I’m the first to admit that I am not “green.”  With the recent Earth Day celebrations all around me, I have experienced many sheepish feelings this past week.  I like to drink soda that’s individually packaged in cans or plastic bottles, I like my plastic bags from the grocery store (I use them for other things around my house), and in general, I like being a consumer.  What’s so bad about the way I live? The answers are obvious, I know.

This week, our agency held a kick-off event for sustainability and is making a concerted effort to be more conscious about the waste we create. The L&S Green Committee is taking action around the building. Quoted from our internal blog site, “We encourage everyone to brainstorm about green ideas for L&S because we are not just going green for Earth Day. It takes time to adjust life-long habits, but sustaining our environment is worth the effort.”

Green water bottles, reusable shopping bags, notes and tips are posted in the bathroom and on the paper copiers – it’s everywhere.  So I’ve been thinking – this won’t be as hard as I thought.  I can make some small changes that can have a great impact. 

Here’s my green commitment:

• No more water from individual plastic water bottles while at work or home;
• For a majority of my groceries, I will use a reusable cloth bag;
• I will recycle white office paper;
• And the most difficult one for me – I will not print documents only to make reading easier.

The last one is hard, I am a researcher after all. I have a tendency to print, read, and then toss, instead of just reading from my screen. 

So this is my commitment. What are your ideas and suggestions to make this a better world, or even just a better community?  Join me in my personal green evolution.

Gaily going green,

Billie Jo