Are You Green

Posted on 04.10.07 in Thoughts and there are 11 comments.

Do you do anything that is intentionally environmentally friendly?

I’ve been thinking lately that I’d like to be a bit more “green” but I’m not entirely sure where to start.

What do you do? Why do you do it?

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I too would like to do more...but what I do do is have things piled in the garage to recycle, (u can recycle so many things now) have a few energy smart light bulbs, (they say 5 per household saves a ton of energy) Buy local produce in summer. 
The new issue of real simple has a good article about that!

I sort my trash.  One trash can for paper, one for “packaging products”, one for compost/biodegradables, and one for anything that doesn’t fit in those catagories. 

I also don’t have a dryer to dry my clothes.  I hang them out on my balcony.  We have these nifty wall-hanging racks that make it easy.

I also don’t own a car.  I take public transportation or ride my bike.

I also take a cloth bag to the grocery store with me to carry my groceries home in.

But I can’t take credit for any of these things being out of my love for the environment.  I just happen to live in a very environmentally friendly country that makes it easy to recycle and take public transportation.  I don’t have a dryer only because it didn’t come with the apartment.  And I take the cloth bag to the store with me because I’d have to purchase any plastic bags I’d need and that gets expensive each shopping trip!  So, I’m not very environmental by choice, I’m afraid to say, although I do like knowing that I’m being environmental anyway!

Where do you live Lilia?

I recycle.  I turn off and unplug appliances when not in use.  I reuse anything that can be reused.

Actually, more of a lavender blue (dilly dilly).

I probably have a bit of a different perspective than many of your readers on this.  Working in the energy industry as an engineer, my number one job is to help the company make money with minimal environmental impact.  I’m either looking at new products that are more readily biodegradable and less toxic or I’m looking at ways to clean up and recover from the environment those products that are not so safe.  While this is our goal, we often lack behind the regulatory process because it often takes so long find suitable “green” products that can replace the less-friendly ones.

In my previous job, with a small R&D;company, everything we worked on had some kind of environmental slant.  I have patents for new corrosion-resistant coatings for metals, have worked with alternative disinfectants to reduce the chlorine use, looked at remediation methods for contaminated soils, etc.  One of the company’s main focuses was fule cells; as someone who has more than a passing knowledge of their working I have to say that the talk of using these as a clean energy source is a bit overblown.  Yes, they can be very clean, but they use platinum (a very rare metal) as a basic component (catalyst, actually) and there is only so much that can be found and used.  Fuel cells, as long as they rely on platinum, will never be a viable source for massive energy production.

Personally, though, I don’t do as much.  I try to conserve, sure, but I don’t really recycle.  Like Lilia said, it’s a lot easier to do if it is mandatory.

Oh yeah, I live in Germany.  Germans are big into conservation.

Recycling isn’t available curbside in my family’s new rural neighborhood, so we don’t do it.  I’m hoping to get a compost bin built soon, though.  Its a great way to cut back on solid waste and provide fertilizer for the flowerbeds.  The only problem with composting here is that it might attract the bears, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

MB

Kristin,
I’ll have to check out that magazine. Currently, I just recycle paper, but I need to find out if my city offers other curbside recycling as well. If you start to be more “green” please blog about it because I’d love to get ideas for different changes I can make.

Lilia,
You have to buy your plastic bags? I’ve thought about using cloth bags, but my grocery trips are SO huge that I’d have to have A LOT of bags and then, frankly, I’d feel weird because nobody around here uses cloth bags, so if I used them shopping for a family of 5, I’d stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps I need to get over that.

Euphrony,
Very interesting. I find it particularly interesting that you do environmental research for you job, but don’t do much at home. That’s neither good nor bad, jut interesting.

MamasBoy,
Bears!!!! I think that would halt my composting efforts right there.

Amy,
What are some examples of things you reuse?

Hi Kat!
Boxes, plastic bags, shipping materials, paper, and when all else fails, I put things on freecycle rather than dumping them in the landfills!

I do reuse a lot.  Plastic grocery bags become trash bags in bathrooms trash cans or in the car; also the become temporary storage media for toxic waste (diapers and soiled clothes while away from home).  Cardboard boxes are the same - I have hundreds ready to help me store something or move something.

And I saw where San Francisco (?) is considering making you pay for the plastic grocery bags.

Does moving from the suburbs to the farm a few years ago to learn about natural life count?  We have goats for milk, chickens for eggs, fruit trees, and a garden for food.  When I lived in the city, it was difficult for me to grow a houseplant!

Ever since my small person was born last summer, I have all of a sudden become more interested in recycling.  It’s like I woke up one morning and realized I wanted to do my part to make her future world better.  (And I think I wanted to make up for the space I’ll be taking up in the landfills with her disposable diapers.) Even though my little contribution to preserving the environment is just that, little, it sure makes me feel good.  I had been thinking about it for awhile when I happened to come across this little fact: an aluminum can that does not get recycled will be on this earth for 80-100 years!  That did it for me. 

I now recycle everything that our city curbside recycling policy allows: plastic, paper, aluminum.  They won’t pick up glass, so I save that in a box in the garage and take it to the solid waste collection center myself.  It’s amazing how much stuff we throw away!  I recently read that 67% of all plastic water bottles don’t get recycled.  This country drinks a lot of bottled water so that means a lot of unrecycled containers!  I’m sure there is a lot more I can do, but at least this is a start.

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