My enviromental ramble in honor of Blog Action Day

Hrm.. I signed up a couple days ago, but didn't find my blog listed there.. so I signed up again. Hopefully it'll list me on there soon, since I don't think that many of my readers are actually interested in the environment!

There are so many different ways people can help the environment, yet so many people ignore the environment. I'm not saying ya'll need to start freaking out about global warming and wearing shoes made of hemp and so forth. What I will say though, is take the time to think about the little things you can do to help the environment. 'Cause after all.. this is the only planet we've got until they start colonizing Mars and the Moon. If Earth dies, so do we.. and granted it won't probably happen in my lifetime or yours, but what we do now could make a significant impact on the future.

Do you recycle? Aluminum cans, cardboard, paper, plastics, etc. there are so many things that we can recycle that would keep them from taking up room in landfills, which means we'd have room for more trash in the long run. If everyone recycled, think how much waste we'd save.. not to mention if everyone started recycling things like paper, there would be less of a need for trees to be cut down for this purpose. 'Course, this only makes sense if people buy recycled products. I know a few people who won't buy recycled because it's "gross" for whatever reason.. I guess they missed the part where recycled material is CLEANED before used.

Consider a smaller car? Do you really need to be tooling around town in Hummer? Nothing irritates me more than seeing people drive huge SUV's when it's just them. Or the families with two SUV's.. that's just nuts.. granted they have kids, but do they need TWO? Why not a smaller car and a SUV? Bigger families, I can see using a smaller SUV or van.. but some of these vehicles are ridiculous. 'Course some of the smaller cars that are gas guzzlers aren't any better. Unless you're planning on joining NASCAR does it matter if your car can go over 100mph? I mean really.. how often do you get your car up to that speed? Which brings us to another point.. and I'm guilty of this one as well.. did you know going over 65mph burns more gas? I forget how much more gas it burns just going five miles over the speed limit.. but think about it, if you can save gas by going 65 instead of going like a bat out of heck.. isn't it worth it? That's something I plan to work on.

Be power friendly.. you don't need to leave the lights on 24/7, you don't need to keep things running when you're not at home to use them... keep the thermostat at 70-75 instead of super cold or super hot. The more power you conserve, the cheaper the bill as well. Think about it.. something that helps the environment.. and helps you save at the same time!

Water! I know that it doesn't seem that big of a deal, but it is. Think how many gallons a year you could save just by turning off the water while you're brushing your teeth. Out here we're paranoid about water because our septic tank had major issues when we first moved in (Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Murphy.. we appreciate having to fix your mess!). When the kids take baths we bail the water out into buckets and tote them to the trees outside. When we heat up water in the kitchen for washing dishes or whatever we catch the cold water in a gallon jug (hey, that's something ANYONE can do.. water your plants that way!) and water the plants around the house. Instead of turning on a sprinkler or drip hose we tote water from the faucet outside to the places that need it.. that way we're not watering weeds and things that we don't need to water.

Plant a garden! No matter how small. Live in an apartment? Get some small strawberry pots and plant things in there. The two years we've been here we've planted around 60 trees. We buy trees in late winter/early spring.. and we buy them in bulk and wind up sharing with the neighbors.. however they end up not watering theirs and they die. Our trees are doing really well. We also plant different kinds of flowers and veggies throughout the yard. It's hard work, but you know something? It's worth it to see how beautiful the yard is.

I'm rambling on and on. The point of this blog is supposed to be getting you to think about the environment. I hope that I've accomplished that.

Being different is ok!

You know what burns me? When people hate an artist/musician/actor/whatever just because it's the in thing to do. The whole "everyone else is doing it so I'll go along with it so as not to call attention to myself" bullshit is annoying. When did it become a bad thing to be yourself?!

A few examples:

My play list on Myspace has a lot of musicians and bands that other people don't like for whatever reason. Barry Manilow you have to be old or gay to listen too.. Avenged Sevenfold are "sellouts".. Fergie is "annoying" and so on. You know what people? I really don't care what YOUR musical preferences are.. I like what I like, and I like a wide variety of music. I find if amusing when someone who keeps themselves stuck in one type of music genre because they don't want to open their mind to other types of music because it's "not cool" or whatever picks on my taste in music when I listen to what I like and don't worry about trying to impress everyone else.

Clothes.. there are people who enjoy clothes and that's fine, more power to them. However when you're running out to buy the same shoes that some celebrity wore because everyone else is going to be wearing them.. that's kind of lame. Why be like everyone else? I don't get that. People talk up their uniqueness.. but they're just a carbon copy of someone else.

Chris Crocker.. now there is an example of someone who dares to be different and doesn't get a damn if people disagree with what he says. Ya' know.. when the whole thing with the Brittney video happened I admit I laughed, but then I got curious.. who was this person that was pleading so passionately for people to leave Brittney alone? I started looking for his videos on Youtube and Myspace.. and you know what, some of what he says has more wisdom than most people are capable of giving. I don't agree with 100% of what he says, but I respect him because he says what's on his mind.. and he is himself! Of course there are the people who hate him because of the Brittney video simply because they hate her.

Anyhow.. I just find it sad that people are busy trying to fit in and be liked by everyone instead of being themselves. Isn't it suffocating to be someone you're not?

Being different can be a good thing. Being yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself.