Being Green

Al Gore was on Oprah yesterday talking about global warming. I haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth" yet, but I can see that we are heading for a serious catastrophe in the relatively near future if we don't do something soon and start taking care of our environment. That being said, I'm having a hard time living a green life in San Antonio. It was much easier in New York.

Recycling is the law in New York, and it was very convenient to recycle. All I had to do was walk down the hallway of my apartment building and put all my recyclables in neat plastic bins that were provided for us. Now, we pay $20 a month for garbage collection that doesn't offer any kind of recycling. Trust me, I called and asked them about this and they said that they do have recycling available in some areas (not ours) but that it costs more per month. So, I asked them what we should do if we wanted to recycle, and she said she would send me a list of drop off locations. Fine. The only problem is that all of these locations are halfway across town and each center recycles different things. I would have to go one place for paper, another for plastic, and yet another for aluminum. How inconvenient is that? (but I guess that's the point)

It was also much easier being green with regard to transportation in New York. This reason is obvious, and I don't think I need to say much more here. Instead of using public transportation to get around, I now own an SUV. I wanted to get a small car, but when I saw the huge monsters on the street here, I decided it would be smarter to get something that stood a chance were it ever to get in an accident with one of those monsters. So, we have a Mazda Tribute, on the smaller side of SUV's, but still an SUV.

Those are just two main reasons why I'm having a hard time being green in San Antonio (I keep thinking of Kermit). I could say more, but I keep getting pleasantly distracted by Charlotte. All I can say is, at least we have plans to plant trees this weekend!