3 Environmental Habits to Learn and Feel Good About

Thanks to the learning challenge which was set forth for us by Blog Action Day, I have learned much in October about the different ways we leave our footprints on the earth. Some things I’d call re-learning, others un-learning, and as always gets us charged up here at JJL, new learning. Here are three examples we’ve talked about ‘round our dinner table in this environmentally-flavored discussion.

1. We are re-learning Recycling

We realized that our family had gotten a bit lazy about recycling, and that some of the good habits we’d started years ago have been neglected in the name of ease and convenience. For instance, it’s a 30 mile drive from where we live to the nearest recycling center for our bottles, cans, and paper, and packing those deliveries into the car when we’re headed in that direction hasn’t been happening for quite some time now. We all recommitted to getting it done.

Further, it’s clear that because we don’t enjoy this chore, we’ll naturally cut back on producing much of it in the first place! It’s connected to the next thing on my list:

2. We are un-learning our Consumerism

Second, at the urging of Steve, Tim, and others, we’ve joined the mantra that “water from a bottle is passé. Importing bottled water consumes gasoline and wastes plastic, and helping reduce consumption of these fossil fuels speaks to a forward-thinking consumer.” This is a pretty easy one for us in Hawai‘i, where we have wonderful tasting water straight from the tap and needn’t even filter it. Bottled water is hereby banned from the Say house.

And that is but one example. Less materialism, less clutter, less cleaning around the stuff, less maintaining it all. Minimalist living looks more and more attractive to me every day.

3. New learning: E-Waste

It’s long made perfect sense that we’ll have less paper to shred and haul to the recycler if we don’t use it in the first place, and we have all groomed increasingly digital habits, reading the local paper and favorite magazines online etc. However my new learning has been in the call to action many Blog Action Day writers made in regard to keeping hazardous wastes our of our landfills. It had not occurred to me that we were swapping one problem (forest consumption in paper goods) for another (highly toxic e-waste) — yikes!

For example, cell phones are becoming an ever-larger factor in this ecological challenge, and “One in three Americans will replace their cell phones this year, adding to the 500 million unused phones currently waiting to be discarded or recycled.” This is what I’ve learned to do the next time I get another phone (these three tips are from USAA, my insurance carrier):

• Erase personal data. WirelessRecycling.com tells how to remove names and numbers before you sell or donate your phone.
• Sell your cell. Your wireless company may give credit on a trade-in; other companies do offer to buy old phones.
• Donate it. Some charities sell phones at good prices, others use them to provide 911 access to battered spouses or the elderly. I learned that Cell Phones for Soldiers collects and recycles them for cash, which goes to buy prepaid calling cards for soldiers.

And not just cell phones; think PDA’s, pagers, computers, and your digital cameras too.

As my title suggests, this is the kind of learning you can feel great about, don’t you think?
~ Rosa Say

More from the JJL Community:

• Did you see Joanna’s wrap-up for Blog Action Day? Click to: Learning from the Blog Action Day story
• Here is the official Blog Action Day Wrap-Up presentation: Blog Action Day 2007.