stuff I did to "go green" this year...and what still needs to be done

High on the list this year was purchasing four .99 recycled, re-usable bags from Winn-Dixie so I could happily stop being asked "Paper or Plastic?" Occasionally I still end up with a few plastic shopping bags, but they do end up being used (mostly for trash liners.) I'm officially down to TWO plastic bag stockpiles.

Purchasing the EVIEEEEIL fluorescent bulbs and replacing most incandescents. After the fluorescent ones die I'm going to try out the LEDshttp://www.besthomeledlighting.com/ . I'm not sure how sensitive the rest of the world is to high-pitch frequency, but both S & I are extreeeemely sensitive to them and can hear the durn fluorescents as soon as they're turned on, hence the evil nature of fluorescents. As a part deux of this effort - I am currently investigating the disposal of the fluorescents (along with some other stuff since we change our own vehicle oil at home) through this site - http://earth911.com/ pretty durn handy.

Also - Hurricane Gus gave me ample opportunities to get out and start a new composting heap. So I'm back to recycling food scraps and such. For the coming year, my goal with waste reduction will include getting back to recycling paper/plastic/glass. Earlier this year they discontinued curb-side recycling in our Parish, so people in our neighborhood seem to have gotten together to do some kind of "recycling carpool", if you will. I'm not sure who's in charge, but I'm putting this on my list, because we really could cut our waste in half if not more through recycling.

Last week we used the last paper towel in our home. I already had dish rags for the counter tops and for drying dishes, but now we have cloth napkins for any and everything. I got a couple of bins, one for the clean rags and one for the dirty rags - it seems to be working smoothly so far and I don't feel bad about buying another disposable paper product.

I guess I wasn't alone in adjusting my driving habits this year? But I did, I started driving slower and not leaving the office at all during lunch. Because we live so far outside of the city, we already consolidate trips as much as possible, so that wasn't too difficult. And in July I was gifted with a sweet little Honda Civic which gets 36mpg...so that has helped considerably.

I suppose it doesn't seem like too much after all... but it's a start.