5 easy things to do

Happy earth day everyone! This morning I was listening to NPR and one respondent to the show wrote in to complain that she was tired of feeling guilty for not being "green enough" in her daily life because she was "too busy". Bullshit. Do you have to be perfect? No! Do you have to live a trash free organic tofu eating life? NO! (Tough don't knock organic tofu until you've had some that John cooked)

You wanna know a dirty little secret? Probably the best thing you could do for the environment is DON'T CONSUME SO FREAKING MUCH! Seriously, that's it. Think about the things you use and buy. Do you really need it? Can you get it used? More durable? Do you really need that giant house that will take tons of energy to heat/cool? Do you need a huge SUV for your 3 person household? The population of the world is growing though the planet is not. We in the west have been taught that we are entitled to whatever we want whether we need it or not, myself included. Once you start thinking about these things its amazing how your world view changes.
So, thinking is not hard, we've evolved these amazing brains. Use them!

On that note, today I'm going to share some really easy things that you can do in your every day life, things that are so easy there really is no excuse not to do them. Also, please feel free to share your secrets to using less.

1) Ditch disposables at lunch. Even biodegradable "plastic"wear take energy to produce and ship and really only work in a compost environment. I just have two sets of reusable utensils and two cloth napkins in my desk drawer at work. Once I'm done eating I wash off the silverware dry it off with the napkin and then back into the desk with it. I can usually get 3-5 good uses out of a napkin unless I have soup for lunch, but that's just because I'm messy.

2) Just say no to paper towels. If you work in an office it is easy to keep a small hand towel at your desk (I hang mine from my chair's armrest). It takes a while to get used to leaving the bathroom with wet hands but even if you only remember 50% of the time, that's a lot fewer paper towels over a year.

3) Reuse, reuse, reuse! Don't Throw It Out: Recycle, Renew and Reuse to Make Things Last has a lot of really good ideas on giving new life to old objects. Turn old clothes into rags, which can then be used to replace paper towels. Nice bottles can be reused to store bulk liquids. Prescription bottles, which cannot be recycled, can be donated to local animal shelters for reuse.

4) Plastic bags blow so take totes with you when shopping. This takes a while to get used to but once you get in the habit the benefits really rack up. Some stores offer a discounts for people who bring their own bags, they hold more than disposable bags and are more comfortable to carry. If you buy dry bulk foods reuse the plastic bags especially since those bags usually aren't recyclable.

5) Raise your voice. Share your ideas on living greener with others, communicate with your representatives about your feelings on government policy, call people out when they need it, protest. Don't be passive, don't worry about offending people. This is important and people have to realize that. Bad Religion said it best "Our evolution didn't hinge on passivity so raise your voice".