Not Such a Material Girl

I love that being "green" is getting so much attention lately; I think that when environmentally-friendly items are readily available, then even people who don't really care can live a little more responsibly. Buying items that are recycled, organic, or just all-around take less of a toll on the earth are better; however, buying less is still the best option. There's absolutely no waste if you skip buying something you don't really need.

That being said, I'm not very good about buying less. I'm fascinated by all the things I see in the world around me -- I want to try the various gadgets, have the cute clothes I like, etc., etc. And then of course, you get to the holidays, when everyone wants to know what you want. You can ask for all of those things you restrained yourself from buying throughout the year. In my family, asking for specific items is actual doing people a favor, because we don't like having to figure out what someone else wants.

So I was excited about finding a couple of cool online gift registries. The first is the Alternative Gift Registry. It allows you to create a wedding or baby registry with both tangible and intangible objects - anything you want. The samples show people asking for, yes, a DVD player or some place settings, but also for recipe cards with people's favorite recipes or used books or cleaning advice. It allows for people to ask for the things they think they really need for their lives and not just things to fill up a registry. It emphasizes the relationships between people instead of the presents, can cost significantly less, and can have positive environmental impact.

A less altruistic option but still something that I find really cool is TheThingsIWant.com. It's a "universal" wish list, meaning that you can add items from any Web site to your list. I see this being particularly useful for family Christmas and birthday lists. I tend to make an amazon.com wish list with books and movies on it, then have to send around e-mail lists with in-depth descriptions of the exact bag I want or the color and size of these shoes from REI. If I only want one item from a store, then there's no point in creating a wish list on its site. This option can be a one-stop-shop for all those material things I can't help from wanting.

All Bottled Up (How Taxing)

I read this article a long time ago about an attempt in Chicago to tax bottled water, and I think it's brilliant.  Bottled water is one of my latest pet peeves.  By all means, filter your water - it certainly tastes better than a lot of our tap water.  But then put that water in a reusable bottle, like this SIGG bottle that I really want.

Disposable plastic water bottles just seem like such a waste to me, especially since I see so many of them end up in the trash can.  But trying to get people to stop drinking bottled water is a hard battle to win.  A tax measure can discourage people from buying so many water bottles, while at the same time generating revenue for a city.  Maybe a little financial incentive will convince people to stop their wasteful ways more than arguing with them will.

Powerful...like the wind

I've been meaning to do it forever and ever.  Since my name is on the electric account, I get a lot of the information that comes from our power company, so I've known about their wind power program for awhile now.  But I've never taken action on it.

Well, today I wanted to post on my blog since it's been a few months, and I was surfing around looking for something interesting, and I once again came across a green power Web site.  It served as a reminder to me about Avista's wind power program and I immediately followed through.

Basically, many utility companies are offering programs in which you can purchase alternative and renewable energy.  Avista's program, Buck-A-Block, allows you to buy 300 kW of wind power for $1.  From what I understand, your purchase won't necessarily bring that wind power directly into your home.  But you are purchasing that amount of energy to make up part of Avista's energy mix.  I went through and averaged our energy consumption - about 600 kW a month.  So by subscribing for 2 blocks of power a month, I'm making a small attempt to offset our energy use.

I believe strongly in speaking with how I use my time, money, and resources (although I certainly stumble in my "words" through each medium).  So I like the idea that I'm making a statement in how I'm investing a very small amount of my money, and hopefully as more and more people do so, the market will shift more and more towards renewable energy sources.

By the way, check out The Green Power Network to find out if there is a similar program somewhere near you.

Truly Small Things

Seriously, are staples that big of a deal?  I don't even use staples all that often.  But I am also seriously fascinated by staple-free "staplers."  They don't actually use any staples to attach paper together...they somehow cut little holes in the paper and then attach the sheets of paper together.  I'm not entirely sure how they work, but I still think I want one.

You never would think that staples make that much of an environmental impact, and truthfully, they probably don't.  But hey, we're again taking the small steps, and eliminating the waste from making staples as well as the tons of non-reusable metal in staples is one small step.

To Dine For

I don’t worry too much about my environmental impact when I eat out at restaurants…maybe I should, but it’s just not a priority right now. But I’ve been thinking a lot more about eating at home, eating at work on my dinner break, and getting take out:

1) Napkins: I’m trying to get into cloth napkins. According to Ideal Bite, it’s actually cheaper to wash and reuse cloth napkins than it is to buy paper ones. Not that I ever buy paper napkins anyways, but I do use paper towels when I need to. In particular, I use paper napkins all the time when I eat dinner at work. They’re just so convenient. I’m working on embroidering some cloth napkins…I’m hoping to eventually have a set for each season…so that I can combine my love for embroidery with being good to the environment. But it’s slow-going. At least my roommate has some cloth napkins that I can use at home. Maybe I need to have a work napkin as well – is that a little weird?
2) Plastic utensils: Plastic utensils are another one of those things that I use at work all the time, along with paper/Styrofoam plates. When I remember, I try to bring utensils from home, but I worry about losing a spoon or something and we have precious little of those. Maybe I need a little portable fork, knife and spoon set that I can just use at work – but then I’d have to wash them every day.
3) Take-out: I’ve been becoming more conscious of how my food is presented to me. For example, when you get your meal to go at Qdoba, they put the container in a (very large) plastic bag. I already hate plastic bags anyway, but I have no need for a plastic bag for the plastic box that I can very easily carry. I also hate being bothersome, so if they’ve already bagged my food, I just take the bag and figure I’ll recycle it. But if I can catch them, I tell them to skip the bag.

I work such hours that I very rarely eat a real meal at home, so I’m always going for the convenient thing…whether that involves bringing my lunch or all too often going out to grab some food. And I just want to be more and more aware of how I’m using resources when I’m eating some yummy grub.