Where is "away?"

I heard an interesting anecdote a while back on Big Ideas for a Small Planet. One of the scientists on the show said something to the effect of: "You know, our whole lives we talk about throwing things away. 'I'm going to throw this away'. Where is away? Away doesn't exist."

Upon hearing this it occurred to me how true this sentiment is, and it startled me to think that something as simple as realizing that trash doesn't just disappear can change your whole outlook on how the system works.

I had a conversation with my parents about this during our visit to their house over Christmas. Shortly after returning home, my mom sent me a link to The Story of Stuff which is a great way to learn how our American system of consumption is hurting our planet in more ways than many people are aware. The video is about 20 minutes long, but it's fast paced, so take the time to watch it - it might change your outlook.

Water Success

Since my previous post about bottled water, we have completely weaned ourselves off of bottled water altogether! It took a little while, but I now use my outdoorsy reusable water bottle all the time now - I fill it from the refrigerator pitcher in the morning before I go to work, then refill throughout the day at work, then refill again when I get home, if I need to. I use the bottle at the gym, too. We ran out of bottled water quite a while back - November, maybe? - and haven't purchased any more since. Hooray! Success!

Sacking It

Whew, it's been a while. This is not to say we haven't been working on our "greenability" in the off time. For Christmas I decided to push my green agenda on my loved ones by giving them all ChicoBags as gifts. I got enough that I was able to keep two for us, and I really like them. I am able to keep both in my purse all the time without them being in the way, and it's nice to just pop them out when we make a quick stop at the grocery.

Additionally, I have picked up three different eco-bags that are grocery store-themed. At Harris Teeter in North Carolina they sell a really nice tote for 99 cents to their card members (you know, the little value-added card grocery stores give you to get discounts, all the while they track every purchase you make in a creepy 1984-esque way?). I had only seen similar bags back home for over $1.99 each, so I was impressed and purchased one. Upon returning home, our Hen House & Price Chopper had both added similar bags to their stock, selling them at the same price, so I picked up one from each place. Those bigger totes we will keep in the cars at all times (assuming we can remember to return them to the car after using them, which has proven to be more difficult than one would think).

We routinely end up at the grocery without any of the bags in hand, which is frustrating, but we're getting better at it. Plus, at Price Chopper they give you a 5 cent discount when you use a reusable bag! Very nice.