I remember when I was young - maybe four or five - just getting down my tooth-brushing habits. Very short. Could hardly reach the bathroom faucet. While I was brushing my teeth one night, my dad told me to shut off the water while I was brushing.
“Why?”
My mom chimed in. “Because it’s a waste.”
“So?”
“So, we don’t need to be wasteful around here.”
“Why is it a waste?”
“Because you’re not using the water, and it’s costing us money.”
“Oh.”
So, for many years, that was the extent of my conservation efforts.
Many of my family’s conservation habits were out of necessity. For example, we lived in an old farmhouse with one shower and six people. Since we lived in the country, our water source was a well.
After about two 10-minute showers, the water could get ice cold.
So we combined our efforts. A couple of us took showers at night, and the rest of us took “Navy showers”, as my dad liked to call them.
Depending on how many of us needed to shower, Navy showers lasted anywhere between two and five minutes. We had to start a timer and be done FAST, or the rest of the family would have to shiver and shake through their chilly morning routine.
We installed a special showerhead that helped to reduce wasted waterflow, and my parents rigged the toilets somehow so that we used a minimal amount of water.
Also, to reduce cost, we always filled the sink with water to wash dishes, rather than let the water run. I’ve read that you can conserve more water by using a dishwasher, which makes me feel very clever and Earth-friendly.
I found a few websites that offer water saving tips. American Water and Energy Savers provides water-saving advice for indoors and outdoors. I like this website too, which offers 100 ways to conserve water by region. Also, this Tree Hugger website (cute name!) seems to have some helpful tips, including installing a water damn on older toilets, versus using a brick, which can deteriorate and clog your pipes.
What do YOU do to conserve water? What can you tell us about your water-saving experiences? Do you shut off the water while you’re brushing your teeth? Do you water plants with your half-empty water bottles that have stacked up in the floor of the backseat of your car so much that you filled two shopping bags while cleaning your car? Let me know.
The most recent post is titled: Living Consciously: 10 Things I Have Learned About Myself. The author mostly discusses living healthfully in both mental and physical states. It’s an excellent article, and the entire blog offers little bits of life inspiration.
Of course, I’m eating a tub of Hagen Dazs at 8 PM when he says that he doesn’t eat sugar past 5. Whatever. My ice cream was the equivalent of 148 weeks of happiness, packed into one little dairy pile of Carmel Cone goodness. Bliss. I am more mentally healthy because of it.
I think that his “living consciously” message applies to all things in our lives, though, including living green. Living consciously can be more challenging, but more rewarding in the end.
I’m not sure how living consciously can be more rewarding, but I know this is true. And if you don’t think so, then you should go consciously have some Hagen Dazs Carmel Cone before 5 PM, and you will agree. You can thank me later with a pint or two. (Or twelve.)
Anyone out there have suggestions for organic ice cream?
Um… does drinking green tea qualify for green points? Do we get green points for being green? I think we should.
1/2 a point to me for drinking green tea.
I like green tea. I’ve heard it’s healthy for you. I’m not quite sure how, but it’s what I’ve heard.
So this morning I decided to make some green tea - Tazo green tea, actually, in the little filter bag.
Also, I was a little, um, hungover this morning. (Note to self: research organic liquor.) I thought some green tea would be the perfect pick me up. Mellow caffeine. (If there was such a thing, I would say this is it.) Easier on the tummy than coffee.
While I was waiting for the water to heat up, I read the back of my Tazo paper cover for the green tea.
Very cute. “… of this lifetime…” I dig it. So, naturally, I went to their website to see what other clever things Tazo had to say.
(High fives to the marketers all around. Nice work.)
I checked out their “Wheel o’ Tazo” and saw that they full leaf tea, too. If I ever brew full leaf tea, I will keep that in mind.
Then I saw the little tab “Social Responsibility.” They have all kinds of neat things listed under there! I don’t know what it all meant, but it sounded very socially responsible.
For example, Tazo buys renewable energy certificates. They participate in CHAI (Collaboration for Hope and Advancement in India). Tazo is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership. (Who knew?) They also give to local non-profit organizations.
Another 1/2 point for drinking a brand of green tea that is trying to be green.
I think that’s one of the things that makes it hard to “buy green”. Most companies want to claim that they are green now, because that will make or break the deal for many consumers. How do we know what the best choices are? (You’re probably thinking, yeah, aren’t you supposed to tell us?)
I’m going to try to provide more and more information that I discover along the path to a cleaner greener life.
Steve Larrick is a Senate candidate who walks his talk. The Reader recently published a feature article on his green lifestyle and ideas for environmental policy change, which actually made me want to vote for the guy.
Mr. Larrick is a Nebraska Green Party co-chair, serves as president of the Lincoln chapter of the United Nations Association, and likes long walks on litter-free beaches.
He rides his bike to work, even in the middle of the winter. A pedal bike - no motorcycle for this guy.
