because it's right
I'm making a Faith-Buffy face as I type this.
It's "Blog Action Day." In many ways I am a lazy but easily excitable person, which means that when being "active" doesn't involve much actual "action," I try to play a good liberal American. Here is my pretty pathetic post about the environment.
Things I want to do:
* Use public transportation more often. Right now I take the bus to school about 3/5th of the time, and considering how convenient it is, I should be able to raise that ratio.
* Remember to bring my bag to the store more often. Right now I do it maybe half the time, and whenever I buy few enough things that I can safely carry in my arms, I refuse a plastic bag as well. Still -- I can remember more often.
* Raise the ratio of renewable electricity that I use. Right now it's 20% -- I think I can afford to make it 40%. Maybe after the winter, though :P .
* Be more conscious about what stores/brands I use.
Things I already do:
* Turn off lights and tap obsessively the instant I stop using them.
* Recycle.
* Use paper like it's made of -- well, not gold, but something pretty precious anyway.
* Cook instead of eating out; eat much more veggies than meat; use fresh ingredients instead of frozen ones.
* Replace my burnt out light bulbs with the fluorescent kind, even though I think they're really ugly :/ .
* Donate things instead of throwing them away if they aren't beyond salvaging.
* Using only warm/cold and cold/cold settings when I do laundry.
Things I wish I could do:
* Use a clothesline. My apartment is so dusty because it faces a major street that there is no way to keep clothes clean if I try to dry them outdoors, and there isn't enough room inside.
* Unplug my appliances when they're not being used. Maybe it will be a home improvement project someday, but right now it involves too much heavy lifting for me to set it up.
* Donate my time/money to an environmental organization that I trust.
* Help to initiate more environment-friendly policies at my workplace.
There. I earned this break because I finished responding to my students' paper topic proposals, but still feel guilty because there is something I should have sent on Friday that I will probably only do tomorrow morning. A part of me is very unhappy about that; I need to convince it to stop and let me sleep.
Update: Just remembered some more things:
I did buy a very fuel efficient car, even before the gas prices went up, which makes me happy :) . But I do wish I could have afforded a hybrid...
I do wish we had a more energy efficient refrigerator and better insulation. But grad student housing...
It's "Blog Action Day." In many ways I am a lazy but easily excitable person, which means that when being "active" doesn't involve much actual "action," I try to play a good liberal American. Here is my pretty pathetic post about the environment.
Things I want to do:
* Use public transportation more often. Right now I take the bus to school about 3/5th of the time, and considering how convenient it is, I should be able to raise that ratio.
* Remember to bring my bag to the store more often. Right now I do it maybe half the time, and whenever I buy few enough things that I can safely carry in my arms, I refuse a plastic bag as well. Still -- I can remember more often.
* Raise the ratio of renewable electricity that I use. Right now it's 20% -- I think I can afford to make it 40%. Maybe after the winter, though :P .
* Be more conscious about what stores/brands I use.
Things I already do:
* Turn off lights and tap obsessively the instant I stop using them.
* Recycle.
* Use paper like it's made of -- well, not gold, but something pretty precious anyway.
* Cook instead of eating out; eat much more veggies than meat; use fresh ingredients instead of frozen ones.
* Replace my burnt out light bulbs with the fluorescent kind, even though I think they're really ugly :/ .
* Donate things instead of throwing them away if they aren't beyond salvaging.
* Using only warm/cold and cold/cold settings when I do laundry.
Things I wish I could do:
* Use a clothesline. My apartment is so dusty because it faces a major street that there is no way to keep clothes clean if I try to dry them outdoors, and there isn't enough room inside.
* Unplug my appliances when they're not being used. Maybe it will be a home improvement project someday, but right now it involves too much heavy lifting for me to set it up.
* Donate my time/money to an environmental organization that I trust.
* Help to initiate more environment-friendly policies at my workplace.
There. I earned this break because I finished responding to my students' paper topic proposals, but still feel guilty because there is something I should have sent on Friday that I will probably only do tomorrow morning. A part of me is very unhappy about that; I need to convince it to stop and let me sleep.
Update: Just remembered some more things:
I did buy a very fuel efficient car, even before the gas prices went up, which makes me happy :) . But I do wish I could have afforded a hybrid...
I do wish we had a more energy efficient refrigerator and better insulation. But grad student housing...