of electricity to your "peripherals" when they are not in use. So how does it work? The device has color coded system that identifies one outlet, the blue one, as a control, and so whenever this devise goes into energy-saving mode or is turned off manually, the strip blocks energy flow to the other components. For example, in a home office, or your desk set-up in college apartment or dorm, your computer would be the control, which triggers the blocking of the current to other devises when it is booted down or the screen saver turns on. This means no more bending down to turn the power strip off, if you could even remember to do so in the first place... These could also be helpful in the living room. With the TV as the control, you could stop energy waste to lamps and air fresheners when the room is not in use. The strip also has a couple of red outlets which are never blocked from getting energy. Devises that may need to receive energy all the time would be alarm clocks or VCRs to prevent them from resetting.

The strip costs around $30, only about $15 more than your standard power strip, and it will save you money on your next electric bill! The only place I could find that sells these online is amazon.com, but I suspect they will hit stores soon.

Mother's Day Gifts

If you have a busy schedule like mine you may have yet to think about Mother's Day. I have forgotten the holiday all together if it weren't for the constant ads for your typical flower arrangement or jewelry. I propose a new approach to Mother's Day. Instead of buying gifts that traveled hundreds of miles to get to your mother, contributing to the pollution of our air, how about try some more eco-friendly presents? I usually go with my siblings to wander around department stores until we had agreed upon something not too expensive or useless, but this year I have brainstormed some different ideas.

Flowers seem to be the standard gift for the holiday, or at least the flower businesses want you to believe this. If April showers brought May flowers for your area, consider picking your own wild flower bouquet. It would be much more fun and thoughtful than placing a phone call to get roses delivered, as well as a lot cheaper, my fellow college students. The main issue with the purchased flowers are not only the aforementioned air pollution and fossil fuel expenditure involved with delivering the product, but also the fertilizers, which contain nitrogen and other chemicals damaging to the soil and water.
Also along the lines of do it yourself are two of my other ideas. First, is potted herbs for a mother who enjoys cooking. This one is eco-friend for similar reasons that the wild flower bouquet is. A cook who prepares a lot of Mexican foods may like cilantro, an Italian food lover might be pleased to receive basil and oregano. Second, you could put together a gardening kit. Things that might be included would be hand tools, water can, and seeds for various flowers, vegetables, and fruit. The best plants would be ones that are suited to the climate your mother lives in so that excess watering and fertilizer can be avoided. As your mother works outside to nurture her garden, she won't be using lights or television, and therefore, saving electricity. Any other type of gift that would get her outdoors would also save energy.
Another idea is to make a donation in your mother's name to an organization dedicated to the preservation of wildlife and their habitats. Some ideas include National Wildlife Federation, African Wildlife Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund. The Nature Conservancy is an organization that allows you to adopt half an acre for $25 or a whole acre for $50 in places like Australia and Costa Rica in your mother's name.

If it truly is the thought that counts, your mother should be pleased that she raised a person who takes responsibility for their impact on the environment. (Explaining your intentions may also be helpful in preventing her from calling you a cheapskate when she thanks her other children for their gifts.)

Electronics

A few months ago I got a new cell phone. Not because my old one had a defect or lacked a feature I wanted, but because I wanted a new one. It seems so selfish, looking back, but consumers do it all the time. A website called Green Living Tips describes this move as perceived obsolescence. (http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/13/1/Recycling-electronic-equipment.html) This reckless buying behavior is not limited to electronics. People enjoy having new clothes and cars too, but the difference is that these items don't clog up land fills in the ways electronics do. Clothes can always become hand-me-downs or go to second hand stores and Goodwill until they get holes. Even then jeans can be patched and ole t-shirts can be used as cleaning clothes. (My dad uses his old cotton shirts to check the oil in his car.) Cars possess value for years after they are bought new. When a car breaks down people spend lot of time and money to repair them. They may change hands several time before they are abandoned. After the vehicle stops running, its parts are used for other vehicles. Electronics, on the other hand, have a different fate. After several years in a garage or attic, they are thrown away if they can't be sold at a yard sale. My dad is a big fan of diy (do it yourself), and he like to remind me and my siblings that when he was a kid people didn't discard tvs just because they were broken. Instead, they broke out the tool box and their electric current flow meters to find the problem. Then it was a simple trip into town to find a replacement part. Perhaps he expects too much from me and my generation to be able to repair our own electronics as they become more advanced, but he does have a point. Who knows where to even find replacement pieces, even if one could identify the problem. As technology gets better and beyond the scope of the average citizen, manufactures benefit and landfills pile up...

