Category Archives: Green Ideas

Tiny choices success

I frequent the Tiny Choices blog for their green living insights, and as a fairly regular reader, I completed their survey.  Tiny Choices featured my survey last Thursday.  In it, I mentioned my struggle to speak up in a constructive way when I notice others making less than green choices.  In the comments, Nupur of One Hot Stove said, “My suggestion for encouraging others to change their behavior- simply modeling the behavior sometimes triggers others to think about it, more than saying anything about it.”

During a recent work gathering, someone pulled styrofoam plates out for the cake.  Knowing that we had a full cabinet of dishes right behind me, I hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a stack of real plates.  I swapped them for the styrofoam plates on the table, saying that I would take dish duty.  Everyone seemed happy with this arrangement.  I plan to look for opportunities to model greener choices, with a hope that over time they will spread.

Earth Hour apathy

If you blinked, you might have missed Earth Hour on Saturday night. According to the website, “On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations.”

I’d heard of it in the past, but it fell off my radar this year.  At about 7:30pm on Saturday, as we were preparing a VERY late dinner after a full day of hiking, Matthew happened to see something about it.  When the appointed hour rolled around (8:30pm), we sat down to a candlelight dinner.  So far, so good.  We finished eating by 9:05pm, at which point I just wanted to sit on the couch and read.

If you follow the link above to the Earth Hour website, they display before and after photos around the world.  Most of the photos focus on recognizable sites.  While it’s cool to see, and I get the symbolic aspect of it, it feels more like paying lip service to the environmental problems that we face.  At 9:30pm, everyone flips the switch and the status quo continues.  What about the other 23 hours in the day?  What about the other 364 days in the year?

While I know my attempts are far from perfect, I strive to live those other 8759 hours as “Earth hours.”  So that’s why, at 9:10pm on Saturday, March 27, 2010, I turned on one lamp with a CFL, sat on our second-hand couch, and enjoyed my library book.

Green goings-on

Despite having a crazy busy couple of days ahead, we attended Green Drinks trivia night last night — and reaped the benefits.  The weather rewarded our commitment to biking by staying warm, dry, and not too windy.  Three lovely, intelligent people joined our table to form the five-member “Compost Crusaders” team.  We enjoyed getting to know our teammates while kicking some green trivia butt!

Yes, for the first time in my limited trivia-going experience, I was on the winning team!  We scored goodies from Kakao (blog here), Local Harvest, and Black Bear Bakery.

And a t-shirt!

One question had to do with Sheryl Crow — apparently she thinks limiting toilet paper use is a good idea too!  She takes the two square idea one step further.

The green event train continues tonight, with the Fresh Fest.  We’re looking forward to watching the food documentary Fresh, and enjoying some local fare (hoping for a decent selection of veg offerings).

Two square

I visited an elementary school recently, and I could not help but notice the sticker on the toilet paper dispenser — the number “2” next to a picture of toilet paper squares.  This reminded me of the “These Come from Trees” stickers, a great cue to action to reduce wasteful use of paper in public restrooms.  I felt fairly certain that was the purpose of the “2” sticker, but as there was also a “Flush” sticker on the wall behind the toilet, I wondered if the number 2 referred not to the numbers of squares of t.p. to use, but rather to a step in a “How to Use the Toilet” sequence:

1. Enter the stall.
2. Lock the door.
3. Pull down your pants.
4. Check the toilet seat to see if a rude “sprinkler” was there before you . . . .

You get the idea.  But I’m already way past #2 on the list, and it’s not time to wipe yet, so I deduced that the “2” sticker must, indeed, refer to the appropriate amount of toilet paper to use.

Confession: Until I started buying my own toilet paper, I was quite profligate in my use of said paper product.  Once I had to flush my own dollars down the toilet, things changed, and I’ve been pretty good about the “two square rule” when I’m at home or other other peoples’ houses since then.  But something changes when I use a public restroom, and I catch myself with a huge wad of t.p. in my hand, so I benefit from some kind of a reminder as much as the next person.