I did not make a conscious decision to "go green," and I'm not a fanatic about environmental issues. However, I have gradually decided to do what I can to have less of a negative impact on the environment and live in a more sustainable manner. I was struck today by the little everyday things we can do--when we don't have time to write a book like Al Gore did or get super-involved in "causes"--there is much we can do as a part of our daily lives.

The most basic thing is striving to recycle:

It's not that much of a chore to separate out the paper and containers...and it helps greatly that Westwood takes pretty much all the numbered plastics. The "goal" is to keep the trash small and the recycles big.

Then, there is composting...

The plan is to dump the banana peels, carrot shavings, coffee grounds, and other decomposable stuff that would otherwise stink up the trash or go down the disposal in this attractive container in the backyard...then, someday, we'll put it into a garden...that we can water with the runoff collected in our rainbarrel:

After one rain, we have 55 gallons of water saved up. It is literally only a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of gallons we use, but it is a start.