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This week is all about making eco-awareness part of my bigger picture, and making my free time as green as my daily responsibilities. I've already been trying to do this, although with varying degrees of success.
On the plus side: Instead of making constant purchases at my local Barnes & Noble, I've become devoted to our town library (and I usually walk or bike there instead of drive). Right now, I can't put down a copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle?which is the super-inspirational record of one family's year of eating only locally grown food?and our DVD purchases have gone way down thanks to a Netflix subscription from my aunt. Less successful: I bought a brand new tennis racket practically on a whim, when finding a used one would have saved materials, fuel, and money while I figured out if I even like playing tennis. (Lesson learned: This is not a mistake I'll make with skis come November.)
I've also been spending more afternoons at the movie theater, even seeing two films in the same week (which is as many as I've seen in the last six months). I can't figure out how environmentally friendly this is, since the movie industry must have a huge carbon footprint?but then again, they're showing the movie whether I go or not, right? It's confusing, but my decision is made by one simple fact: my apartment is 92 degrees by noon, and in the theater, I am happy to need a sweater. But I have been trying to make the experience a little bit greener by bringing my own water bottle and snacks; I swear the person eating the stale popcorn gave my homemade brownie a dirty look. (It was delicious, if not made from locally sourced ingredients.)
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Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living
Blythe Copeland is a freelancer writer living on Long Island. Read more about her foray into the green life in her previous columns as she follows the plan set out in the book Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living.
