Today is Blog Action Day. It's all about harnessing thousands of blogs to bring the environmental issue to the foreground. The environment is always very much top-of-mind for me. I have always taken it very much to heart, ever since my elementary school teachers were talking about the "ecosystem" and why it was important not to pollute.
I had already composed my weekly piece for SLAW on carbon off-setting. It was written, in the can, ready to be published. Then I discovered today is actually Blog Action Day. How cool is that?
In addtion to thinking about the impact of travel on the environment, I am always concerned about the reams of paper we dispose of when we throw out old books or update loose leaf services. I remember when I first started loose leaf filing (so many years ago now) I lobbied my office tower to start paper recycling. Still not an ideal solution (it would be better not to have materials to throw out in the first place) but much better than putting it all into landfill.
I also think about the coffee cups from Tim's or Starbucks or whereever. Millions of coffee cups every day. I recently read an article about a woman who makes coffee cup cosies to personalize the cups and help keep the drinks hotter. What the heck? Can't all this be accomplished with a personal mug that can be reused?!? I try very hard to bring a personal mug with me (a fashionable one, at that) and have that refilled.
Aside from travel, my biggest challenge is all the food containers in the food court at lunch. I long ago gave up the admirable goal of bringing my own food for lunch. I did it for years and years and was finally sick of anything I was making. The lure of the food court was just too strong. I am very careful about what I eat and select my food court menu cautiously. Unfortunately I use just far too many disposables at lunch. For a short while I brought my own containers and utensils, but that quickly fell by the wayside. I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a solution in this regard? I used to hunt out the places that reused real plates and cutlery, but except for high-end "expense account" restaurants in the downtown core, this is now all but non-existent. Other ideas??
What are you doing to help the environment??
1 comment:
I'm with you on the mug vs cups issue. Almost no one in my firm uses mugs, but will throw out many paper cups a day. I'd much rather have a mug - tastes better, looks nicer, and i don't end up with a bin full of cups at the end of the day.
Looseleafing drives me batty too, but I don't really have any answer for that one, other than recycling what we can. I think it's a bit of an uphill battle changing the culture of paper-use within the corporate environment.
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