My Kelly is a he. And he doesn't like green. But he does come with a bonus: he looks alot like Chris Reeves (RIP). Have you seen that cute knitted bag made out of blue jean strips? I LOVE that one. That would be earth friendly, too! It's a freebie pattern here, so I'll post a link if you want to see it.

Well, it SAYS I'm first; I'll believe it when I see it. You ARE green - just taking the bus goes a long way toward saving the air. Our predecessors (or, in your case, ancestors) from the Depression said "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without". The original recyclers. I think the fact that there's *awareness* now will help. And Laurie? You're growing things, and the Mother loves growing things. I've seen those cool knitted-from-t-shirts things too and they ARE wonderful. They're on my List. My list is being written on a roll of Paul Bunyan's toilet paper, but you know, just sayin'. HAPPY EARTH DAY all! (It started here in Wisconsin, you know!)

Or, Lori, do post it that would be awesome! I love the idea of making stuff out of old clothes, especially clothes that are so ratty you feel bad donating them at the Goodwill. I'm excited about my new knitting project (even though I confess I have yet to finish my orange hat!)

Hi Dale-Harriet! I LOVE that phrase!! "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without." PERFECT! That was how it was for us as kids, too, except we weren't green, we were Po' LOL

You know I think as long as you recycle said lightbulbs, Mama Earth would be okay with that. And I agree with Dale-Harriet. Mama Earth loves little green growing things, so I think she has you at the top of her list. Her green list, of course.

If you want to get a more accurate picture of your ecological footprint you can go to this url
http://www.myfootprint.org/ and do a short quiz to find how your daily living impacts the earth!

It's ridiculous up in here in the recycling department. I feel super guilty if I throw things out without trying to repurpose first. In my house it often goes a lot like this:

Me: Are you throwing those socks away in the garbage?
Him: They have holes in them.
Me: Dude! Rags!
Him: Always with the rags.

Laurie, the rug project sounds wonderful. So the pattern is just that? Cast on about 42 stitches on BIG needles and knit every row? Woo hoo. I can do that. I think my daughter would love something like that for her dorm room.

It's finally a gorgeous day here in Boston. I'm out to buy some pansies for my front step, but I thought I'd check in on you first.

You sound marh-ve-lous!

Here's that way cute denim bag:
www.magknits.com/Nov05/denim.htm
It's perfect for all those "I used to be bigger" jeans. And it's a fun knit!

Let your old lightbulbs burn out. Use 'em. Here we can't put lightbulbs in the glass recycling anyways, since there's lots more to a lightbulb than just glass. Taking the bus is super green, plus you can knit!

Thank you Lori!
And Mary -- yup, just cast on about 42, 45 stitches ( I will do 45 because I am an insanely tight knitter) then you knit every stitch, every row.

I don't remember seeing how she joined the strips together, but for a rag rug you could probably tie them together. Right? I'll try it and let you know!

Use up those light bulbs first! No sense in throwing perfectly good light bulbs away.

And you are definitely very green! I've noticed that a lot of people (and not just in LA) don't even bother with recycling and drive ninety billion places a day, sometimes even down the street! So you're good as far as green goes :)

We have the same issue with the light bulbs. We bought a big package of the efficient ones but my husband says we should wait till the other ones burn out to use them. So now I have the I-Heart-Energy Package haunting me from just above my scarf pile in the hall closet. Every day. I think I may have started hearing Al Gore's voice in the back of my mind each time I open the door. I've never been so anxious for my bulbs to burn out!!

Love your blog.

I agree, wait until the first lot of bulbs burn out or you will feel guilty about wasting them.

So not to be silly or anything, but, how much more old dinosaur gets burned up if you go "out to Woodland Hills" Walmart vs a (I'm guessing) closer Target?

I am cheap...but also think too much sometimes and have decided that if I'm "spending" my savings on the extra gas I have to use, well, it's not a bargain anymore.

Calamari knitting - see Mason Dixon Knitting! :) Cut up old t-shirts in circle, connect the cirles, wind into a ball, KNIT! :)

Check on the recycling of old light bulbs. I don't think you can do that - it's not regular recyclable glass. It might have a 'special' place in recycling, but I've not heard of it. Our teen club recycles old light bulbs with paint, creating penquins, santas, snow people, etc. to hang as Christmas tree ornaments.

Perhaps you could replace the light bulbs as the burn out, as an alternative, though I guess the electricity savings is lost the longer you have to wait...

