Okay, I admit it, I'm not very green at this point - or I should say, I'm VERY green at being green. BUT I've learned an awful lot reading all the really cool posts in this ECO-friendly and Green Group. And I've found that there really are things I can do that are little by little making my world and my life a tad bit greener along the way.
I loved Liz Foley's winning post last year - "Kermit Had it Right - It ISN'T Easy Being Green!" And I learned a few things from her post as well. I just went back and re-read it again, probably for the 10th time because I really enjoyed not only the content but her sense of humor as well. If you missed it during the last contest, take a look at it now - it's worth a read!
Anyway, back to me being a tiny bit green here in my world in Portsmouth New Hampshire. With all the reading I've done here of posts that deal with green, being good stewards of our world, being eco-friendly, etc., I have become MUCH more aware of things green around me, and have found little ways I can improve things as well. I had always thought 'those kinds of things' were very involved, very expensive, time-consuming, etc. But I've learned differently, thanks to the AR members who continue to educate us all here.
Here in Portsmouth, we have a fabulous new library that is the only LEED green public building in New England at this moment. There are others in the works, but great effort went into the planning and building of this beautiful building. The first day they were open, their 'soft opening', I went to see it and ended up getting a personal tour of all the sections on each floor - what a beautiful place our new library is!
In my own personal world - what have I done? Well, little things here and there. I have stopped having my groceries at any grocery store put in those plastic bags that are so much easier to carry, and I've been requesting paper bags instead - not easy to carry, just so you know! I know, some bring their own canvas bags for their shopping - I have plenty of those, but I haven't gotten there yet. Paper bags are good - a small step but a good one (I think!).
I've switched just about all the light bulbs in my house that I can over to the super duper energy saving kind of bulbs. Unfortunately they don't make those in 3-way bulbs yet, or not that I've found here.
We went to a home show up in Portland Maine last year, and Central Maine Power, the electric company for most of Maine, was giving them away. We brought home 2 cases of them, and have made it a point to replace burned out bulbs with these energy-saving bulbs.
Portsmouth residents were provided 'Water Saving Kits" by our municipal water/sewer department this past fall, free of charge for each address you had a water/sewer bill for. These kits included water-saving showerheads, a thing that helps reduce the amount of water used by toilets, water-saving faucet heads, and a guide on additional ways to conserve water. We got several of them and they were FREE to us - how cool is that?
We have a terrific Seacoast Portsmouth Farmer's Market that starts in the spring and goes until November. All the booths have to be only locally grown or locally made products, and I love shopping there as soon as they start back up each year. A couple of years ago, a small group was started, "Buy Local First", that promoted buying, shopping, and eating locally grown produce and locally made products. What better place than at our local farmers' markets? Yummy fresh food!
I was in the downtown Portsmouth Post Office last week, waiting in line to buy some of those "Forever Stamps", and happened to notice a little dispenser I hadn't seen in there before. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was little bags that you could take to dispose of your used ink cartridges for printers.
I looked at it for a bit, and then took a few for me and for my office. You just put your used ink jet cartridges inside this bag, seal it up and pop it in the mail. They go to a recycling company, and the postage is FREE!! How about that!?!
Another simple little thing I began doing this past spring and summer was putting out containers to collect rain water for watering all my plants and flowers. Now, mind you, I'm not totally efficient at this one yet, but I did remember to do that most of the time, if I knew in advance it was going to rain.
So, those are a few of the simple little things I've been doing to find my way into slightly greener pastures up here in Portsmouth NH! And I admit it - some of the things I've been doing really came about because of trying to save money here and there, but in doing so, I realized that being green doesn't necessarily equate to costing more to be so.
As Liz said, "it isn't easy being green"..... but we're trying!! ;-)
Ann Cummings, New Hampshire REALTOR
Broker - NH and Maine
RE/MAX Coast to Coast
Portsmouth NH
ann@anncummings.com
888-349-5678 x 3839
Servicing the Coastal Areas of NH & Southern Maine 
~~ frog pics courtesy of flickr ~~
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That is so true and we all need to be more green.
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