Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day of the Extravagant Sort

Earth Day...



Anthony thinks I'm a little nuts (yes, I know you're reading this honey).
My parents don't get it.
The guy at Chik-Fil-A wrote me off as a crazy greenie.
Nancy, the woman I'm acting as caregiver for says I'm "conscientious" but says it in a way that I'm not sure it's a compliment.

But I don't care.

I'm unashamedly trying to be green.

I recycle. And I'm somewhat militant about it, I'll admit it. Nancy now just leaves her plastic juice bottles in my car because she knows that if she starts to throw them away I'll just grab them out of her hand and throw them in the backseat anyway. And she and I went to Chik-Fil-A the other day and I was quite excited that the sandwich I ordered came in a recyclable plastic box. It was even a #1, so that's really easy to recycle! However, after eating the sandwich I realized that there was NO RECYCLING BIN in the store. I even asked the guy behind the counter "So, you have a recyclable container but no recycling bin...is that the deal?" and he was like "yeah..."

Sigh.

(I took it home to recycle.)

Now I'll admit I'm not the world's best recycler. I forget pretty often about paper. But glass, plastic, tin, aluminum, cardboard...my kitchen is taken over with the recycling bags for each of them.

I also use CFL's which pretty much everyone does now...I have a SIGG which you all know if you've read my blog :0) I try to buy natural and organic products, although I'll admit I don't do it exclusively. It's expensive. And I like my mint chocolate oreos :0)

And I use reusable bags. Most of the time I go through the self-checkout if I'm in Kroger/Publix so as to not have to deal with the checkout process. Trader Joe's kind of expects you to bring your own bag (good for them), but the people in Target look at you oddly--even if you're using a Target reusable! Not only are the reusable bags great for the environment, they're also a whole heck of a lot easier to wrangle from the car to the house. Believe me, that's a great benefit.

Am I perfect? Nope. I use more heat in the winter (but it balances with my low air conditioning useage), I forget to turn off lights when I leave the room, I leave lights on for the cat when I'm gone, and I forget to unplug things. But the point is...I try. I'm not trying to save the world, but I AM trying to be a good steward of what God has given us. I don't think that being green is just a human initiative. I think we're called to take care of the earth.

So maybe today instead of throwing away that Diet Coke can you can toss it in a recycling bin. Perhaps you can pour yourself a glass of water instead of paying for a plastic water bottle. And possibly you can bump the temperature on your air conditioner a couple of degrees higher or unplug an appliance you rarely use.

Or maybe you can just dismiss this all as the ramblings of a liberal. ;-)

Either way...you have a choice. Isn't that a beautiful thing?

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17 comments:

Ryan Ashley Scott said...

Rambling liberal - bahaha! I'm with ya, sista. It's hard to remember at first, but the more we do it, the more it seems like a normal, necessary part of life.

Happy Earth Day!

CptnMayhem said...

Militant? That's an understatement. :P

I appreciate so much your desire to care for what God has given us. And while there are still times where I chuckle when you shoot me those looks as I throw a Coke bottle in Ginger's trash bag, you do have me thinking more about actually trying to recycle it :)

Have a great Wednesday, babe!

Sara said...

Oh no....I KNOW you weren't talking about me when you made that diet coke comment! : )

I'm actually off the hard stuff...check out today's blog.

Proud of you for doing your part!

Donnetta said...

We have a FANTASTIC garbage company that allows us a recycling CAN - as big as our garbage can! We just throw all numbers in one container and it gets sorted at the facility!

Brooke said...

good for you! :) i'm horrible about it, except for cans and i give them to a friend to sell. she says its her son's college fund :P

Call Me Cate said...

My boss makes me crazy throwing away plastic bottles - even worse is that I see him do it several times a day and the bottles aren't even empty! So not only is he trashing the bottles he uses but he's not even completely drinking the beverage, therefore buying more! He's the worst kind of waster.

Good for you asking Chik-Fil-A and shame on them for only doing half the job. I'm always bringing stuff home to recycle even if people do think it's crazy.

Kelley with Amy's Angels said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I don't think you'll ever stop by again because I'm about to admit that I'm far from green.

So far on the spectrum that I'm probably red for DANGER! SHE DOESN'T RECYCLE!!

Regardless, I am glad you do recycle and loved reading your blog. I plan to be back. : )

Shanda said...

Awhile back our recycle bin disappeared on our trash day...I called the company and they said to wait a bit to see if it would "turn up." It hasn't but I keep forgetting to call...good reminder!!

Ashley said...

I'm right there with you. I especially love my reusable bags, I use one of my Trader Joe's ones every day to bring lunch and stuff to work.

Happy Earth Day!

Sublime Dream said...

Good post! ;) Everyone has always called me a hipppy liberal for my stance on green stuff! =) But really, I just don't understand how you couldn't want to keep the Earth nice!? ;)

Sublime Dream said...

Good post! ;) Everyone has always called me a hipppy liberal for my stance on green stuff! =) But really, I just don't understand how you couldn't want to keep the Earth nice!? ;)

Bethany said...

Happy Earth Day, my friend! I do what I can...keeping heat off/low when I am not home, no lights on that don't need to be, reusing trash bags, etc. Recently I've decided to seriously cut down on plastic ziplocks as well. Have a good rest of the week! :)

Ali said...

Way to go! I'm good about recycling, using reusable bags and my Earthlust (like Sigg) bottle but I have to confess, when my boys were babies I was the Pampers queen:)

Intense Guy said...

At work, the recycling bin is actually three times the size of the trash can. Not much of anything gets put in trash..

Heidi said...

Thanks fo stopping by. I hope you try the stawberries. They really are great.

Twice as Nice said...

I know I could be a lot more green. I do try. I bought those bags to take into the grocery store to save on plastic.....the only problems is 99% of the time I leave them in the car or their at home! Have a great day.

Ashley @ {Let Go, Laughing} said...

It's definitely hard to always remember to be more green but we try too. We totally do the reusable bags thing and you are right - it is sooo much easier to get them in the house!