How am I green?

First late post! :hides in shame: I fell asleep before 11pm last night and woke up a few hours later in a complete daze! All I was able to do was take out my contacts before falling asleep again...oh well...

A long time ago, I watched a cheesy school video of how to conserve resources. To this day, I remember the cartoon of a boy leaving the sink on while brushing his teeth, and the nearby lake being drained and drowning the fishy.

(I can't believe I found it! Turns out it's a Sesame Street segment.)

...There's something to be said about public service announcements being able to impact the actions of their viewers many many years (decades actually!) after being watched. 

Following this theme, the things I do that are green-oriented are just small things. 

1) Turning off the tap while brushing my teeth. 

2) Turning off the lights when they aren't necessary.

3) Throwing out trash in the trash bin. (Littering does bother me...how difficult is it to find a trash can?) 

4) At work, I always make the weekly homework packets double sided. A 3 page packet vs. 6 page packet doesn't seem like very much, but x25 kids, x however many weeks we've been in school, and I like to think it's made an impact. 

When I lived alone in Japan, I experienced the phenomenon of paying for one's utilities leading to a greater awareness of conserving energy. I turned off lights, unplugged electronics, only turned on the water heater when necessary. In addition, I was mildly afraid of my portable gas stove blowing up unexpectedly, so I turned the gas off every time I stopped using the stove. I recycled a lot because just about everything came in a plastic bottle, but I wasn't ever completely sure if I followed the correct trash sorting procedure...

(via nec.com)

...life in Japan was a good example of how conserving was all over one's radar, but in practice there were some inconsistencies.

(via earth911.com)

Shrink-wrapped corn, peaches, styrofoamed grapes, etc. It was sort of unsettling. 

Not that we're super saints here in the U.S.--I really thought bottled water was being phased out, but definitely not, I realized. On my college campus we had "hydration stations" and I used a snazzy reusable water container. But back home, it's much less common! So that's probably the next habit that I could personally do better with! 

Here's a story about college hydration stations and their impact upon the bottled water industry! 

I'm a big fan of small things and personal baby steps, and I do believe that there is more and more awareness of this topic. Hopefully a mix of more awareness, collective action, and someday scientific gains, will all help restore our world's health and beauty :)