While he’s riding his bike to work, he picks up discarded aluminum cans along his route. The article doesn’t mention how long his route is, which would be interesting, but it does say that he gathers and collects (from neighbors, too) approximately four to five pounds of aluminum per day.
That’s nuts. The man is a model for recycling. AND he and his wife have gone without central air and heating for almost 30 years. (The article doesn’t mention what they use instead, but since he is pushing for more solar and wind energy in Nebraska, I’m going to guess he’s got the sun on his side.)
Larrick will be running against Mike Johanns, the former gov. and U.S. Agriculture secretary, so he is definitely optimistic. But I think it’s commendable that he’s working so hard to spread the message of a sustainable lifestyle.
Larrick is looking to young voters to support him. But, I think that voters of any age can see the value of his message, and at the very least, be impressed at what he does for the community already.
I was sitting at my friend’s house the other morning, drinking out of her Jimmy John’s (reusable) plastic cup. This cup was covered in witticisms, and a couple of them caught my eye.
One of them said, “We don’t care where your mouth has been, we just wanna know where it’s at now.”
Clever. Sassy. Funny.
It’s nice that they forgive their customers’ past food selection indescretions.
Then I saw, “Think Globally, Crave Locally”, which I’m probably interpreting differently from what Jimmy John’s intended, considering they’re a sandwich shop chain.
As a female English major, it is officially my job to find meaning in almost everything.
I loved this thought. Shop at your local shops, and think globally.
For example, buying organic foods from a farmer’s market, or even from a grocery store, supports a healthy way of producing food, versus corporate farming that uses pesticides and other chemicals.
Also, knowing the origins of the products that you’re purchasing ensures that everyone involved in the production process is compensated accordingly.
Ya know, everyone gets paid enough.
And I don’t think it’s easy to become a “green” consumer, but that’s why we have information resources like this one! It can be easy by changing our buying and living habits bit by bit. I’ll be sharing tidbits about various products that I find that are better for you and better for our environment.
If you have any thoughts about this clever little phrase, feel free to share below!
I’ve been thinking of ways that I can make my house more green - or “lime” - the freshly squeezed version of green.
Like Spricket 24 suggested in the video yesterday, I could change all the lightbulbs in my house. I could start a compost pile (gross). I could even unplug everything that I’m not using. All of these steps are easy and could save me money. Or, they could save you money when utilized in your home.
But I’m in a unique situation. I have a roommate, and I don’t pay for electricity, or heat, or water. My roommate is also my landlord and owns the house. I rent a portion of the house and pay a flat fee every month. Money will not be my motivating factor in this situation, as it possibly could be for most others. Maybe even you.
My first lifestyle change: learning what to recycle, and how to recycle it. This is the current state of the recyling bin at my house.
There is a lot of sand in this bin. You can see the trail of sand from where I dragged it out of seclusion against the wall. There are also several other items that I dare not touch. It’s a man’s garage, and I don’t want to screw anything up.
I came home the other day, and my roommate was cleaning out his magazines. He had a stack of magazines nearly as tall as me, balancing against the wall. Outside of my bedroom door, there is now a pile of magazines waiting to be picked up on Thursday morning.
According to Keep Omaha Beautiful, I need to put the magazines in paper bags, and according to me, I need my roommate to do something with all that sand.
Keep Omaha Beautiful’s website provides a list of various items that are recyclable. Basically, clean paper. Newspaper. Paper books. Phone books. Magazines. Also, aluminum and steel cans, and plastic jugs and bottles… even my yogurt cups? Really? You have to check out this list! Apparently they don’t want my pizza boxes though. Hmm.
Good thing I stopped eating pizza yesterday. Again. Next time I’m at the grocery store, I will have to ask for paper bags instead of plastic. I need to stock up!
Going green seems like such a trendy thing to do, doesn’t it?
All in all, the concept seems wonderful. Every single person changing some of his or her small habits to improve the future of our Earth. It can’t be that hard, and really, wouldn’t we like to prevent the possibility of An Inconvenient Truth sequel?
And just what does it MEAN to go green? I set out to discover the truth.
Naturally, I checked Wikipedia.
Wiki explained that “going green” is “a concern for the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the natural environment…” yadda yadda yadda. Somewhat helpful, but I needed something less abstract.
I found this girl on YouTube.
To my absolute delight, National Geographic has an extensive website called The Green Guide, which offers a large volume of interesting articles on green (environmental, according to Wiki) topics.
In my initial research on The Green Guide, I was pleased to find a quiz that informs me which Eco Celebrity I am most like. (Ashley Judd, Will Farrell, and Michael Rappaport are just a few.)
Also, I can quiz myself on just HOW green I currently am. Fortunately they don’t grade that quiz.
I want to be a more responsible citizen, and I want to share my journey. Over the next few months, I will be making small changes to my lifestyle, and reporting them on my blog, Why Not Lime? I anticipate some shocking discoveries about interactions between people, consumerism, and the environment. I also expect to reveal just what a person has to do “go green”.
Keep checking my blog for my new “green” discoveries and information. Always feel free to share your favorite environmentally responsible tips as well.
