My first ride ended up with me getting off at the wrong stop, thus prompting this week’s anecdote. In our area the buses run on a flag-down system, which means that you can hail one down anywhere along the route, as long as it’s safe for the driver to stop.

Getting off at the wrong stop was the least of my worries. We ended up having to hike across what was an actual dual carriageway (four lane highway), to get to the final destination. It was madness!

After finally arriving at our destination and cooling down after a hike and a half, on what was probably the hottest day of the year so far, a light bulb went off in my head. The walk from the bus stop was great exercise and I had survived it with very little after-effects. The return ticket on the bus was $2.50 – pittance compared to the buses back in the UK or even New York, where we lived for twelve years.

So the bus ride put it all in perspective. We had saved money, burned off a few calories and lessened our contribution to the gaping hole in the ozone layer.

All in all, I’d say we’d done good!

Just the other day whilst we were taking down the plastic and glass recyclables we noticed a paper recycling bin! Finally we can feel good about taking out the rubbish out. It was a thorn in my flesh when I found out that there were no paper recycling places within a reasonable distance from our place.

Luckily we don’t use that much paper and so my conscience hasn’t been too damaged in the process. Recycling has become an integral part of our lives. Being able to control the amount of waste we deliver to landfills and recycling as much of the stuff we do use, gives me a good sense of purpose.

However it seems as if the cost to repair my little beauty will be prohibitive. You see, my car is nigh on twelve years old and has nearly 200k miles on it. She still drives well and has no other real problems besides this emission difficulty. I mean we all have difficulties in life, don’t we? Does that mean we should just get thrown onto the scrap heap and forgotten?

So here’s my conundrum, I don’t want to buy a new car. Firstly I don’t want a car loan and end up being bogged down with car payments every month. Secondly, I love my car. I want to keep it forever if at all possible. And thirdly, I hardly drive my car so the emissions problem, although terrible, is minimal based on the amount of miles I drive in a year – less than three thousand.

I desperately want my car to be free from this poor emissions situation, however it is going to cost an arm and a leg to fix, shouldn’t I just move on and find a new tempter? It’s a funny one because you just wouldn’t believe that an environmentally aware person like me would even wrestle with such a decision. It’s usually what’s best for our earth that should be paramount. Of course that is at the crux of the matter and will ultimately end up being the prevailing factor. That doesn’t mean that I can’t feel slight miffed about having to make such a harrowing decision…what to do?

A few days ago, I received an email from Stop and Shop supermarket chain, which offered me a free reusable canvas shopping bag for simply logging into my online account. I was taken aback because I had thought about contacting Stop and Shop in regards to handing out free bags to their loyal customers. My aim was to encourage more people to use these bags instead of the environmentally un-friendly plastic ones.

It seems that this promotion is being run in conjunction with Cancer Awareness and the bags are pink with the ribbon logo. So this action by Stop and Shop, in my mind has a double effect and I have to give them props for that.

Check out the cool bag and then check out your local supermarket and make certain that they are doing their bit towards making our environment cleaner.

I have found myself going down the same path and way of thinking. So much so, that when I actually had to write something down on a piece of paper, I struggled. My handwriting was atrocious. My partner, Mark had a similar experience when he had to put pen to paper. He had trouble remembering how to form the letter “f”!

When I was younger and still living in the U.K. I had a college friend who moved to Germany. We would write to each other every week and I looked forward to her letters. Even when I first moved to the U.S., family and friend correspondence by paper was a primary source of communication.

Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that saving trees by cutting down on paper usage is a necessity. But with the advent of computers, I fear that we are losing the art of cursive or script writing. I always remember when I was little, how much more I loved getting presents as opposed to a gift card or money. There is just something about tearing open that wrapping paper and being genuinely surprised by the gift concealed within. Even though I love getting emails from my friends, that occasional card still brings a smile to my face and makes me aware of the effort expended in its journey.

So this year, my plans are to send out recycled paper cards for Christmas and a few letters written on recycled paper – just as a “what’s up” to the past. Hopefully I’ll have no trouble forming the letter “f”!

If we look at Holland where the government has made huge strides to “greenify” main cities, we can get some great ideas on how to make our lives a little greener.
The people of Holland are committed to their bicycles. Many towns have paths dedicated solely to cyclists, allowing entire families to travel together in relative safety. Some of these paths even have their own traffic lights and riders must obey quite stringent road rules.

The government is also dedicated to making Holland’s cities greener. It is harder to get around the main cities by car and more expensive – parking can be a nightmare and cost a pretty penny.

In our local town, it is easy to get around by bike and we often times will ride up to our local supermarket to shop. As a health benefit, this form of cardio exercise is fabulous for your heart and can give your legs a great workout. Personally, I’ve also found that riding can relax away tension and help clear your mind of any clutter.

So get out there and ride!

So amidst all the “green” madness stands the lowly plastic bag. People just love the things. Why is beyond me. Is it convenience, apathy or just plain ignorance? It’s kind of hard to tell and highly likely to be a mixture of all three aspects.

Whilst out shopping, I will routinely see other shoppers with their canvas bags – avoiding the plastic bags like the plague. Then I will see others stuffing groceries into the plastic bags like they grow on trees and are the best thing since sliced bread. I wonder though. Why do these supermarkets that encourage you to buy the re-usable canvas bags even offer the “disposable” plastic ones? Why the fork-tongued marketing? The buck has to stop somewhere.

It’s very simple. Plastic bags are a pain to recycle and cost so much to even take on such a task, that no right-minded factory or business would even attempt such a project. Seems to me that it would make a lot more sense to just stop making the silly things. Each supermarket should give all loyal customers up to three canvas bags per family to get the ball rolling and get shot of all the plastic ones. Done. Nice and easy. Clean and simple.

Why not contact your local supermarket with the suggestion? Etablog would be interested in starting a petition based on our reader support. Let us know if you are interested in this scheme and we can get something started.