Whoops, I’m getting this blog out there a little late today. I had one of those mornings, slept-in, hair looked gross, wore the wrong socks etc. Then after my one-hour class was over this morning I headed up to the gym to do my 4-mile run on the track, too cold too go outside (it’s only -5 C but it feels like -10 with the windchill and ya I’m just being a baby). Anyways, not only was senior walk & talk going on but so was strollercise! The track was SOO full. I wasn’t feeling good and I was going to miss my bus if I didn’t get out of there quickly so I copped out and only did 3.5 miles in 35 minutes, so I JUST made my bus. It was a hellish run, I can’t get into “the zone” when I’m constantly having to zig-zag in and out of people. I don’t know if it’s the New Years resolutioners or what but the gym has been EXTRA busy lately and it’s driving me crazy.
Isn’t that sad! And they say it’s gotten so big and out of control now there’s not much that can be done about it. Yuck. So this got me thinking about living green, I won’t lie, I’m not exactly the “greenest” person on the planet but here’s some ways that I try to stay green.
- I always, always turn off the light as soon as I leave the room
- We recycle paper, cardboard, cans and bottles
- We have re-usable grocery bags and we use them to go grocery shopping almost all the time (sometimes we forget them at home :S)
-We turn our heat in the apartment down during the day when we’re not home and we unplug things from the wall if we’re going to be gone for an extended period of time, like when we went home for Christmas.
-We use public transit, now granted we don’t have a vehicle right now so our only options are the bus or our own two feet, but even when we get our vehicle back we are going to keep taking the bus to school and walking as much as we can!
Tell me how you’re living green?
PS: My afternoon class is cancelled today so I now have the whole rest of the afternoon off and the house to myself for FOUR whole hours! I’m so excited 
**Photo’s courtesy of Google Images**
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation has fascinating info. on this topic. Check out this link: http://www.algalita.org/AlgalitaFAQs.htm
My favorite little word associated with this topic is “nurdle” - unfortunately it refers to little tiny plastic pellets that are melted down to make plastic, but often get into our water bodies. No more nurdles! : )
Steve and I are probably the worst there is for not being green!! We only started taking the bus last October because it cost us $40/week to get to work instead of $140/week for parking and gas. So now we take the bus to work but we drive everywhere else. i recyle at work all day everyday, but at home we’re terrible. We use tupperwear for lunch everyday and use a lulu bag to carry our lunch in and that’s about the extent of our recycling. Its something we’re going to try and work on getting better at this year!!
Katrina
I do pretty much the same things you do. I do have a car but most of the time I walk around campus because it’s impossible to park around here. Need to get back to recycling though. And I buy a lot of things used, plus I donate all my old stuff to Goodwill instead of throwing it out. Someone else can usually use it.
~Amanda
http://onehappypanda.blogspot.com
Yeah, I’ve known about the gyre for awhile now…and I actually read an article about it in the magazine Wend, this past month.
I took a couple geography classes first and second year and loved them…but they did get me a little depressed because I learned of pretty much all the signs that indicate earth is falling apart. ie…disappearing glaciers, global warming, dying coral reefs.
Hope you enjoyed having most of the day off. I spent most of mine waiting for phonecalls from contacts.
I do think it’s the New Year’s resolutions that has the tracks and gyms so crowded.
We try to live semi-green by having one car for six people. My husband walks to work.
oh wow, I had no idea this even existed! I live in the pacific northwest and had never even heard of it. I am quite grossed out now! I must defend oregon and say that there is a great beach cleanup every year that prevents thousands of pounds of trash from entering that garbage hole but I know society could do better. You should see the things they pick up off the beaches at these clean ups, it makes you wonder why people would take that stuff to the beach in the first place!
hey i like your blog too!
that is unbelievable! I had never heard of this “garbage island.” I can hardly believe there is that much junk floating out in the sea! disturbing. we should not be destroying/polluting our planet that way.
as for living green, I am not the best, but I do some of the things you mentioned like turning off lights. I used to recycle a lot more before I lived in apartments… I should definitely try harder to live eco-friendly.
thanks for the enlightening blog and pointing me to that article!