keeping it green - within limits

I try and do my part to help out the environment but there are limits to what I am willing to do. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I try to recycle whatever I can in terms of cans, paper, and cardboard. We don't have grass so it cuts down on watering and I reuse my towel for a couple of days. Sam likes to remind me how much fuel we save by sailing - his own version of being green.

But there are a few things I refuse to do even for the environment:

1. Reuse hotel sheets and towels - I am paying money to stay here and when I pay I want fresh towels and sheets every day. I conserve at home by not washing my sheets every day but if someone else is willing to do it I want fresh linens.

2. Use a compost bucket in the kitchen. I think the garbage smells bad enough if I don't take it out every day - I don't want anything decaying on my counter. Plus I have enough dirt in my yard already.

3. I love my thick toilet paper - 1 ply is not enough. Plus this is one place where I don't want to conserve paper - enough said.

4. Paper towels - I have a bit of a sponge phobia and I think sponges are nasty. I know you can put them in the microwave but then those germs are in my microwave now at least in my mind. I do put them in the recycle bin though if they don't have food on them - does that help?

5. Bottled water - I try to reuse a water bottle but then I leave it at work or at home and then after a while I think it smells. It probably doesn't but in my mind I think it does get a bit nasty and I need a new one. Hey the new arrowhead bottles smash down very small and I throw them in recycling so it doesn't seem quite as bad. Plus it is important to get in my 8 glasses of water a day - bottled water helps me do it.

6. Buying used items such as mattress, clothes, shoes, and furniture. It just freaks me out to think that someone else wore something before me that I don't know. Getting these items from friends and family works otherwise it is a no go. Instead I send my used items to family and the Goodwill so I am recycling in my own way.

7. Collecting rain water. Our yard gets enough mosquitoes I don't need to have another breeding ground and I am allergic. All that anti-itch and bug spray can't be good for the environment either.

But really the biggest way I have worked on saving the environment this past year is by buying a Kindle. Now I didn't initially buy it to help save on books but it turns out I really prefer reading on my Kindle. In my estimation that is about 200less books a year I now purchase. Now I did get many of those used so I was being environmentally conscious (really I just couldn't afford to buy that many new books) but now I am leaving them for someone else to enjoy.

Who knew that would be such a good decision and so environmentally correct at the same time? I wonder what next electronic item I can justify purchasing all in the name of saving the environment. Maybe an IPAD? Now I have an excuse to buy the latest technology all in the name of keeping it green.