Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog Action Day aka How To Save The World Without Even Getting Off Of Your Lazy Ass

Surfing Dog via SwankPets.com. Because honestly, can you think of a better reason to keep our oceans clean.
Surfing dogs, ya'll! Dogs! That surf! Who knew?

I live in the Pacific Northwest. I used to live in the Deep South. Culture shock much? Yeah.

In New Orleans, or at least in parts of it, they're is no curbside recycling. Same goes for Texas. Those are the two places I have lived, so they're the only two I can speak to. But the idea of no curbside recycling is completely foreign to my 10-year-old child, who has never lived anywhere but Vancouver WA.

When we were visiting my dad, the notion of throwing a can or cardboard or plastic or glass into the garbage can gave the child mild anxiety. THROW IT IN THE GARBAGE? LIKE TRASH? She was perplexed. I share this story to let you know that apparently I DO do at least a little something right when it comes to the reduce/reuse/recycle lifestyle.

But I am not an eco-warrior. I am generally quite lazy. And let's just get this out there: I drive an SUV. And it gets horrible mileage. My one and only eco claim to fame is my paperless kitchen, which started as an experiment and actually turned out to be a nonissue. Honestly, if I had *missed* paper towels, that would have probably been the end of that.

This morning, as I try to think of something profound and earth-savey to post on Blog Action Day around the theme of climate change, I kind of come up short.

So I did what I usually do when I come up short. I consulted Google, and using the search words "lazy" and "save the environment" I was immediately awarded with easily doable tips that won't impact your lifestyle or force you to, you know, like, *think* or actually *act*. Score!
  • Re-Use - Re-usable cups for your morning coffee reduces trash. Substituting bottled water for water from a Brita in a re-usable bottle saves the environment and money. Bringing re-usable shopping bags is another great way to re-use. I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg of ways to re-use.
  • Corkscrew Bulbs - Those wacky looking bulbs, known CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) are great ways to save energy (and money).
  • Eat a Low Carbon Diet - No, not low carb, but low carbon. The idea is to eat locally, grown foods. If you logically think about it, importing food requires some kind of fuel. The further you import the food, the more fuel you'll need.
  • Recycle - As Lazy as I am, I can usually sort our where I put my garbage with little effort. I realize that for some people, recycling is more difficult, but for others it's easy. ***
And I am proud to say that these are things I am already doing. And you probably are too. So look at us, saving the world! Woot!

If you have a lazy enviro-friendly tip, post it in the comments! And if you did a Blog Action Day post, post that in the comments too.

*** The above tips were cribbed from www.lazymanandmoney.com with no permission whatsoever. But the fact that the article is followed by all of those little links for sharing it via various social media thingies or email seems to imply that they want it shared, right? So I'm sharing it. You're welcome, Lazy Man.

4 comments:

OneTiredEma said...

There is only voluntary (not curbside, you have to take it somewhere) recycling of plastic bottles and newspapers here. It drives me a little crazy after our time in NYC, when we also did glass and metal and cardboard. But I think it's financial--recycling is not cheap for the city. It's just one of those things that makes the North American immigrants shake their heads because Modi'in is supposed to be "the City of the Future" and environmentally speaking there ain't much to brag on.

Jen on the Edge said...

The fact that you have a paperless kitchen is pretty amazing!

Anna Whiston-Donaldson said...

how about this one? use bar soap, not pumps. such a small change, but a good one.

Shana said...

Anna, that is a good one. I am totally guilty of that. Especially since we put the house up for sale, having a pump on the bathroom sink instead of a bar is so much *neater* looking. How about -- I'll refill the pumps I have and not buy new ones.