Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Love

I thought I would show the Earth some love since it is Earth Day and all. Now I know that I could be better at doing good for the Earth, but I have made some adjustments to help out.

I started recycling a while ago and have made Mr. Pickle more aware and even got him to throw his cans in the recycling garbage can instead of the garbage garbage can. Up until a few years ago I was lame and didn't recycle because it wasn't convenient. However now it is just second nature, plus it is easier to recycle when you live in a house vs. an apartment.

We drink a lot of water, so we were going through a ton of plastic water bottles. We purchased a water dispenser that we fill up for $1.75 for 5 gallons and use reusable water bottles. I am in love with my Insulated Camelbak water bottle. It keeps my water cold for hours.

I do still get plastic bags at the grocery store because I use them all the time at home to clean up dog messes, but about once every three months I take a large amount of bags back to the grocery store so they can reuse them.

I have gotten a lot better at keeping the lights, heater/AC and other electrical items turned off when not in use or not needed. I get so frustrated when Mr. Pickle is watching TV downstairs and then comes upstairs and doesn't turn off the TV or the lights. Ummmmm hello, you are obviously not using it anymore, so turn it off. Plus, HE pays that bill so you think he would be smarter about it.

Let's see....I only do dishes or laundry when I have full loads and I air dry a lot of my dishes and clothes. Plus I clean the lint filter after each use (this allows the dryer to use less energy) and I wash most of my clothes in cold water.

Mr. Pickle and I have started carpooling to work. Well he actually takes BART (public transportation), but I drop him off at his station on my way to work and pick him up after work. Plus I am hoping to ride my bike more places.

At work we have all done our part in trying to print less and recycle paper. I couldn't believe the amount of paper that was just being thrown away at the office. It really doesn't take that much of an effort to recycle paper instead of throwing it away. We also stopped using Styrofoam coffee cups. Now we bring in our own mugs.

Like I said, nothing too major, but it is a start!!

By the next Earth Day I am hopeful that I can add the following things to my list:
- Replace our old windows in our hours with new energy efficient ones.
- Replace older appliance with new energy efficient ones.
- Use cloth napkins and hand towels instead of paper towels. I am a big paper towel waster.
- Bring reusable bags shopping. (I have them, but ALWAYS forget them.)

Even the little changes can make a difference!

Pics from Google Images

5 comments:

Carol {Everyday Delights} said...

yay for earth day!

Jenny DB said...

good for you.. yeah i will get a bottle of water and then refill it abajillion times, or as many times until joe gets sick of seeing it and throws it away, errr, recycles it :)
happy earth day!

Ashley said...

I have tons of the reusable grocery bags and I tried to get my mom to use them, but she said she recyles the plastic ones from the store because she uses them for A LOT of things at home, so I let her have that one...and you too! :)
I love my camelbak bottles too! Do you have the one with the straw? The town we moved to a year ago has mandatory recycling. We have to go to the dump and if you throw a trash bag in the trash part and the people here a bottle or something they will freak. So, we have to recylce EVERTHING. It is hard becaue I dont have room for all the seperate bins, but we make it work...for the good of the Earth, and so dump man doesnt yell at me! :))

Sierra said...

I certainly agree that little things can improve the earth! I am going to try and be more conscious of this.

Mrs. Awesome said...

You are doing a lot! My mom told me she remembers the first Earth Day, like 25 years ago or something! I pledge to use re-usable mugs at Starbucks. :)