Recycling centers for electronics are few and far between when you don't live in a city. If I were to have something I wanted to recycle, I would need to drive an hour and a half all the way to Houston. Now that just seems like a lot of effort and fuel emissions.

I feel that the issue at hand is the attitude of the consumer. Do we really need the latest technology to show off to our friends or feel good about ourselves? Perhaps we should hold off on getting that new cell phone or lab top computer. We could cut back on the manufacturing of products, the build up in land fills, and prevent a heavy dose of toxic chemicals like mercury from entering our soil and water supply.

The Frito-Lay Company

I have realized that trying to be "green" is about more than just saving resources and protecting the evironment. If we are ever to make progress as a society, we must inspire change in industry. Many companies have jumped on the bandwangon to produce their version of greener products: Clorox has their Green Works line, many vehicle companies have their own hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape, etc. One of the green products that has taken off is the Sun Chip. Frito-Lay has several things going for them here. From a health perspective, Sun Chips are made from whole grain, have less fat and salt, and no trans-fats. From an environmental stand point, they use solar power in one of their plants and today use packaging that contains 33% of renweable, plant-based material. In 2010 they plan to introduce a package that is fully biodegradable. According to their website, the bag will decompse in 14 weeks time in a hot, active compost pile. The following link contains a video clip of their accomplishments. http://www.sunchips.com/healthier_planet.shtml?s=content_compostable_packaging

Seeing as to how I am currently studying nutrition, I can appreciate the health benefits of this potato chip replacement; however, I think the statement Frito-Lay is making about the environment is just as important. Sure they get good publicity and have an advertising edge, but all the hype also contributes to the green movement. Consumers want to buy their products and other companies strive to replicate their success. Supporting products like this is important because it helps us, as consumers, make a statement about the kinds of changes we want to see. I'm making the promise that I will try to be more conscieous of the purchases I make. Becoming informed of the practices of different brands will be the biggest obstatcle in this strategy, but more than likely, if a company is doing better by the environment, they will let the public know about it. And so I encourage you to also take a step toward becoming an informed consumer. Support industry that is attempting to make a difference.

Spring Cleaning

In light of earth day, on the 22nd of this month, I decided to find alternative ways to do my spring cleaning this year. Instead of loading up on Lysol and Windex to clean up the apartment, my roommates and I plan to use only simple, non-toxic agents to clean. The website from which I gathered this information on cleaning is:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/green-cleaning-spring-cleaning-460303.
-One of the best tips, in my opinion, is using tea tree oil in place of antibacterial cleaners. I have heard several times that the use of chemical antibacterial products is increasing the resistance of certain bacteria populations. Adding this oil to cleaning solutions is a great idea for toilets and kitchen counters and cutting boards.
-Why vacuum if you don't have to? Beating rug outside with a broom doesn't use any electricity or require emptying a dust collector into a trash can which can waft the dust back into the air in the home. And with the same note, sweeping floors with a broom is also more energy efficient. And plus, brooms can reach places that a vacuum cannot.
-The website includes several recipes for cleaners specific to different parts of your home. Many of them include water and baking soda, vinegar, or lemon juice. All seem like simple, inexpensive agents that I am willing to try out.
-For more difficult stains that require something more abrasive, the author suggests trying kosher salt. The rough granules should help to loosen debris on hard surfaces.
-We like to open and close the windows often in our apartment according to the weather, and so the glass now has plenty of smudges and fingerprints. Their suggestion: use vinegar diluted with water and newspaper to wipe the glass clean. In our case, we will end up using old class notes to be discarded. (They claim that the newspaper will minimize streaks caused by paper towels.)
-The tip I found most interesting includes a use for ketchup. This semester we have been using some hand-me-down pots from my aunt. It is a pretty nice set that I plan to keep for a while. I noticed when we first got them that they were slightly tarnished on their copper bottoms. I am hoping that with their recommendation, I can lift the stains by rubbing the ketchup on the bottoms of the pots.
So instead of using harsh chemicals and supporting the businesses that make them, try some of these new approaches to cleaning. I plan to report back with the results of my spring cleaning efforts.

