Composting: Not Just for Hippies Anymore!

When you were growing up, did you know any of your parents' friends who composted in their own back yard? You probably saw a giant barrel filled with lord knows what and thought, "Riiiight....." (a la Dr. Evil). But, get this, we live in a neighborhood in Denver that has a city-run composting program. We just went online and requested a new can, which was delivered right to our door, along with a mini-compost bin to keep inside. Ok, yes, it is a little much having 3 giant trash cans (one for trash, one for recycling, and one for compost) outside our garage. But, it's awesome feeling like we're doing one more thing to help the earth. And you can't believe how much used-to-be-trash we now composte! Food scraps, teabags, paper towels, greasy pizza boxes, etc. It's good to see.

So, now, true to form, I keep two baby trash cans in each room in the house: one for trash, one for composting. The Kleenex alone that I go through in a week is enough to fill a composte can!

Now, I had a friend who stayed with me for a couple of months. I'll call her Tea, for the fact that I've never known anyone who drinks as much of it as she does. When she first came to stay, I explained to her (totally NON-anal-retentively, I'm certain) about how we now composte. But one day, I noticed her throwing a tea bag in the garbage. Remember the scene in "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" when he walks into the room filled with animal heads and has a full-on meltdown? I think my reaction was slightly less manic than that. So, the good news is, that's the last time she threw away a tea bag!

So, if you don't have this fancy program in your neighborhood, you can still composte. There are lots of places to get bins, and they aren't nearly as gross as they used to be. It just takes some getting used to. Oh, and Tea? She's a convert now! :-)

Driving Minnie Bonkers

I have this friend -- one of my dearest friends in the world. We'll call her "Minnie," after Minnie Mouse -- think number of beers equating to level of octaves above normal voice range, and you'll understand the reference. She is truly and honestly the nicest, most patient person on Earth. It takes a great deal to make Minnie angry. I've seen it, but I've known her for a very long time, and I think I've seen it once. Enter my new obsession with being green.

We were on a "Girls Only" vacation, which a good group of friends and I do biannually ("biannual" sounds better than "that's as often as we can afford it"). I had already driven everyone crazy (or at least driven them to laughter) by going around obsessively turning off lights and unplugging unused appliances. Minnie started to tell us a story. We weren't talking about being green, the environment, nature, or anything of the sort. Minnie started to tell her story and she said, "So I went into the convenience store to buy a bottle of water..." when I jumped with "You shouldn't buy bottled water!" and proceeded to inform (er...lecture?) her on the plight of the environment due, in large part, to the billions of water bottles that have ended up in our landfills.

I had to laugh because Minnie -- who, let me reiterate, is the nicest human I know -- looked at me with darts coming out of her eyes. Had she had a water bottle in her possession at that moment...well, let's just say I'm glad she didn't.

 Is trying to persuade someone to be Green like trying to persuade an addict? They have to really WANT to change or you can't make them? Can you lead by example? Or do you need to educate people? I don't know the research, but I'm pretty sure there's a link between annoying someone and having them decide to do exactly the opposite of what you want them to. Minnie still buys bottled water.

It's the Little Things

Perhaps one can relate to my need to commit to the idea that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it 100%. If not, why do it? Am I right? (Can I get an "Amen!" from my fellow perfectionists?). However, if you don't fall under this general OCD/perfectionism/anal-retentive category -- say, for example, you do not untie your tennis shoes in the car so that you save time and can slip right out of them when you walk in the door (plus, then they're untied for the next wearing) -- then you may find this posting a little...nuts (as if I haven't already established that with the aforementioned example).

My Green habits extend far beyond what is probably normal and necessary. For example:
* I chew gum anytime I'm in my car (that's not the green part). I separate the inside gum tray, which is plastic and cannot be recycled, from the outer carton, which is cardboard and can.
* I tear my paper towels (recycled, of course) into quarters. I use half of a half of a paper towel at a time.
* I rewash and reuse plastic baggies until they are literally the texture of facial tissue
* I am so obsessive about unplugging an appliance that is not being used that I even challenged my husband about whether it was really necessary to have the bedside alarm clock plugged in while we're gone at work.
* I turn off the water in the shower while I'm shaving my legs.

But with all these silly little things, I know I can do more! Being green is definitely a work in progress. For example, I drive too much. I'm struggling with this one. Anyone got an idea about how I can balance my obsession for saving the earth with my obsession for stylish heels?