Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On Becoming More "Green"

Well, our family has been recycling for about a month now. The change was really quite simple and now I wonder why we haven't been doing it all along. I've also made it a point to not buy any plastic water bottles. The other day on Oprah, I saw the report that stated that we go through 1 BILLION water bottles a WEEK!!!! I could not believe that! Only 24% of those water bottles are recycled. I still have my paper towels and paper plates. I am really trying to cut back on the paper plates, but I just can't go there yet with my paper towels. I would not say that our family is "green". We are at least more aware and we are trying to help out by doing some of the more simpler things.

What about you? 

10 comments:

TARA said...

We've just begun to recycle. We've switched to a thinner brand of TP! The roll lasts a lot longer now :) I try to only wash full loads, which isn't a problem around here. I haven't been using many paper plates, but I find I run the dishwasher twice a day if we use all dishes!

Anonymous said...

Every bit helps Sunny! Good job you are doing! John always teases me but I don't throw things away unless they are truly trashed (I'm talking about larger items like clothes, toys, furniture, etc). I always give away, repurpose, sell, etc. I've also been buying more and more things second-hand. Its better on the wallet and keeps from adding to more consumption in the global sense. If its already made, then I might as well use it. We recycle cans and newspaper, but I slack on other things. I've started using the reusable grocery bags for some of my shopping and I really like them. Much sturdier and you can put a lot more in them. I don't consider us "green" but as I get older I find myself more concerned about caring for God's creation which mankind was placed over.

Bri Maharrey said...

I think we are doing a terrible job. We have never tried to recycle and I am still buying plastic bottles for convenience. Your good attitude and hard work inspires me to try and do at least one thing. I can at least give up the plastic bottles ;0
thanks for the encouragement!
Bri

-Lane said...

I'm trying to recycle my energy by not watching Oprah, but she does have some decent points every now and then.

Our recycling in Guntersville is done by putting your recyclable items in a blue garbage bag. We never use paper plates or disposable cups. We switched about 2 months ago to a Brita water pitcher instead of water bottles.

My idea still is that the recyclable stuff in most communities ends up in the dump anyway. But, we try to do our part.

kyllie said...

I've been recycling my magazines for a few years now, all though I am bad about letting them pile up in the recycle bin for a while before actually putting it on the curb.

Recently, though, with all the info that has come out about BPA, I've been paying more attention to the types of plastic we use and have started adding our milk jugs, and other containers to our bin. And we probably should have been doing this already, since Jeremy has been drinking Diet Mt. Dews forever, but we just started recycling the cans.

chesley said...

We finally started recycling cans, plastic bottles and magazines. I also bought the reusable grocery bags, but I'm horrible at remembering to take them in the store! We only use paper plates when we have large gatherings, so that's not an issue. I refuse to give up paper towels, I do enough laundry as it is!

This is not much as a whole, but for us it's pretty big. I just figured there was no point in being blatently wasteful anymore. Curbside pick-up would make it a whole lot easier though!

Elyse said...

I recycle, only wash full loads, and try to reuse what I can.
~Elyse~

Stacy said...

I'm not green at all and I should probably be more worried about it than I am!! What I do save and conserve is b/c of money and not the environment.

Walters Press said...

Congrats Sunny on making such an effort to be green! I have to say that I think they make it easier for us to be eco-friendly out here with curbside pickup recycling and such. I find that my parents in Lebanon don't have that. Maybe next step should be to use some compact flourescents!

THE MORROW FAMILY said...

Way to go, Sunny! Every little bit helps. I'm not as "green minded" as I should be. Just not quite there at this stage. We do recycle, though, thanks to my hubby and don't use plastic bottles or plastic plates or anything. Maybe that's a start.