My new obsession

I have a new obsession.

I think I'm becoming "green." It happened by accident. We got a Prius, not so much for the gas mileage or the reduced emissions, but for the gadgets. But, it does get good gas mileage and has reduced emissions. For a few months awhile back, I constantly thought of ways of harnessing energy that otherwise doesn't get used. My biggest idea was somehow harnessing the energy of a swing at a playground for some good use. But, I don't know how to implement this, and eventually I stopped daydreaming about how to capture energy. Then we moved away from the big city and we both work from home, and I only drive my car about once a week. Do you know that I will use a papertowel two or three times before I throw it away? A little piece of me dies when a papertowel is thrown away after just one use. It's really weird. I'm not sure where this obsession came from. The only thing I can think of is the boys' school. I have to make their lunches, and it is supposed to be a trashless lunch, and that hasn't been all that difficult, so I've started trying to make other things trashless. One day, I may give up papertowels entirely, but not likely any time soon.

It's not about global warming. I think I should try to reduce, reuse and recycle. I want to conserve our natural resources, and I don't want to waste energy on landfills. I think these are really good things to work towards. But, not to prevent global warming, because I'm not sure global warming is real, and even it is, I'm not sure humans are the reasons for the warming. I just don't want to be guilted into going green. Could the dinosaurs have prevented the events that led to their extinction? Not likely. I don't think it's necessarily correct to think that we can prevent our own extinction, either.

My point is if I'm going green, it's not because of Al Gore and the attempt the media is making to scare me about the future of our world. It's because I think it's the right thing to do. It's because I think if I use less, there will be more for people in Africa whose babies die because they can't get clean water to drink. I wash my clothes in gloriously clean water. Diarrhea kills babies in Africa because their water is so treacherous. I guess I do feel guilty about that. If I use less and waste less energy, the world will be a better place for me and my family and maybe families all over the world. I guess that's where this obsession is coming from.

I'm not sure that people really know this about me, and I'm not very good at it, yet. So, I wanted to share.

Specifically, I wanted to share this:
Free Cycle
Sign up here to find a group in your area that is working to clean out their garages without filling up the landfills. You can also request things you may need here. It's sort of a grass roots movement to make the world a better place. And, oh, some of the messages make me laugh. I got this one just today:
"...I have a few items to offer.

1. A duck cookie jar. I believe it is a duck, although others have
thought it was a goose. In any case, it is a cookie jar, but not really
good for storing cookies unless you like them soft and stale. I kept tea
bags in it...."

Isn't that funny? It's been the highlight of my morning.

So...

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It can't hurt...