Phone conversation with Gentleman Friend
Me: Hang on, it might get a little loud. I'm just starting a load of laundry. Wherein I am using my special new non-earth-killing laundry detergent.
GF: Hippie.
Me: You know it.
GF: No, it's cool. To balance that, though, I've started leaving the water on while I brush my teeth.
Me: WOW. Yeah, see, that hits me in pretty much the two worst ways. One is the wasting of the earth's resources, and the other is the higher utility bill.
GF: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah. The only way you could make it worse is if you were also using that water to drown a puppy.
GF: Who says I'm not?
(Note for the Internet: I'm using the Blue Eucalyptus & Lavender scent and it is amazing. Plus it's plant-based rather than petroleum based. So I am single-handedly reducing Our Country's Dependence On Oil. Go me!)
What have y'all done lately to save the planet (or the puppies)?
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
16 comments:
My 2nd dog was a stray without a home, that my daughter declared as "her dog"... so I saved a puppy!
I have 3 Ethiopian kids who do not speak English... so the fact that I am supressing my inner "the-whole-world-should-speak-English-and-Revolve-Around-Me" urges in order to provide them with a happy home and a sane mother is pretty good way to give back to humanity.
But on the flip side I do let them play in the sprinklers even though we are still on water restrictions because #1 It is 100 degrees outside and #2 Seven bored kids moping around the house is the 4th circle of hell... not all the way at the bottom, but getting there.
In my quest to be more environmentally conscious, I started walking to places like the library. The advantage is that I use less fuel and the library is downhill all the way so it is an easy walk. The disadvantage is that I was stupid enough to move to a neighborhood where the return walk is 2 miles up the foothills and it's not a gradual slope either. But when I die, I'll remind Joe to just throw me on the compost pile instead of wasting an endangered-wood casket.
If I don't die, I plan on seeing if I can take the bus to Jenny's house.
I buy environmentally friendly detergent, but it was also cheaper, so that helped.
And I don't eat fast food, so I'm saving all those nasty recyclable wrappers.
I never write letters to people anymore, especially thank you notes. I quit showering to cut down on water waste, since Utah is the #1 water user per capita in the world.
And I rarely drive places. ALSO. I am thinking about just drinking milk out of the carton, that way I don't have to wash a dish.
My husband started working from home, but it doesn't eliminate a commute because he just walked before. If our weather would ever realize that it's almost summer I could turn off the heater and save energy that way.
So where do you buy it? Just because I don't want to drive all over town to find it and thereby wipe out any good I'm doing by using the detergent. :)
I shop at farmers markets...but then I have to drive 10-15 minutes to get to them. I do take public transportation to work and save gas as well as my car. I miss walking to work, but I live a bit too far to do that and I don't like living in cities enough to justify walking to work.
One of my workplaces (which shall remain nameless) doesn't recycle, so I bring my empty bottles home, where we *do* recycle.
Also, I don't waste a single drop of ice cream. You're welcome.
Say no to floating continents of plastic. (Now if I can just find some cheap tie-dye.)
Of course, I offset that by having Amazon ship everything to my doorstep.
Now that the ice is off the road, I took the Suburban out of four-wheel drive, which I drive only the weekends now (gas is $4.62 a gallon). I also took the metal studded tires off for the summer. I refuse to buy plastic-bottled water,I prefer diet coke (caffeine free) in aluminum cans instead. I put my lawn grass clippings in bio-degradable plastic bags (at least I think they are). Whenever we go grocery shopping, I tell the bagger "paper, not plastic." I too leave the water on to brush my teeth. That is because the temp of the water coming out of the faucet is about 34 degrees. So I brush my teeth while the water is warming up so I can eventually wash my face. Finally, Coolmom used the oven timer today to remind her to move the yard water sprinklers every thirty minutes. This cut hours off watering the yard.
Dad, I have never been more proud to call you Father. :-)
We walk most everywhere. The grocery store, the library, the park, Church (2.4 miles each way). If it's not close enough to walk to, it's probably not worth going to.
Reusable shopping bags.
Currently trying to cut 87 gallons from our normal per day water usage. Go read my post on this.
Cooldad and GF: When you leave the water running while you brush, you could capture that water and use it to water some of your lawn or flush your toilet, or save it to drink later, then it wouldn't be wasted.
Do you like this detergent? I've seen it several times and wondered how it compares. So what's up with not being included on your "daily reads" section?!?! ;)
I just was told that household water usage is 10% of the water. The other 90 is city and farm and stuff like that. So if you want to actually make a dent in water conservation, it's not going to be by turning of the water while brushing teeth.
Jenny, waste is waste. I feel better when I save the water and use it instead of just letting it go down the drain to be processed at the water treatment plant. Whenever I hear the argument that 'such and such is only a small percentage of overall usage' I get kind of annoyed. That's just passing the buck! It's an excuse, a rationalization, so you don't feel bad about not changing your own habits.
Remember the starfish story?
About a year ago I was at a stoplight and the guy infront of me threw a bag of trash out the window of his car. I got out and threw it back in his window at him, and it broke open in his car. 'Cause that's how I roll.
And we compost, and take all our trash to the recycling center instead of letting the city drag it all to the dump.
Amazon.com subscriptions to Seventh Generation rock! You end up paying earth-killing brand prices.
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