Compact Florescent Light Bulbs

When my family moved into a new house my senior year of high school, my mom allowed us to each have one single compact florescent light bulb in our bedrooms. Each bulb was costing us around six dollars a piece, and so she was slowly buying a few each pay check. At the time, as a rebellious teenager, I thought I had too much homework to be working with just one light bulb, and so I bought a couple cheap bulbs and screwed them into the light fixture. Now that I am paying for my own electricity, I make sure to use compact florescents in all light fixtures. In fact, instead of using three bulbs, the fixture's capacity, I use only two without even missing the extra light.

While on the National Geographic website this evening, I found a video featuring Natalie Portman, Kyra Sedgwick, and Cloe Sevigny called "This Bulb." According to the video, if each person in the United States replaced one regular bulb with a compact florescent, it would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the roads over the course of one year. They make the statement that each bulb saves one thousand pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. This is pretty impressive if you think about it! Who would have thought that these devices could make such a large impact. I encourage you to take a look at this video. Send it to your friends.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/going-green-environment/conservation-in-action/this-bulb-ngv.html

Ceiling Fans

At my apartment, my roommates and I try to avoid the use of the heater and AC since it has such a huge impact on the electricity bill. Because the weather has been fluctuating greatly the past couple weeks as we creep into Spring, the apartment has been slightly chilly at night and toasty during the day. The warm days aren't a problem because we have cooled rooms down with ceiling fans, but the evening pose more of a problem. Our choices seem to be either bundle up, or give in and turn up the thermostat. What I didn't know until a conversation with a friend is that the ceiling fans can also be used to warm a room up. So I went searching for some more information and found an article called "Ceiling Fan Hacks: Save Big on Energy Use" on the website The Simple Dollar: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/06/24/ceiling-fan-hacks-save-big-on-energy-use/. According to the article, the typical ceiling fan uses 60 watts of energy, whereas an AC unit uses somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500 watts. It explains the breeze effect that is created in the summer, and then goes on to discuss how to make it work to your advantage in the winter. Apparently, flipping the switch at the base of the fan, so that the blades are rotating in a clockwise manner, will push the rising, warm air back down the walls of a room. (I assume this will only work if the heater is at least on low to create a source of warm air.) If the temperatures permit tonight, I plan to try this out for myself. Hopefully I will have something to report soon!

Every so often my roommate’s boyfriend eats dinner with us at our apartment. After we eat he usually helps out with the clean-up by washing the dishes by hand. I have always been told that the dishwasher is more efficient at getting the job done, but I was thankful to be getting help, so I never complain. While researching to find out how much energy and water are saved by using the dishwasher I found this website: http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/dishwashers.htm . I realize that this may or may not be a credible website, but I found the information to be very interesting. According to the article, a representative from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy states that as long as the dishwasher is only run when full and the dishes are not rinsed before being placed in the appliance, dishwashers are more efficient. The University of Bonn claims that dishwashers use half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing. The study also showed that the dishes washed by the appliance are more sanitary.

The EPA also recommends turning off the dry-heat, pre-rinse, and rinse-hold features of the appliance to save energy. Also dishwashers manufactured after 1994 are supposed to use only 7-10 gallons, whereas older machines could use 8-15 gallons per cycle. Living in an apartment, I don't have much of a choice about the dishwasher; but I could see where spending money on an Energy Star rated dishwasher could save you money in the long run, as well as make you feel good about saving energy and water. With those tips in mind, I plan to rely more on the convenient, and often undervalued dishwasher.

The Environmental Cost of Clothing

Every once in a while my aunt mails me a box filled with snacks and treats to get me through long nights of studying. This week I opened up a package to find a long sleeve, purple t-shirt with a tag proclaiming that it is part of an eco-friendly collection. The composition of the top is 96% viscose and 4% elasthane. I wanted to know more about how these materials are better for the environment, and during my browsing I found a website called treehugger with the article "Is Viscose the Way to a Greener Future?" by Jenna Watson. Watson discusses a study in which the environmental impact of a cotton t-shirt and viscose blouse are compared. My initial thoughts were that the viscose must be made from a more eco-friendly manufacturer or fabric, but it turns out the problem with cotton lies with the consumer. The author makes the argument that clothes are made being made cheaply with the idea that the consumer will buy a new wardrobe next season. Clothing made from materials such as viscose and other synthetic materials, according to Watson, last longer, leaving the customer with a wardrobe that can last through many washes. Another hang-up with cotton is its demanding care instructions. Because cotton requires hot water, tumble dying and hot ironing, according to the tag, its cost on the environment is much higher than synthetics that can be washed cold, hung to dry, and rarely need ironing.

