Revenge of the Granola Guru

This may easily be the least popular post I've ever done, but that's not really saying much.

When I was living in Utah, one of the things that bugged me the most was the general disregard that the people had for the environment. Yeah, so I grew up in Seattle, so I'm probably a bit over-sensitive to this subject, but still - I seemed to run into my fair share of people who figured that since God had given them this land, they could do whatever they wanted to it. Personally, I take exception to this view. During a bioethics course at BYU, a professor told us that the biblical injunction, "let them have dominion over... all the earth," (Gen. 1:26) might better be translated as, "let them have stewardship over... all the earth." I don't really know where this comes from, and I wouldn't even imagine teaching this in a Sunday School lesson, but I do think that the idea fits with the teachings of the LDS Church very nicely. Therefore, it is my personal belief that I should be as good a steward when it comes to things of this earth, being responsible in what I use and how I use it, as I try to be in all other aspects of my life.

Don't get me wrong, I still have some wasteful practices, and I'm not encouraging anyone to sell their belongings and move into some geodesic dome populated by hippies and hempsters. No, I guess the purpose of this post is to make sure you all know that there are some really easy things that each one of us can do to make things a bit greener (cue sappy music and after school special title card). I'm sure most of you have heard about these things, and maybe you do them. If so, good for you. If not, well, give one or two of them some consideration. So, without any further ado, here's my list of simple things to help the environment:

• Go fluorescent. I'm sure most of you have heard about compact fluorescent light bulbs. If not, here's the deal. They cost about 3x-10x more than a regular bulb, but last 5x-15x longer and use about 75% less energy than regular bulbs. The new ones even create an incandescent-type light so you won't have to deal with the fluorescent fuglies. Also, because they are more efficient, they run cooler. That won't really make much of a difference in a small apartment, but possibly in a larger home it could translate into lower heating/cooling costs. Here's a tip, though- since CF's contain trace amounts of Mercury, you'll need to recycle them when you're done with them (easy enough to do, trust me). You can find CF's pretty much at any hardware store. I got mine at Ikea.
• Along with that last one, don't forget to turn off your lights when you don't need them! Thanks Dad.
  
• Get a bag. If you're like me (young, single, handsome), you don't make many big trips to the grocery store, but rather smaller, more frequent ones. I guess that NYC lifestyle has gotten to me. Well, why not get a reusable shopping bag? Most girls I know are looking for a good excuse to get a new bag anyway. There are plenty of places to buy them, and you can even go super fancy and custom build one over at timbuk2.
• Get a bottle. Honestly, how much better does bottled water taste than the tap? OK, so sometimes it really does (talkin' to you Utah). But you can save a whole lotta plastic if you just get some kind of reusable water bottle. I thought it was a laugh when San Francisco outlawed bottled water in government buildings, but the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. We already have the infrastructure to bring water to us pretty much anywhere, why does it have to be trucked across the country? Refilling your old Poland Springs bottle (or Dasani, or whatever) is a good step in the right direction, but since you can't clean it out, you'll eventually have to replace it. Why not just get something reusable in the first place? You don't have to get a Nalgene, just get something. Oh, and if you don't like the taste from the tap, get a filter. I'm not saying don't buy bottled water, I'm just saying a little bit of planning can make an impact.
• Consider public transportation or carpooling (not really applicable to New Yorkers).
• Recycle your old batteries/tech gear. What do you do with old technology? Most of the big box vendors now will accept old computers/gear for recycling. Honestly, do it. Also, consider rechargeable batteries for around the house. Though they still can be a source of heavy metals entering the environment, recycling them can reduce this risk. Plus, you will use less batteries over the course of a year.
• Turn off your computer at night. Yeah, this one can save you some money over the course of a year. Perhaps you are like me, though, and use your computer as a wake up alarm (yeah, I'm that nerdy). Well, consider putting your computer to "sleep" for the night. It uses less energy than if it were on, and most good alarm programs out there have some way of waking the computer up (I use Awaken, which does the trick extremely well). If you are feeling really nerdy, you can program your computer to actually turn itself on in the morning. Excellent.
• Refill or recycle your ink cartridges. Refilling saves you money, but if you don't feel like it, recycling your ink cartridges is super easy. Lot's of places will take them, and HP even includes an envelope for mailing old cartridges back to them for recycling.
• Last but not least, consider pen refills. OK, this one is admittedly a bit dubious. I don't really know how much of an environmental impact this one will have, but consider this. I spent $9 on a stainless steel pen in the Summer of '05, and I'm still using the original ink cartridge 2 years later. So, I must admit a certain bias here, as I collect pens. I have had some pens for almost 10 years now, and I keep using them. I know that some people have a tendency to lose pens, but those are the type of people that I don't care to mix with (ha ha! just a joke!). Seriously, give it a shot. I'd be willing to bet you that if you put as much effort into not losing a pen as you do in not losing your keys (and really, how much is that), you'd probably keep it for years.

Well, that's my post for the day. Yeah, that last one was a bit of a rant - deal with it.