Finish my homework,, update my blog, eat healthy, roast some coffee, clean up the kitchen, sign up for classes, it kinda makes me wonder what I am doing!

I confess that I cannot get to sleep when it is unbearably hot. So if the whole house fan is not being effective at evacuating the heat I turn on the central air conditioning. I live in the Los Angeles area and the smoke from the fires and the heat from the Santa Ana winds was so bad last night that I knuckled under and I turned the A/C on. I feel so filthy.

Add me to the list of Central AC users.

:(

Recycling. It's hard to get (truly) excited about sorting that paper and those bottles when they may or may not ever get reused at all. I'll rather focus on *not* using as much (energy, disposable products, etc.) Is that wrong?

Using saran wrap or plastic sandwich bags

Well i have to admit I don't know anything about Silent Spring, I love to compost, and I firmly believe you get what you pay for, so...I Should live in a more eco-friendly home in sunny so.cal. I should buy only organic fruits and veggies, and use bio-diesel, but I should stop smoking too. We all have faults!

can't compost, live in condo, the weeds in the patio don't need it. ;)

I still buy too much non organic clothing, although I use and re-use it, am currently using old clothes to make a heavy quilt.

Wow, I kinda feel better!

I actually recycle at a center (Chicago Blue Bag system is crap), buy as much organic as possible (lots of good stores in town), buy from local retailers, mostly ride my bike to work, and only use the AC for about 20 days out of the year.

But compost? Where? My landlord would have conniption fits!

I Cannot make myself Do None of the above.

The last option should read 'Any of the above'

i can't make myself ride bike to work every day. damn the oregon weather!

Don't compost (we own a small condo, no place to put it and no garden to put it in!), use central AC when the heat is unbearable, and love to shower (with my water saving shower head). Overall we try to do our best, but as with everyone we have our failings...

Wiping my bum with toilet paper!

You could always buy recycled toilet paper :)

Recycled toilet paper? Tsk, tsk, just use all that junk mail you get every day ;)

Yeah, but then you can't recycle that junk mail.. It's a catch 22!

I do all that stuff, but I can't stop washing me and my clothes with hot water. I don't even know if it gets the whites whiter, but it sure is a hard habit to break.

I've been mailing the junk mail back after I use it. Seems as though we're getting less junk mail lately....

Must be Friday - we're getting goofy.

I wonder if you can compost junk mail?

Technically, you can compost junk mail if you shred it first, but it takes a long time to break down, as well as the fact that unless it was bleached with H2O2 and used soy inks, you're just putting more toxics into your soil. Better to just remove the labels with your name and address and recycle the rest.

If you know how to make paper, then recycle it yourself and sell your home-made papers it to watercolorists :)

My child has NEVER worn a cloth diaper, only disposable. I am so sorry!!!

Make my own wine. Gallons and gallons of it.

I can't make myself ride my bicycle everywhere. I get all sweaty, I feel like I might be killed, I have trouble getting my bike out of the garage. I have all kinds of excuses. Now that fall weather is coming, I may try again.

I compost, I recycle, I buy local & organic, I've read Silent Spring, Sand County, Cradle-to-Cradle, all that, but I don't know how to ride a bike. I'm the only 20 year old i know that still falls over while looking over her shoulder for oncoming traffic. I'm sorry!

Yeah, put another chalk-mark beside not riding my bike to work as much as I should.

Lola,
Have you tried ridng a recument bicycle?

re: composting. you don't need to actually do the composting yourself - check your local greenmarket or recycling facility and they will probbaly take it for you. i live in nyc and drop off my compost weekly at the farmers market in union square.

I don't know if this is a composting option for you apartment and condo dwellers, but worm composting is supposed to be low-odor and low-footprint enough to do inside. I can't speak from personal experience--I am fortunate enough to have back yard access at my apartment for a full-size compost bin. If anyone had first-hand experience with these, I'd love to hear it.

I cant justify spending the extra bucks for organic foods. True global sustainability can't be accomplished with 'true' organic foods (the research is available). I'd rather spend my money on things that really make the world a better place rather than just making myself feel better.

Jake,

Could I see that research?

Experts I have talked to say that organics produce up to 50% higher yield per acre than conventional farming, and that's not counting the negative impact of the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

I don't buy organics to make MYSELF feel better, I buy it to make famers and field workers feel better, since working with concentrated amounts of pesticide and chemical fertilizer is known to cause cancer, affect repiratory systems, and more.

If organics were only good for the end user, I wouldn't bother.

I've read Silent Spring, I compost, I eat a mostly vegan/vegetarian diet composed largely of organic and/or locally produced foods. I bike, walk, or bus to work, depending on the weather.

However, I do still smoke, which is horrible for the environment on all levels and for my health. And when I have a cold, only luxury tissues will do, which is pretty evil. (Sadly, those don't seem to come in recycled, un-chlorine bleached form)

Stop junk mail from coming in the first place. It has made a huge difference at my house:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html

jake: You're wrong. Sorry. True organics have higher yields than industrial farming, you just can't use such large monocrops.

Check out Masanobu Fukuoka's work in Japan, for instance - it took decades for the government to believe his yields, but they now agree.

I can confirm that from everything I've read ont he subject (ie. stuff by Doctor David Suzuki), organic agriculture indeed does have higher yields and is less expensive (without subsidies, or with equal subsidies).

But the corporations that make fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, GMO seeds, etc, don't want anyone to know that.