In which it is Earth Day

Over the last year or so I've been making a conscious effort to green it up around here. (If you're just getting started, Sophie Uliano's book Gorgeously Green is a great place to start. It even has a green pin-up on the cover. See, green can be glamorous!) Anyway, some of the changes have been very easy, some not so much. Does anybody else have a serious mental block about whipping out your own reusable shopping bag? I will remember to bring it to the store, and then leave it in my purse about 90% of the time.

Most of the changes I've already mentioned on the blog, but there are one or two I haven't touched on yet, and maybe they'll work for you.

*No more sugar packets. I only use raw sugar, and you can buy it in teeny premeasured packets--perfect for a cup of tea. But it generates a lot of extra waste because of the packets and it's much more green just to spoon it out of the box.

*No purchasing CDs. The only place I use actual CDs is in my car, but now that I have an iphone, I can play any music I've got, even without an ipod dock. (The day I discovered this was literally one of the happiest of my life. No, really.) And CDs are LOADED with nastiness, including so much packaging it takes a rabid beaver to get one open. So from now on, it's MP3 files unless there is a VERY good reason why I need the hard copy.

*Adding a recycling bin to my study. I have a trash can, but no recycling bin, but most of the waste in the study is of the paper variety. So, I'm adding a bin to my study to convert the trash to recyclables.

*No dry cleaning. This one is tricky. I have clothes that simply beg to be dry cleaned, but no green dry cleaner in town. Since I don't want to bring poison into my house, I've bought a garment steamer for the times I would have sent something out that isn't actually dirty, but creased. (Mostly evening thingies, some lace, some chiffon, some with beading.) I've already used it twice and it's insanely good and saved me about $40 so far. The things that actually need to be washed will get a nice handwash and a lot of prayer that I don't ruin them.

*Buying more books on my Kindle. Yes, the e-reader, no matter what format is greener than a book. I know they are costly, but hear me out. If you routinely purchase new hardcovers, the Kindle will pay for itself in 10-20 purchases, and while the plastics and electronic components are probably not the most Earth-friendly items in the world, the publishing industry--alas!--is one of the least. Lots of dead trees and bleach and trucking around the country going on there. Now, I know the prevailing green wisdom is that you're supposed to give your books to other people or purchase them used in order to save trees, and yes, this is a very green solution. But as a writer, it makes me wince. When you purchase a book from a used dealer--Amazon marketplace sellers included--the author doesn't get credit for the sale or a royalty payment. (Broken down to its simplest terms, it means that an author you like may end up not getting published anymore because if too many of their books are selling secondhand and not new, the publisher doesn't think there's a demand and drops them.) If you purchase an e-reader, you're green, the Earth is happy, AND the authors get paid and get credit for the sale. Everybody wins. Except your independent bookstores, so it's good to show them the love too when you want to buy something that isn't available on e-book--like children's books, for example. And even the secondhand sellers can make a profit if you use them to purchase out of print books. I know it isn't a feasible solution for everyone, but it is the best I've found so far.

Happy Earth Day!