I wouldn’t exactly say I’m the best at protecting the environment, but I do my part.

I’m not an eco-extremist. I don’t wear hemp clothes. I still drive my regular gas-powered car. I travel on planes. I don’t grow my own produce. I have an air conditioner, which I use when appropriate (for example, +80°). I use paper, but I recycle the old pieces. I’ve been known to buy Starbucks coffee in those disposable paper cups (which is a topic for another blog post). Oh, and I throw some things in the trash.

Wow, this is starting to sound depressing.

Those are the things I don’t do well when it comes to being eco-friendly. But I’d like to think I’ve made some changes to lessen my carbon footprint (with help from @mmagnolia22).

We recycle like crazy. We try to drive her Prius more than my Impala. We have CFLs in our most used lighting fixtures. We buy local. We buy used. We use reuseable bags. We strive to buy things that come in recyclable packaging.

And you know what? It’s not really a hassle at all. It hasn’t changed my shopping habits, it hasn’t made me a hippie.

But I’ve noticed there’s a lot of things I can do in addition to what I’m doing now.

For a long time, when we go to Noodles & Co. on the IUPUI campus we take a bag to be reused. We’ve probably used the same bag for more than 15 trips. It’s thick, durable and not recyclable.

So I decided to try something the other day.

I eat at Subway fairly regularly, and I feel bad throwing out the bags; the closest grocery store and dry cleaner location don’t take back plastic bags. In the past I’ve told them I don’t need the bag, just the paper wrapper. Then they decided to put it in the bag anyway. Obviously that didn’t work.

So a few weeks ago, I took a Subway bag back to the store.

I went through the sandwich making process with an “artist.” I always wonder if they take photos or paint. As I approached the end of the line (you know, where the cookies are), I told them I had my own bag.

They stared at me.

Utterly confused.

Like a… I can’t even think of an example.

I had to explain to them that I had a bag from my last visit, and I would like to reuse the bag. All they had to do was put the food in the bag I handed them, then hand it back. I know it added a step to the process, but I figured it was worth the headache. After working through that situation, I walked out the door, happy with my personal accomplishment. I’m sure they cursed my name.

But just think about if we all reused one bag. Or just took two extra minutes each day to reduce what we send to the landfill.

This isn’t a “global warming,” “conservative,” “liberal,” “Al Gore,” nor “tree-hugger” thing. This is a “why waste so much crap” thing.

I don’t know about you, but I get way too much junk mail at home.

It’s not, “Oh, that’s annoying. A third credit card offer this week.” It’s more like, “How can someone from Dover, Delaware send me four credit card applications on the same day.”

I finally got fed up with all the junk coming in, and all the junk I was having to throw out/recycle. So I signed up for GreenDimes.com.

GreenDimes was created to give you a choice about what gets into your home’s mail box, and what doesn’t. As the trusted leader in stopping unwanted junk mail, we’ve worked hard to develop effective, long-lasting processes and procedures that really can cut junk mail by up to 90%.

I think it’s worth the $20. I’ve already seen a drop in the credit card applications and junk ads I’ve never used.

Now if only I could get rid of the offers for “Fre Perscripzions” and penis enlargement.

“Shutdown Day” is almost here. Just 8 days away.

What is “Shutdown Day”?

I’m glad you asked. Because I had no idea what it was, either.

Shutdown Day was founded with the sole purpose of spreading awareness about the pitfalls and dangers that lie in the excessive use of television, computers, and computing equipment like game boxes, cell phones, music players, online social websites, etc. that impinge on social space and interaction amongst our communities.

The idea of Shutdown Day project is simple – just shutdown your computer for one whole day of the year and involve yourself in some other activities: outdoors, nature, sports, fun stuff with friends and family – whatever, just to remind yourself that there still exists a world outside your monitor screen.

I think it’s a great idea. Raising awareness about our increasingly sedentary and anti-social lifestyles. But here’s the problem:

I CAN’T GO 24 HOURS WITHOUT A COMPUTER

Okay, there’s a chance I could make it. That depends on which 24 hours I have to go without a computer. I’ve gone many a Sunday without a cell phone, television, desktop or laptop. But during the week or on a Saturday? I’d be fired, or asked not to return. Look at a day where I freelance, I’m on a computer (in a semi-truck trailer) for 10 hours. On a day where I’m at “regular work” we’re talking about at least 9 hours, with a 20 minutes break in there somewhere.

Good idea. Decent reasons. But why not do it for the environment, too?

In United States households there are 168.4 million personal computers (The Old Farmer’s Almanac). So, figure how much CO2 we’re all releasing each year. The average computer would release 576 pounds of CO2 in a year. That’s a whole lot of CO2 in a year. Turn off every personal computer for a day? We’d keep 265,749,041 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere in just a day.

So, why not try it for a day.

A few weeks ago I decided to start saving energy in the corporate environment. Turning off lights when rooms weren’t in use. Turning out the hallways lights when there’s only two of us left upstairs after 6:00pm.

Well, that plan turned on me faster than good cheese.

A few days ago, I was walking out of the building and turned off a switch that I thought was the hallway I had just walked through, instead the light in the stairwell in front of me went out. No big deal, I could still see, what’s the point of having the light on in a stairwell I’m going to be the last one through? So I left the light in front of me out and turned out the one behind me. (You getting all this?)

The next day I’m informed that the “stairwell light switch” not only turns out the lights, but the card reader that lets our employees into the building. WTF? The switch is upstairs, behind a closed door, no where close to the card reader. Who thought this one up?

So, from now on: all lights stay on, except my office, edit suite and the bathroom.

Who would’ve thought saving energy would be so silly?