the Green Monster

So, I've been thinking about this post for awhile. I don't really know how to reconcile what I'm trying to say, and how annoying I find people who sound preachy. So here's my best shot at not sounding preachy, on a subject that just kinda sounds inherently preachy. 

source: Emilia Norman's tumblr

I'm constantly trying to figure out how to make my lifestyle greener in little ways--ways that may sound insignificant to other people. Like, trying to remember to turn off the water while you're soaping up your dishes, or brushing your teeth, rather than letting it run the whole time. And speaking of water conservation, I find that most green tips can be a bit of a sticky wicket, unless you're fully FULLY informed. Some examples that have crossed my mind recently:

-washing your pots and pans by hand rather than in the dishwasher. My family's just always done them by hand, and it wasn't until college (oh, the great equalizer) that I realized that some people just don't do it that way. I finally got around to asking my mother about it yesterday, and she asked "which reasons do you want?" and I said, "the true ones." Here's her response. 1) her mother always had her do them by hand, so by now, it's a force of habit. 2) to teach my sister and I a bit of a work ethic. 3) we don't have a lot of pots and pans, so if we were to stack them in the dishwasher, we'd just have to pull them out and wash them by hand tomorrow. 3) to conserve water.


but is it conserving water if you leave the water running? Which I guess re-iterates the first point, turn off the water in between soaping up (though I draw the line and doing this in the shower. I'm not that crazy.)



video source: Sesame Street, via youtube


-cloth diapers/using towels to wipe up spills. Yes, you're saving all those paper towels and disposable diapers from going in a landfill and just sitting there, but what about all the water your washing machine uses? Even if you have an energy efficient one! And about the diapers . . . do you wash them every day, and if you don't, what do you do about the SMELL? (seriously, anyone who knows the answers . . . these are legitimately burning questions)


Quandaries, quandaries.


But these are some things that seem so simple to me, and honestly put a bit of a bee in my bonnet when people don't do them:


-recycle!! particularly if you HAVE a recycling program in your neighborhood/apartment building! It really makes such a difference, honestly honestly.

source: Santart tumblr

-turn off your lights. And not just when you leave the room. One of my biggest pet peeves in the morning is somebody turning the lights on (though, that's probably just because I'm a bit of a grouch in the morning). But seriously, if you have natural light, and it's daylight, what's the point in having the lights on? It's just eating up your electricity bill. And the Mad Food Beastie can tell you, most of the time my lights are off even when it's dark out. . . . I can be a bit of a mole, sometimes.

               -one thing I have SUCH a hard time doing, is unplugging my appliances when I'm not using them, like my  phone charger, laptop charger, and (in the summer) oscillating fan. They're not ON, they're just plugged in. But my mom gets on my case (gently) all the time, because even just plugged into the wall they still leech electricity.


Now, if I lived in a city, I would probably talk about taking public transit or walking or biking instead of using taxi cabs, or car pooling in the suburbs. But I don't live in the city, and I don't know anyone who I can carpool with to work, so I'd just feel like a huge hypocrite.


Anyway, I feel like so many people feel like the eco-friendly movement is just for people who've build solar panels, and have energy efficient appliances, and all sorts of gadgets. But the small things are so, SO important. And that's something I all too frequently forget.


Amen.