China on 8/8/08

So, most of my day was spent getting really excited for the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. It's strange because I'm not psyched about the Olympics being hosted by China. I think the government has a lot of human rights issues that it needs to deal with and it upsets me a lot. For a lot time I thought I would just boycott the Olympics this summer and not watch them. Over the last few months I changed my mind, and we'll just have to wait and see how the whole thing plays out. All I have to say is right now Ben and I are watching the Opening Ceremonies and I am amazed - it is beautiful.

An October day in August

It was too bad today wasn't a weekend. I woke up feeling like it was the perfect day to stay in bed with a cup of tea and a great book. It wasn't a typical August day, when I was in a hurry to get to work - and to the free air conditioning at my office! It was cloudy, rainy, dreary and cool.

Over lunch I had one of my usual summer meals, consisting of a spinach salad with tuna and a piece of Tuscan style bread. I found myself envious of my friend's lunch of chicken soup and a baked potato she bought from our caf at work. A perfect fall meal for a surprisingly fall day for the first week of August.

I was proud of us for sticking to our daily lunch routine; after eating our meals we donned our wind breakers and sneakers for a quick walk around the bay. On a lot of the spring, summer and fall days we will walk three miles at lunch. But today we left the building to a few raised eyebrows.... Our efforts on this dreary day solicited a few skeptical comments. "You girls are going out in this?" said one older gentleman who was familiar with our routine. Jill and I looked at him, and then at each other... I simply shrugged and said, "Well, it's not raining yet." I should have said, 'it is not raining at the moment' because my statement was not accurate. It had been raining off and on all day.

The pavement was wet as we walked out the door into the mist. The condensation collected on my face and I found it refreshing. We had walked about 150 yards when we saw a puddle. I watched a few raindrops ripple through the collected water and realized that it was actually raining. We took a few more steps before turning around. By the time we got back to the building the rain was steady, slowly soaking into our outer layers.

When I got back to my desk, I went to www.weather.com and entered in my zip code. I waiting as my computer churned.... wondering how cold it was outside. I shuttered when my computer monitor displayed 61°.

It was definitely the day that comes around at least once a summer, usually sometime in August. It's the day that reminds you that summer days are fleeting, and that autumn is right around the corner.

A few thoughts on how to be Green... these are easy ways to a more environmentally friendly life!

Over the last few months I've had a few friends comment on how I have been living a "green life" and they have asked me for a few pointers on how they could start making small changes to be more environmentally aware.

I figured I might as well write a few ideas on this blog, in case anyone read this.

The first thing to think about is that even if you walk away from your computer after reading this and make one change that is a huge step in the right direction. If everyone would change one habit in their life to be more eco-friendly, we would be in better shape every day.

About a year ago, I made a few key changes in our household. Here are some of them:

Ben and I now use cloth napkins instead of throw away paper napkins. We both love this - not only are we generating less trash, but we feel like we're eating out at a fancy restaurant every night we use them!

Ben and I bring our own grocery bags to the market. Plastic bags are some of the worst things for the planet. For more information on how horrible they are, please visit this slide show that will show you what happens to plastic bags after we use them at the store. A lot of stores make it benificial to bring your own bags. Whole Foods now gives 5 cents off your total bill for every reusable bag you bring to the store with you! Trader Joe's has a raffle for customers that bring their reusable bags to shop with. At the check out counter ask for the raffle ticket, fill out your name and telephone number, and hand it back. I hope you win!

I have a set of bamboo utensils that I bring with me in my purse or my tim-buk-2 bag. This enables me to not use plastic utensils when they are the only option. At my office, our cafeteria only has plastic spoons, knives and forks.... and I was using one or two a day. The plastic is very hard to break down in a landfill, and when it does the plastic often sets off harmful chemicals into the environment once it does break down....

My bamboo set came from To Go Ware.... and you can go on-line to see what they have. There are other great options on their website, including ceramic coffee cups, stainless steel lunch containers, etc. But for starters I would recommend the bamboo set - it comes with a fork, spoon, knife and a set of chop sticks! The picture shows my set of bamboo!

Start bringing a travel coffee mug with you! Ok, seriously - my friends will tell you that my purse is pretty big. You might be getting the picture by now - I have my utincils and a coffee mug that I'm always carrying around. But these two things make a huge difference! If you're a coffee drinker (or a tea, lattee, mocha drinker!) you might be going through a few paper cups a day from your local Starbucks or Au Bon Pain. A lot of local coffee shops give discounts to people who bring travel mugs for their morning coffee. I don't know about you, but my local Au Bon Pain offers a "refill" price for using a mug!

A fun tip - let your mug be an expression of yourself. I carry around a upbeat Life Is Good mug. Their company slogan is a great motto to live by - Do what you like. Like what you do.


<---- Here is my mug!

One more idea that can be useful both around the office and on your personal e-mail... A friend of mine started using an eco-friendly electronic signature on his e-mail, reminding people not to print if you don't need to. Here is a sample signature:

P Save Trees. Please print only when necessary.

The benefit of such a message below all of your e-mail correspondence is enormously beneficial. It not only will make people think twice about hitting that pesky PRINT button, but it might make them remember about the use of paper in other ways, too. Once I saw my friend Sam's signature, it made me remember to use less around the office and at home. I now use scrap paper to write notes to myself at the office, instead of reaching for my yellow legal pad of paper, and I archive my e-mail conversations instead of printing them out. Save a tree!

Well, these ideas are only a simple start.... but go ahead and make a change if you haven't already. I will write tomorrow with a more ideas.