Watson mentions that more recent generations have gotten away from hand-me-downs and second hand clothing. I can relate to this because my sister, four years younger than myself, refused to wear my old clothes. She wanted new clothes as often as she could get them, and being the baby of the family, she often got them. A few months ago, however, I saw a commercial on t.v. for a place called Plato's Closet. The concept behind this place is to get broke college students into new, designer name clothes for cheap. The catch: the clothes are "gently used." The customer can either pay for the "new" clothes, trade some of their own clothes for "new" ones, or just get cash for handing over their clothes. This seems like a great alternative to spending a pretty penny on new clothes each season. We may not be able to help having to wash our clothes, but this store and the article above demonstrate we can definitely find new ways to care for the environment through our purchases. If you would like to read the article for yourself, you can find it at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/is_viscose_the.php#ch06.

News on Earth Hour

I participated in Earth Hour tonight. I turned out all the lights in my room and even convinced my roommates to do the same. We decided to light candles to do whatever it was we wanted to for the hour. As I was trying to explain to my friend, it is not about how much energy was saved during the hour. The purpose of this event is to raise awareness about global warming, and show that you support new legislation and public action against the harmful effects of our current lifestyles. I find it amazing that this all started in Sydney, Australia, and has now been adopted by millions of people, businesses, and governments all over the world. It actually brought a tear to my eye to watch the following clip on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qr8QXWzT9U&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eearthhourus%2Eorg%2Fvideo%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded
It is very motivating to see all the before and after pictures both on youtube and on the Earth Hour website. All of these people care about changing this course we are on, and it really moved me. I feel that my motivation for doing better for this planet is completely renewed.

The World Wildlife Fund, the organizer of the event, got support from bigger corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola, E-Surance, HP, and Wells Fargo. Some national landmarks that made a statement this evening include the Las Vegas Strip, the Gateway Arch of St. Louis, the Empire State Building, and the Golden Gate Bridge. The Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame Cathedral also sacrificed light for an hour in their respective cities around the world. I look forward to watching the news tomorrow to see what other impacts this event has made tonight.

So, have you hear about Earth Hour? If you haven't it is probably not because you don't read or watch enough news. The event hasn't really be publicized very well. Even my mom, who reads the Austin newspaper every morning and reads news off the Internet, has not heard of the event. Basically, the idea is that people all over the globe are encouraged to turn their lights and electricity using devices off at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow for a whole hour. The goal is to get 1 billion people to turn their lights out globally in an effort to bring about awareness of global warming. I encourage you to join me tomorrow night, and ask your friends and family to do the same. The website is http://www.earthhour.org/home/ and you can find all kinds of information about movement. I think most people can easily do this for just 60 minutes. Please participate!

Social Influence

One of my roommates asked me the other day how I came to join the green movement. She told me I am one of only a few people our age that she knows who is really trying to make a difference. I was surprised to hear her say this because I know many people who are interested in doing better for the environment. This led me to believe that social influences weigh heavily on whether a person participates and their degree of participation in the movement. Growing up, my roommate’s family did not do anything especially eco-friendly. According to her, the only reason her parents made her turn her light of in her bedroom when leaving it was to save money on the electric bill. This was dramatically different from my childhood. Since I can remember my family has recycled paper, plastic, and aluminum. We were also told to conserve energy even though we lived in government housing, all bills paid. We were scolded for taking long showers or forgetting to turn off lights or the t.v. despite the fact that we did not pay a water or electric bill.

For my mom, it was all for the sake of not being wasteful. When I moved into a dorm after leaving home, I am ashamed to say that I let those values slip away from me. Showers were never long enough and it did not matter to me if I let my computer run all day long.
Spending my Spring break with my family reminds me that I am not really as committed to this lifestyle as I would like to be. I realize that I could take my goals a step further by adopting some of the things my mom does for the environment. For example, the town she lives outside of does not pick up recyclables, and so she drives them to a collection site in the city on the weekends. And instead of using the energy to dry all of her laundry, she dries jeans, linens, and other bulky items on a clothes line. The bathroom situation at my parent’s home is quite different than the average household. When they moved out of city limits, they discovered septic tanks were the only option. Researching about the limitations of the tank and its sensitive bacteria caused her to change a few of her product purchases. For one, she buys toilet paper made from recycled paper. The down side to this is the thinness of the tissue, but on the other side, the bacteria can break it up easily and the company does recycle paper that would otherwise be sitting in a landfill. Bleach and other harmful cleaners with chlorine also had to be given up. Although a struggle at first, my mom feels good now knowing that all bathroom cleaners, laundry detergent, and dishwashing liquids she uses are plant based and biodegradable. For her it took loosing public sewage access to stop using harsh chemicals in her cleaners, but I am hoping to suck up the extra expense and start buying more eco-friendly products next time I visit the grocery store.

