Green is getting to my head. I spent a lot of time learning why I need to embrace an environmentally-friendly lifestyle and what that even means, not to mention how to go about it. Finally, I see myself making some changes.

1. It’s neither paper nor plastic for me. I use recyclable, reusable shopping bags for everything from grocery to frivolous shopping.

2. The plastic bags I have at home have found a new purpose. I don’t think I’ll need to buy trash bags anymore. My old plastic bags hold all kinds of garbage – in the car, in the kitchen, in the bathroom. They also serve as packing material.
I am learning how to make wastebaskets, tote bags and rugs out of them. But for now, I use them, abuse them, until they can serve no purpose, and then find a way to dispose of the clean ones at a plastic recycling store, along with other recyclable plastic stuff.

3. I try to avoid using Seran food wraps as they are non-recyclable.

4. Vinyl scares me. Vinyl's everywhere.

5. I sterilize and reuse undamaged plastic bottles. In fact, I recycle and reuse everything, from paper in every form - cardobard, newspapers, magazines, shopping bags, junkmail, used A4 sheets, toilet roll centers, resealable envelopes, egg cartons to glass bottles and containers to non-plastic-but-obscure cans and boxes, to broken crockery. And I am getting more and more creative at giving them a new life and a new purpose.

5. I am on a sustainable clothes, shoes and accessories hunt. I saw an inspiring documentary film about eco-friendly clothes and learnt that Linda Loudermilk makes fashionable clothes using recycled soda cans, bamboo, sea cell, soya, and other organic, natural, healthy sustainable fabric. They looked so beautiful that I have decided to go completely organic on clothes. I have found so many stores and the choice is abundant that I don’t see a reason to buy non-eco-friendly stuff anymore. I only wish vegetable-dyed clothes didn't bleed color. Wendy Tremayne’s Swap-O-Rama-Rama is also an exciting do-it-yourself workshop that explores recycling of old clothes, bags and shoes through reusing, in a creative way. Unfortunately, they don’t have a Swap in DC and I’m not inspired enough to start one. But, I will reuse old clothes and recycle or donate the ones that I can’t use.

6. Treehugger has inspired me to go organic and local with my food choices. I didn’t realize mainstream production was such an expensive and unhealthy affair, until I learnt about the production process and the extravagant usage of gasoline and petroleum resources, toxic chemicals and energy worldwide to produce what can be produced simply and easily but cutting down or completely eliminating expenditure- locally and organically.

7. I am powering everything down. I keep the windows open and let as much light into my apartment as possible to save on power. Life is suddenly more interesting. I saw four deer outside my apartment today.
I unplug my microwave and other appliances when they are not in use. I also turn off the TV when I don’t watch it.
I can’t seem to shutdown my computer without feeling the withdrawal symptoms within 10 minutes. So now I listen to music on my computer, instead of turning on the music system. I need good speakers, but my headphones are awesome. I don’t use the AC in summer. I am not sure if I can say that confidently in winter.

8. I use cold water whenever possible.

9. Luckily, my lethargy has facilitated less cooking and therefore little use of gas.

10. I have always been a vegetarian, but now I am rethinking what it really means. I am trying to figure out where I should draw the line and am strongly leaning towards the “as long as it doesn’t feel bad” motto instead of the “as long as it feels good” motto. More work to do in this area.

Click here for the basic Green Guide. This most certainly does not encompass everything there is to green living, but it's a motivating first step.