Monday, April 16, 2007

Going Green

So I haven't posted in a very long time. I guess I stopped because I didn't think anyone was really reading it, but after being home for Easter I realized that a few people were. So anyways, I don't have a ton to say right now. It is finally getting warm and starting to be like Spring. Elizabeth and I went out and bought roller blades yesterday. It was a good experience learning about them, you see, my last contact with them were of the plastic type as seen in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. So these babies I bought have come a long way, we bought them at a local bike shop in town. We were excited because they were getting rid of their Salomon line, so they were majorly clearanced. We went out yesterday and didn't even fall! We avoided all major hills of course. So now I have to go out and buy some for Sam today. I love that we supported this local guy rather than Scheels, and he was way more knowledgeable than those other guys.

I stumbled across this site that lists local farmers, and if you sign up you will get fresh organic produce each week all summer and fall. And if you work at their farm for only 15 hours total it's a lot cheaper. It's definitely cheaper than buying produce from the grocery store and it will have that earthy fresh from the garden flavor and it is so nutritious. I think it will be so cool because I will always have fresh food, and it will be a surprise. It's fun to cook with things that you wouldn't normally pick up from the store. It is good because it forces me to be healthy, supports a local farm, and I can pick it up at the local food co-op which is literally around the corner from me. So I 'm excited about this and will let you know how it goes.

While we're on the subject of environmental friendliness, I want to encourage everyone to use less plastic bags, try to bring a market bag with you to the store. I need to get better at this myself, but I hate having a million plastic bags. Another problem we have is that we're short on space, but we want to recycle. It's a hassle to go down and put it in the garage for only one or two items. I saw this cool compactor thing that crushes plastic and aluminum cans and holds glass containers, it will contain a ton of stuff and it is much easier on the eyes than throwing it in a box till it gets full. It's called the ecopod, only catch, it's about $400! Yikes! I hate that it's chic and trendy to "be green" so they have all these expensive ridiculous ideas. Another way to be friendlier to the environment is to use bamboo instead of wood. Bamboo grows in only 2-4 years and when you cut it down you don't have to replant, it will grow back. Bamboo cutting boards work fantastic, even better than most woods. I am a total fan of living simply and I love looking at treehugger websites to get some good ideas. I don't think I'm a complete freak (yet anyway, who am I kidding, I lived in a van all summer long) but I do like to do little things to help reduce waste. Don't get me wrong, I think people go way too far! Just check out the No Impact Man, he's crazy! And I hate expensive cleaning products, and filtering all the air and water we use with expensive gadgetry. But we do need to try to be a little more conscious of all the crap we throw away into a landfill on a daily basis. Enjoy the day everyone!