Ok! We're going green!!!
Here's what we're doing!!
** recycling plastic, glass, newspaper
** recycling cardboard, paperboard, magazines & junkmail
** bottling the water that runs while I wait for the faucet to heat up - I use this water to rinse out the recycling
** not drinking bottled water if we can help it
** not ordering straws for the adults at restaurants
** using washclothes to clean the 2 babies after meals (we were doing this anyway at a savings of at least 6 papertowels a day!)
** not letting the shower run on and on while we wait for it to get hot and get distracted away. I'm waiting by the door for it to get warm.
** taking shorter showers
** turning off faucet when washing face (already doing that for brushing teeth)
** not turning the car on until we're actually ready to drive away. Even if it only saves 10 seconds of idle time per trip, over time, that is A LOT of gas. I'm also no longer using the remote starter to start my car (this is sad, I love love love that thing) but my truck is a GAS HOG and to let it sit and idle just to get warm is DUMB and WASTEFUL
** Potty training BabyT. This will be a huge savings for the environment - all those diapers!
It's funny, but all the going green stuff is CHEAPER than doing it the wasteful way.
Oh, except for the green cleaners. Those are damn expensive. Also the dishwasher soap doesn't seem to work very well - I've tried Seventh Generation liquid and powder and they both suck. Any suggestions?
The products, well, that part is getting expensive!
3 comments:
I can find no fault with your reasoning, but living in NE PA, warming up an car's engine (especially in freezing temps) is not only a comfort but a benefit to the engine, itself.
Oil inside the engine block needs a few minutes (5-7) to literally warm up and flow properly. Driving 'right away' risks undo engine wear until it flows smoothly.
I'll agree there are people who stop outside of a WaWa and leave the engine idling waste fuel, but upon first turning over a *cold* engine, a few minutes is always adviseable.
Looks like you're doing a great job! We're attempting many of these too, including the potty training. And the operative word would be "attempting." ;)
We cannot afford the 7th gen stuff either. Some of the Method products at target are decent though.
It's funny— it just got here from a comment you left at Here be Hippogriffs in August 2005 saying that you don't recycle. Thanks for starting to fight the good fight.
You should try Method dish soap. It's reasonably-priced, a terrific cleaner (Cooks' Illustrated's favorite), and the perfumes aren't cloying. And completely biodegradable and recyclable (you can even buy refills to cut down on the packaging).
Cheers!
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