Once upon a time, not too terribly long ago really, I was the kind of guy who would throw a soda can in the trash, rather than the recycle bin, just because someone else in the break room had told me to be sure to recycle. I know, terribly mature, but - much like my days as a far right-wing Catholic - I got better.

I am now the guy who gets annoyed when he sees perfectly recyclable cardboard boxes in the break room trash, when there is a recycle bin all of 15 steps away. Granted, some of the TV dinner boxes are for 800-calorie per serving Hearty Meat Loaf Yum Yum Heart Attack, so perhaps I shouldn’t expect the kind of person who would eat that to willingly walk 15 steps there and 15 steps back*.

Anyway, my anti-green stance has since waned quite a bit, and I’ve been looking for ways to be more green. So far, here’s what is going on in our household:

• We stopped using our dryer. Well, not completely; but we do air dry everything that gets washed and then use the dryer for maybe 5-10 minutes to get the wrinkles out. Considering we washed four to five loads on the weekends alone, that is five or more hours of electricity consumption reduced to perhaps an hour tops, if that.

  Just got the power bill today and, compared to the same month last year, we used 27% less electricity. As our water heater and furnace are natural gas, this means that (a) a large chunk of that reduction is from not using the dryer and (b) our dryer is one hungry bugger.

  Side benefit: the smell of fresh laundry drying is a close second to hugging a cuddly puppy. Or something.

• We noticed we were continually running out of room in our recycling bin, and ended up either stockpiling for the next pick up (a vicious cycle) or throwing the excess away. So the wife rang the city and they were more than happy to drop off another recycling bin for us, and even repaired the broken top on the first one.

  As a result, we’re a family of five with a trash bin that is maybe half-full when it is picked up each week, but with one to one-and-a-half recycling bins every two weeks. It boggles the mind how much reusable material so many people send to a landfill, especially living where we live, where pretty much all of your papers, metals, and plastics can be sent for recycling.

  I bet some of those people even throw soda cans in the trash just to spite others. Ye bastards!

• I then recalled reading some news blurbs about this story:

  An antimicrobial agent found in many shampoos and hand lotions and widely used in industrial settings inhibits the development of particular neuron structures that are essential for transmitting signals between cells, according to a University of Pittsburgh study presented today at Cell Biology 2004, the 44th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology. The meeting is being held Dec. 4 at the Washington Convention Center.

  …so decided to see what kind of green or organic or non-potentially-brain-killing shampoos were on the market, which, given my decided lack of hair, is kind of funny. But a clean scalp is a happy scalp, so they say (surely, someone says that).

  Ended up buying three bottles of Terressentials, and love the stuff. Don’t much love the price (or, more appropriately, the S&H charges), but it seems to clean well, the essential oils are more pleasant than lab-assembled scents, and my brain feels less dumb (ok, I made that part up, but why take chances).

  The wife used it for a week, but said it continued leaving her with fly-away hair. The makers address that topics in their FAQ, but we all have our priorities. I look forward to caring for her in her dementia-dominated old age; but her hair will look fabulous!

So far, that’s about it. I know, it isn’t much, but we build to these things.

For the last 20 years, I’ve been a materialist, consumerist American who thought that more and bigger was better, measuring my own happiness by the yardstick of those around me. Now I’m aiming for something simpler, happier, and that doesn’t take the planet for granted (although I’m not averse to continuing to make a lot of money, I just want to be truly happy doing it).

Next goals are to get the family to turn off lights that aren’t being used, and then to begin the process of replacing all of our bulbs with CFLs. For some reason, home builders in Colorado had hard-ons for recessed flood lamps in every room when our house was built… while I usually use a lamp for lighting, I think replacing those energy monsters with CFL versions will help a lot too.

Down the line… who knows… a greenhouse? I can kill a Chia Pet without even trying, so watch out.

* Note: not a slam against overweight people. There also plenty of overweight people at my office who eat low-calorie nuke-a-box lunches. Calories are not their problem. Now, the 4200mg of sodium per box might be an issue, but baby steps, baby steps.