In honor of Earth Day, today I am thankful for San Francisco's mandatory composting program.
I have been composting since I moved to the city in 2005, even before it was mandatory, and have found it pretty satisfying. Call me a dork, but I get excited when I realize that I haven't emptied my trash in weeks because almost everything we throw away can be either recycled or composted. Did you know that you can compost: egg crates, milk cartons, paper napkins, newspaper, brown paper bags, any and all food products, and all plants and yard waste?
I am proud to live in a city that is taking steps to be more sustainable by mandating that residents compost. And they also banned plastic bags in grocery stores...only reusable bags for us!
This year, I decided I decided to make some Earth Day Resolutions to live just a little "greener".
1. Decrease my use of disposable coffee cups. I love going out for coffee and grabbing a latte on the go, so I'm going to work on carrying my reusable mug with me. Or, even better, sit down and really enjoy the coffee at the cafe and utilize a good, old fashioned ceramic mug!
2. Buy in bulk more to reduce packaging. Those bins in the grocery store are filled with all the necessary items, sans packaging. Flour, sugar, oatmeal, rice, nuts, and even cereals. And I got some pretty awesome mesh bags a few months ago complete with a mini white board tag to write the bin number on!
3. Visit the Hayes Valley Farm. It's a fully functional urban farm in the heart of San Francisco. Crops, bees, flowers, the works. They hold some great classes on gardening, composting, and even urban bee-keeping and have lots of opportunities for volunteer work. I can't wait to stop by!
Take a little time to embrace your inner "green"self this Earth Day. There are lots of simple things that make a big impact.
knowing that since we were children, you have shared my skittish-ness toward bees, i will be utterly shocked and horrified if you become an urban bee farmer. haha. all of the other stuff though is awesome! ;)
ReplyDeleteHahaha. It freaks me out, but ever since I took my first taste of honeycomb, I've been oddly attracted to the idea. And Nick's grandpa used to be a bee keeper, so we have all the gear already! AND bees are endangered, so I have become sort of sympathetic towards the species.
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