QotD: Going Greener

How could you better “green” your life? What’s holding you back?
Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco..

I have to get religious about being green again. I used to go to much greater lengths to be environmentally friendly, but I have found, as life has become more hectic, and I have had to rely on the habits of others around me (i.e. those I live with) to keep the house green, I have found I've been slipping. I need to re-commit, and I'm going to start with trying my hardest to only use reusable shopping bags, even for retail, and picking up the habit if my little sister, where of I have forgotten to bring a bag, and the store has reusable ones, I make myself buy one. (BTW, Loblaws has new, bigger shopping bags, and they are half price this week). Toronto is going plastic bag free soon, so at least when I am shopping in the T-dot, I'll be forced to not use disposable plastic bags. And I did find some fruit and veggie bags that are machine washable, so I'm trying to remember to take those to the grocery store to use instead of the plastic bags, but it hasn't become habit yet. (I threw out the label for these bags, so I can't tell you their brand name, but I bought them at Planet Organic). The other thing I really need to do is to stop using disposable drink containers. Coffee cups, water bottles, whatever, they are used for such a short period of time, and then go in the landfill for who knows how long. If I don't have a reusable cup, I will try to just walk away from buying another cup of coffee/whatever. Yesterday, I bought a bottle of water, and then when I got back to my car, I found that I had a full bottle of water in my aluminium Kleen Kanteen. I am going to try to make yesterday's bottle the last plastic bottle of water I ever buy. I may just need to increase my supply of portable coffee mugs/thermos', and metal water bottles, as I find that they don't always make it into the dishwasher, and then I don't have a clean one, and buy something in a disposable cup.

After jumping on the green bandwagon so long ago, I didn't think I would still have to revisit these things at this point, but we live in a society that supports a disposable lifestyle, so it really does take some effort to stay green.

Something else I've been resisting is buying a new cell phone and laptop. I have found, while on business trips, that having a Blackberry or similar device would be exceptionally helpful. I have also found that my 5-year-old VAIO is breaking down, and I would love to get one of those new Apple MacBooks or whatever they are that are built with higher environmental standards (more recyclable parts, fewer nasty chemicals, longer lasting batteries, etc.) but I am going to try to get my VAIO repaired instead. My fear is that they will say it isn't worth the price, and I completely rely on my laptop for my work. It hasn't broken down completely yet, and I do have a remote back-up of all my important stuff, so even if I end up having to get a new laptop for work, I'm going to try to keep this one in working order, just so it doesn't get pitched in the landfill.