1) I am printing as little as possible at work today. Usually try to do that anyway, and at 2pm I am going home to take care of Dylan who Denny is watching since you got kicked out of daycare for her sickliness.

2) Nice Betsy! I was thinking about taking my Hummer on a road trip today pulling a camper. Then I'm planing to go shopping and having the bagger put every product in it's own individual plastic bag. I also want to run by the house and turn on every faucet and every light switch in the house. OH, and turn the A/C on full blast and open all the windows. We also have been watering our lawn since 1am. I love Earth Day!

3) Taking a vacation day. Don't even need the gas to get to the Park&Ride. I'll pat one of the trees on my way to the mailbox. I've got most of my bills set up for paperless bills and electronic payments. I write roughly 12 checks a year. I paid my hair stylist the other day and noticed I still had the carbon for her check a year ago in the checkbook. I also recycle as much as possible. I would have put it out at the curb today but it was pouring rain. I will get it out if the weather clears. If not, luckily I have recycling every week to take care of it.

I saw on the news last night that the city is going to start a one-bin recycle program starting the first of May. All recyclables can be put in one large trash bin instead of having to separate the items. Should get recycling up even more in the Portland area. That's all the green I can think of today.

4) Hooray for recycling! I also started up the recycling program at my office:
http://www.humzoo.com/betsyradish/photos/5/6/

aaaand, I bought re-usable grocery bags from the grocery store! Woot!

Last week I bought a shirt on sale for $2 that says "Leave no trace."
If I'm not careful, people are going to think I am a hippie!

5) Hippies are awesome

6) Dylan is a hippie (check out those bare feet in the new photos!). Dylan is cool. Hippies are cool.

7) Sitting in the sun, a little weed pulling, enjoying a beautiful spring day.

8) I'm gracing the Earth with my presence

9) haha Pegi! you stoner!

10) Hooray for Pegi, and it's not even 4/20 anymore...maybe she's doing the week-long celebration!

For Earth Day, we just do what we always do: fluorescent bulbs in our home, dishwasher once a day or less, five-minute showers & baths every two days for the kids, no running water while brushing our teeth, bigger loads of laundry once a week or less, lights off unless necessary, and recycling, which is included in our city services--curbside. I wish we would go to one-bin here in B-town.

I can't bring myself to do the online bill-paying thing; showing my age, again. Also, don't you pay a fee for that?

11) planting geraniums in my windowboxes in the rain

12) I am going to write Algore and ask him to take his very own pledge:

As a believer:

that human-caused global warming is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue affecting our survival;

that home energy use is a key component of overall energy use;

that reducing my fossil fuel-based home energy usage will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions; and

that leaders on moral issues should lead by example;
I pledge to consume no more energy for use in my residence than the average American household by March 21, 2008.

Why wont algore sign his own pledge? Maybe because he knows man made global warming is a hoax?

13) I am planting my Garden today!!!!!

14) Angi, there is usually no fee for online bill paying. I am with Bank of America and I pay all of my bills that way. The paperless statements actually come straight to my billpay. It also saves on postage, since the Bank handles it for you. Even if I have to send a check to my friend, I do it through billpay. Fast, easy & free. No brainer!

15) Wishing Ava a happy earth day birthday : )

Also need to go to Walgreen's later and if the rain holds off I will walk there instead of driving. All the lights in my house are currently off. And I was finally able to turn off the heat (hoping it won't have to go back on until the fall).

I have been saving the caps to my water and shampoo bottles to take to Aveda--they are collecting them through May 15--recycling them to use for their shampoo bottle tops. Today on our walk I saw 3 bottles on the ground...picked them up, took off the caps and tossed them in our recycling can (our town just started with the 1 can for everything deal and it makes it so easy to recycle, I can't imagine why more people aren't doing it)

16) OK, you know I don't know anything about that stuff! I know you can smoke it, but what, exactly, is "pulling" weed, Sarah?!

17) no clue

18) I am saving bottles by drinking from my kegerator, and I only take showers a couple times a month to save water. Every day is earth day. I am saving energy by not responding to ignorant people.

19) I didn't do a darn thing...maybe tomorrow the day after Earth Day.

20) We have decided to purchase our own bags for the grocery store-I am looking for the best buy-any suggestions? I am thinking heavy canvas or something that will hold up or maybe I could make some portable kudzu baskets.Instead of driving 25 miles to Lowes we went to Walkertown to the Ace Hardware:>

21) I'll tell you my favorite. A cotton web bag. I've seen them in Bed,Bath&Beyond recently. Whole Foods has them as well. The great thing about them is their ability to manage corners. I originally bought mine for lugging baked goods to work since few bags allow for corners and varied sizes. They hold a lot and handle a lot of weight. They are my favorite for the farmers' market too.

I'd also recommend a couple of insulated ones for the hot months. Trader Joe's has a great one that is a good size with a zipper. Don't bother with the ones with Velcro--they tend to open easily. Go for the zippered ones for real insulation.

22) Here's one I found on the web that is very popular with the grocery-sack packers. I get comments about it all the time. It's a good size, and sits on a sturdy base while filling it. It has nice wooden handles for carrying too.

http://tinyurl.com/4g7867

23) I volunteered to bring home my office's oversized recycling. Our landlord won't pay for recycling bins outside, so another girl and I started our office recycling program.