Going Green 2009

Happy Earth Day 2009, Earthlings. In honor of celebrating Earth, I thought I would go over my more recent sacrifices in an attempt to "Go Green!" Here are US News' 10 Tips To Going Green.

I guess I should start by proclaiming this: I was an awful humanitarian! I had this seldom disclosed and ever-jaded perception of my role on this planet. How could I make a difference? I am only one person. And I'm not sure if my shifting viewpoints are a result of age or influence or changing priorities, but I like to think a little of each.

In the past year, I have become a recycler. Sure, growing up, it was my job to take the recycling from inside of the house to the bins. But as I went to college, and there were G-d only knows how many beer cans piling up everywhere, nobody recycled. That's right, folks: Fairleigh Dickinson University, with their private school income, does not believe in wasting their own resources to save this planet's natural resources. I was always really bothered that so much was wasted and thrown away, but when I left, I left with the notion that if they are doing bad, why should I do good? I couldn't produce as many cans in a lifetime personally as the Madison campus produced on a Tuesday night. I hope. But it dawned on me that relying on huge, almost corporate, institutions won't ever pay off. If I can take care of my cans, there are a few less cans.

Some day, I hope to start a committee and raise awareness, while building a legal team with proper advisement capabilities to enforce that colleges, of all places (!), invoke mandatory recycling! I'm not quite there yet.

I have also made the effort to turn off all lights as I leave rooms, I monitor my heat and air conditioning closely, I turn off water as I shave and when I brush my teeth and when I wash my face. I rinse out plastic drinking cups on average, probably, about 15 times before I throw them out. I reuse plastic bags. These have all been fairly easy compromises to make.

I am definitely looking for new ideas that I can implement in the next year, so that I can say something new has been accomplished in my green world by April 22nd, 2010. (It's a little scary typing out 2010. Ten years since the fear of Y2K!) And while I can't see my thumb ever being green, I still can't wait to have a backyard where I can plant my own seeds to yield my own fresh and organic vegetables that Marley and Mojo can annihilate before I get to them.