A Week Away From Home

I have been on Spring break since Monday. Getting a break from school is great but I always worry when leaving all my possessions for a week. I had to fight the urge to leave a light on in my apartment. Growing up, every time my family left on trips for days at a time we left a light on in the living room. I suppose the purpose was to make people think we were home, hopefully preventing break-ins. It seems like such a waste to me to leave lights on for days at a time. After I graduated and moved out of the house, my mother found a timer to plug a lamp into to save energy. The gadget turns the lamp on everyday during a certain time period for as long as you wish. Although the light is only appreciated by the cats when we are away, this little device gives my mom piece of mind while saving some energy during the day and preserving the light bulb as well.
I decided against leaving a light on because the guilt of all the wasted energy would have eaten at me over the week. Another thing I did to save energy while not at home was to unplug all small appliances. As I have mentioned in a previous entry, I have been trying to unplug things like the toaster and blender after using them. This has proven harder to remember than I thought it would be, unfortunately. But for a whole week lamps, alarm clocks, computers, and air fresheners will all be unplugged as well as the toaster and blender. Also, the temperature in both the refrigerator and the thermostat were adjusted. It took some convincing my roommates to raise the temperature a few degrees in the frig but I finally got their permission. My logic is no one will be there to open and close the frig, letting cool air out, and no one is leaving meat there for a whole week. Other products don’t need to be kept quite as cool, right? Hopefully we won’t return to any spoiled foods.

A Few Energy Saving Tips

For the whole past week I have been keeping a list of small things I did to conserve energy. I realize how small the impact is, but these are some things I do to that make myself feel good:
-I did a couple loads of laundry, both in cold water. I started doing this with my color loads to preserve the colors of the fabrics, but I decided that it would not hurt to wash all loads cold.
-I recently started unplugging small appliances after using them. For example, the toaster and blowdrier this week. Other items I try to keep unplugged are the blender, my cell phone charger, and lamps. It is amazing to think that these things all draw energy from the electrical socket when not in use!
-We also change the thermostat setting when leaving the house for the day. Currently the temperature outside is in the 50's, and so setting the temperature to 60 from 65 degrees is a small difference that is quickly adjusted when we return home.
-And as always, I try to take the bus to campus. This week I managed to drive my car to campus only twice. I find that when I am managing my time better, I am more comfortable taking the bus. Hopefully I can keep this up .

My Carbon Footprint

Have you seen the commercials for the online car insurance company staring the cartoon woman with purple hair? I thought the futuristic outer space theme and paperless system was simply a great advertising scheme, but recently a friend told me to take a peek at their website. I was so excited to find the E-surance website full of information about greener living. The website has lots of consumer information about their partnerships and contributions towards a greener America. It is quite impressive for a company to take such bold step in this green movement. I am particularly excited to have calculated my carbon footprint with their online survey. I discovered that with my current habits my carbon footprint is 11.1 tons per year (yes, i know that is ridiculous!) and my Earth Conservation Plan, or ECP, is 307. The average carbon footprint for a resident of College Station (mostly just a college town) is 16.7 tons per year per person, 15.4 for the average American. The plan allows you to measure the improvements you make in your scores as you change your habits to be greener. I encourage you to calculate your own and see how you compare. The only issue I have with this approximation is the fact that it is geared towards households rather than individuals. And so the score I gave above is actually the combined score for my two roommates and I. Have a try at it yourself!

Air purifiers

How much energy do you suppose air purifiers use? They are designed to run all day and night. I went home for the weekend and realized my mom has three in the house. She seems to think that the clean air is better for us. I do not know if these gadgets are any better than breathing fresh air from outdoor, but the weather is often too hot for most of the year to open the windows. I suggested to her that she try getting some house plants that would remove toxins from the air. And so we decided to look up what plant species would be effective at doing so. The website www.beyondjane.com listed several plants that will grow indoors. Among the list were gerber daisies, snake plant, rubber plant, and golden pothos, all of which I have seen at home improvement stores such as Lowes. The website also gives a brief explanation of plant care or the specific toxins each removes from the air. Do some research of your own if you are interested, and start saving some energy.

