Day 7: Green

I do my best to do my part in being Green.

• I carry reusable bags to the grocery store.
• I stopped buying bottled water to take to work and now fill 3 reusable containers with water from home to put in my lunch box.
• I recycle everything that my city will recycle.
• I’m trying to buy more local produce when I can.
• I’m doing a little more shopping in second hand stores for clothing.
• I donate items to the Goodwill instead of throwing them away if someone else can get use of the item.
• I try to put all of my lunch items in reusable containers or bags that I will reuse again.
• I use the backs of work printouts for scratch paper (and try not to print if I can help it).

I still feel like there’s so much more that I could do. When I look around my house and see all of the disposable containers that my food comes in or that I store my leftovers in (even though I reuse them) or the paper from junk mail and so on, I can’t help but wonder if there is more that I can do. I honestly think it’s to the point that our society couldn’t truly function without all the waste, but I also feel that we can’t continue to waste as much as we do. It’s a Catch 22, and I feel like I’m at a loss as to what more I can do.

One thing that bugs me is that when I make a purchase somewhere, and bring my reusable bags or tell the cashier that I don’t need a bag, I get strange looks or they put it in a bag, anyway. I’m always left baffled by this. One time a very distracted cashier bagged up our groceries in plastic bags, despite the reusable bags being right in front of her. David and I re-bagged everything on the sidewalk of the grocery store so that we could go ahead and put the plastic bags in the recycling bin instead of carrying them home just to bring them back the next week for recycling. Oh, and they like to offer to put our produce and meat in plastic bags, too. Ugh! I KNOW other people are using the reusable bags or carrying their items without a bag, but sometimes they make me feel like it’s an unheard of concept. Seriously, if I walked to the register carrying all of my items without a cart, then I most definitely do not need a bag for it.

So I don’t really feel like I got anywhere with this topic, other than trying to make myself more aware of opportunities that I might have to reduce, reuse and recycle. It’s a start! This problem is definitely one of those complex problems that cannot be solved with simple solutions.

What do you do to reduce, reuse and recycle? 

“We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.” – Terri Sweringen

Read more about the 31 Days of Journaling Prompts
Today’s recommended 31 Day Bloggers: 31 Days To Reducing Your Carbon Footprint @ Perfectly Flawed Woman