tryin' to be green

oops. so i missed/forgot about "earth hour," an hour that all of chicago was supposed to turn off the electricity. when my mommy brain is not working against me, the environment has actually become a bit of a mini-crusade for me. here are some ways we've been trying to be green ...

- cloth diapers
- cloth napkins
- cloth kleenex (just for me and boo)
- cloth rags instead of paper towels
- reusable shopping bags (we use my parents' paper grocery bags to contain our recyclables, so i figure i'm offsetting some of their environmental karma too)
- compostable trash bags
- recycle glass, aluminum, paper, plastic, plastic bags
- turn off lights when not in use (boo is starting to get into this too ... except he also likes to turn on lights willy nilly, so i don't think the concept has sunken in)
- non-phosphate dishwashing/dishwasher/laundry detergents
- green versions of windex and 409
- stopped all unwanted catalogs on catalogchoice.org (have stopped over 50 catalogs that i never solicited!)
- donate still-usable items
- buy used clothing sometimes
- beef - only organic or very local (there's a farm around the corner!)
- organic food when possible (we're probably 80% organic for boo foods) (though those dinosaur chicken nuggets from walmart probably negate a lot of this)
- avoid things made in china when possible
- shop the farmer's market in the summers
- reuse the sturdier ziplocs (have a dishwasher attachment that helps get them really clean)
- silpat reusable baking liner instead of parchment paper
- unbleached items where possible
- replacing burnt out incandescents with fluorescent bulbs


last frontiers i've yet to muster up the wherewithal to do ...
unplugging appliances/electrical items when not in use
composting
knitted reusable dishcloths?

environmental vices i won't be able to give up ...
minivan (i hear it's going to be a while before a hybrid minivan comes out)
plane trips
non local fruit, especially citrus, apples, berries and bananas
bleach, albeit chlorine free (how else am i supposed to really clean the rags and the diapers?)