Cat Liter

Today I bought a cat liter caller Yesterday's News. According to the packaging, the use of recycled newspapers cuts down on some of the newspaper clutter in landfills. Although the newspaper is going right back into the land fill once soiled, I feel this is still a great option for cat-owners. Using products like this one will replace the clay litter with the newspaper, which would have ended up in the landfill anyway had it not been used to make litter. In essence, reducing the amount of trash stacking up in the environment, even if it is just a little bit.

I just hope my cat will take to it. I have decided to mix it in gradually with the liter I currently use to try to get him to adjust.

Water wasting

This morning I took a really long shower, and now I feel quite guilty. I tend to do this more often during the winter, especially in the morning. I am finding more and more that going green is a double-edged sword. In the case of the shower situation, my roommates and I keep the apartment fairly cool during the winter, around 60 degrees or so, in order to save on the electric bill; however, the cool temperatures tempt me to enjoy the comforts of the hot water for longer. I suppose the best answer to this problem is to time my showers to prevent myself from letting too much water go down the drain. I do not like the idea of rushing through an activity that I find so relaxing, but I want to do the right thing.

When I was around ten or eleven years old, I had a friend whose younger brother told me that I should not let the water run while I am brushing my teeth because I would kill all the whales. At the time I knew that the water coming out of the faucet did not come from the ocean, but thinking about the source of the water is an interesting idea. The professor of my ecology class a year ago told us that it was projected, based on the speed at which the city's population was growing, that the water supply of Las Vegas would be depleted in ten years. What would happen to all the residents? Would they enact so form of water rationing in this desert oasis? Would the government force them to leave? It is a scary thought...

Utility Bills

Saving water and electricity are some of my major concerns these days. Living on campus my first two year of school really spoiled me. Regardless of how many lights were left on or how much time was spend in the shower, the bill was always the same. My biggest crime during those years was spending lots of time under the unlimited hot water in the shower. Now a days I have to pay for every fluid once of water that escapes the faucet and every watt of electricity burned. Needless to say, I am much more careful about how much of these resources I use. I have a responsibility to not only my wallet, but also my two roommates who split the bills with me.

Something that I have recently tried to change about my habits is turning the hot water knob on the facet when washing my hands. All children are told to use warm water to wash hands, but think of all the water that runs down the drain before the temperature warms up. Is it worth all the waste to be sure that all the germs are washed away? I suppose that depends on your activities previous to the hand washing. Using the toilet or handling raw meat probably warrants being a little wasteful.

As for electricity, my roommates and I are lucky because we are all friends and feel comfortable enough to study together in the living room. This is important because it means we are not in our separate rooms, using three times the amount of electricity.

It is funny the way that paying for the utilities has made me much more conscious of my usage. Perhaps in the future there will be rations on the amount of electricity and water a household can use before it is charged overage fees. That could make a great difference on the environment.

The title of my blog came to me as I was brain-storming ways to describe the word green. I am a college student at Texas A & M University, studying nutritional sciences, a degree plan that requires lots of chemistry. It was ingrained in my head during organic chemistry that each color in the visible light spectrum has its own range of wavelengths. The color green is seen when light being reflected is approximately between the wavelengths of 520 and 565 nanometers. Green is a symbol of nature and life in its simplest form. The lush green hues we associate with the chlorophyll of plants capture and utilize the sun's rays in such an efficient way. And they say that when the great ball of gas that is the sun burns up all organism will die, starting with the plants; but will life on Earth still exist by that point? Life on Earth has existed for thousands of years by Biblical estimates and billions of years by scientific estimates, all without the help of humankind, but it is time for us to interject and reverse the damage we have caused before we are longer able to.
I realize that I am only one person, and can only do so much, but I hope to inspire others to join in the efforts of the green movement. I think that selfishness is our major obstacle as a society. Think about all the things we don't do to help the environment because it is an inconvenience to us: taking the bus, separating out the recyclables, taking our own bags to the grocery store. I don't want to give the impression that I am selfless when it comes to the environment. I take my car to class more often than I ride the bus, I don't recycle at all, and I often times forget to take my grocery bags into the store with me. I know that I can be doing so much more... I am promising to all my followers that I will make an effort to change my habits into more eco-friendly ones. I guarantee that I will stumble at times, but I am recording my journey because I know that others will be able to relate, especially other college students. So I hope that you will return to read about my progress and share ideas about how we can all be a little greener.