A Way of Life

I was just thinking that being environmentally conscious becomes a way of life. For me it seems the more I do, the more I think I should be doing. Recycling wasn't enough. I figured I needed to start bringing my own bags to the grocery store. Then I decided that even though composting was foreign to me, it was simple enough that I should be doing it. That stuff wasn't going to do anything but sit in a land fill anyway. Might as well have it break down into fertilizer for my gardens.

Then the issue with water has been bugging me. I felt really good about putting the water from the dehumidifier into the washing machine, but what about all of that wasted water while waiting for the water to warm up? What was I going to do about that?

Part of this nagging for me has been in watching the movie "User's Guide to Planet Earth: The American Environment Test" that I show to each of my environmental classes. The show, made in the 80's, features Tom Selleck narrating along with numerous stars from that time period. It is in a wonderful format for the classroom. It is a 25 question test with multiple choice answers and reasons behind the answers. I would love to have students redo the movie with current statistics and updated hair styles (lol).

Their suggestion--use a "starter" bucket that catches shower water before it is warm and use it to water flowers or something. One of my collegues found a water bottle in the school and asked one of the students to not just pour it out, but go water some flowers with it : ) I was inspired!