Earth Day was Yesterday, Now What?

Most people know that yesterday, April 22, was Earth Day. But aside from donning an earth friendly t-shirt (largely by accident), I didn't to much for the planet.

What would have done if I had really been thinking about it?

I asked Twitter if they were doing anything special for Earth Day; here are the responses:

	gradontripp @skalik I took the T to work today. Wait, I do that everyday!
	DougH @skalik I'm reading the 96-page glossy print edition of the NYT Sunday Mag's "green" issue

Despite the mild heckling, these folks raise some good points. Here a few ideas for greening your day to day:

-Green Tactics-
Transportation
Ride a bike, take the T (or any other form of public transit), or just walk.

Cut Paper
In any way you can. Read books, articles, magazines and newspapers online (when possible). Go paperless with bank statements, bills and receipts. Finally, think before hitting print on emails or anything--ask yourself if you'll ever look at that piece of paper again. If the answer is no, but you already hit print, find yourself a big blue recycling bin and get busy!

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse: Beyond the Basics
Recycle: Take the Nike approach and Just Do It! Get some bins and look for the recycling logo on packaging before you throw it away. You'd be surprised how much can actually be recycled--everything from dog food cans to cereal boxes to plastic forks and knives.

Reduce: Consider the packaging before making that purchase. Is it excessive? Can any of it be reused? For example, buy one big bag of chips, instead of a box of little bags, and put 'em in a reusable container for lunch.

Reuse: (Will I be able to define it without using the word itself?) Purchase and utilize the same item over and over again, as long as you can, before replacing it. Look for ways to get more life out of packaging.


There's always more we can do for the earth. Small changes can make everyday Earth Day. If Earth Day were tomorrow, what would you do differently?

The Brookline Public Library Recycles... Books!

I manage the recycling at work. Once a week or so, I bag up all the cans, plastic and glass walk next door to the supermarket and cash in the bottle deposits. Little did I know that Massachusetts doesn't require deposits for all recycle-able bottles and cans. So, I'm always left with a pile of recycle-ables that I feel guilty just throwing away. These nonredeemable recycle-ables end up in the backseat of my car.

Sometime last week, I was walking down the street in Brookline and realized that everyone's recycling was out on the street. So I grabbed the bag of nonredeemables from the car and set out down the street to add it to someone's pile.

At the corner of the street, I found the perfect spot--a large plastic recycling can, complete with a lid. I popped the lid opened and found a whole garbage can full of books. These books were not torn or unreadable; these books were not missing pages or water damaged. There were history books, ranging from Japanese civilization to Israeli political structure; there were children's books, classic children's books with the gold binding; there were popular paperbacks including Harry Potter, The Scarlet Letter, and Tom Sawyer.

I couldn't believe it. The library was recycling perfectly readable books. It's sacrilege!

Suggestion Time
This question seems pretty obvious, but I'd love for people to participate in this:
What could the library have done with the books instead?

1) Donate the books to charity;
2) Hold a fundraiser;
3) Craigslist--curb alert even!


Your turn!