Going Green

Do you find yourself using the words green and sustainable more? Or maybe for the first time ever?

A few years ago or maybe even just last year these were words and ideas that were said or written or thought about only by people on the very fringes of modern-day American life. NOw they are everywhere.

There will be lots of posts about green and sustainable things we can all do. One of the easiest ways to go green is to take back bags to the supermarket to use for grocery packing. You can either buy the cloth bags at just about every supermarket around or bring your own bags that you've had for other uses. Keep a couple in the car and you'll always have bags to use.

It's not just the "saving the trees" thing with paper bags -- remember that plastic is made from petroleum products and we all know what's happening to the price of oil these days.

I see more and more people using cloth bags and recently in a local market did a very unscientific survey by asking a cashier what is the increase he's seeing in people bringing their own bags. After a pause he said he think it's about 50%.

Getting Rid of Things

Okay, does anyone out there have "stuff" they want to get rid of but don't know what to do with? It's too good to just throw out but you don't want it, don't need it, can't use it any longer.

There are two online websites that you can try that should be able to deal with most things. They are http://www.craigslist.org/ and http://www.freestyle.org/.

Craigslist you may be familiar with because it has gained tremendous prominence the last few years. People often think of it as a site to look for housing or jobs but it has many other areas, including one where you can list stuff you want to get rid of. It's under free. So try that.

Freestyle is a site for people who want to recycle stuff instead of just throwing it away. They believe that too much stuff is just thrown out and this is a way to be more ecologically conscious, to be more "green".

Try them and see if they work for you.