Mary, the WH Wal-Mart is pretty close. They also have the only Petsmart in the valley out in Woodland Hills, and that is where the new cat litter I like (ok, the cats like it, whatever) is stocked. And there is a Trader Joe's in the same shopping area, and this place called "Burlington Coat Factory" which has more than just coats, they also have clothes and stuff and I'm going to browse around there, I can't really spend $$ on shopping but I need a few new shirts for work.

So it's a better thing to drive to one place and park and just walk around than to drive all over town. Right?

Woodland Hills is really close to me, anyway, it's where I go for Whole Foods and Target. Woodland Hills is like a shopping MECCA!!

I know it seems weird because it sounds like it is a whole nother city, but everything in LA is still in LA, even Encino, it's just called different names.

Oh, and if you drive down Ventura across the Valley floor, it's Encino then Tarzana then Woodland Hills. It made no sense to me, either, when I moved out here.

I think the point is to replace the inefficient bulbs with efficient ones. You'll notice a difference in your power bill. If you're renting, do what we did and put the old inefficient ones back before you move out and take the good ones with you. You go green, girl!

STACIE! That is exactly what I will do! I'm renting, so I will just replace the old bulbs but *keep* them in the cupboard, so when I move I can put them back and take the green power-saving bulbs with me.

Thanks, Stacie. Perfect solution!

You're welcome! for the bag pattern. There's also several patterns floating around for knitting a shopping bag out of old plastic grocery bags. Very green idea. Wouldn't the kitties have fun with those while you were knitting? Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle...
BTW, it's lovely here in MS today, just north of Columbus.

Aw man, I miss Mississippi :)

It is more green to use up what you have before switching. But once your lightbulbs burn out, you can switch. (Which reminds me, I have ONE working lightbulb. I need to go to Target.)

Are you a Costco member? We found really cheap CF bulbs there (I think PG&E kicked in a rebate when you bought them). I think Ikea may have them too.

My husband is obsessed with reducing our power usage, and replaced nearly every bulb in the house with them. We have a Sputnik light fixture that still has the old bulbs (it's too cool looking for the CF bulbs), and every time I turn it on, he watches it like a hawk and nags me to turn it off as soon as possible.

Not to add one more worry to your life, but (I will anyway, sorry) when those Compact Fluorescent Bulbs burn out they shouldn't go in the normal trash. Cuz of mercury and PCBs. Here is a resource to find a disposal center near you:

http://www.earth911.org/

Laurie,

You now have a gardener who will let your trees leaf out and work. You need 4 trees to offset your personal pollution... your new gardener is making you more green!!

I hate the cheap flourescent replacement lights (the daylight balanced are almost tolerable), but I am slowly replacing most of our incandenscents as they blow out. Did you know that our governator wants to outlaw incandescents?? And force all of california to go flourescent within a couple years? I'm stockpiling my "old skool" bulbs.

And Kelly green is an equal mix of cyan blue and yellow. It is the color in the Irish flag, and somehow because of that named "kelly".

Not to mention grits...aren't those some sort of corn cast-off after processing?

I can't wait to see your product of recyclable knitting.

Oh please! You are "green", you use the bus...in LA...for goodness sake. That fact alone should nominate you for recycler of the year! Not to mention, you are growing a garden...every green plant on the planet will help aid in making more oxygen (again, your in LA!). If more people were to just do the few things you do, the planet would be a better place. Go for the compact flourescent bulbs...I have had mine for two years now and they are still going strong. I have forgotten what it was like to buy light bulbs?

That gal, Jessica? She has a blog! And she just posted a picture of her rag rug project here:

http://jessicool.blogspot.com/2007/04/anybody-have-motivation-pill.html#comments

It's not a pattern, but if ya'll ask nicely, I bet she'd explain what she's doing. And probly be super thrilled to know people are excited about her project.

Now excuse me while I get over the collision between my blog worlds...

Taking public transportation to work is very green. I also take the train to work, but my biggest contribution to Earth Day this year? I'm trading in my gas guzzling 6 cylinder (and admittedly beloved) Pontiac and buying a Prius! In about 3 hours! WooHoo!

My last name is Green! I am green all year round, and I try and be pretty environmental too! I would wait until your old bulbs burn out to start using the new ones if you subscribe to the idea that you already did the environmental damange by purchasing them and should maximize efficiency by using the product that the time/energy/materials, etc. already went into.

I have been lurking here reading your very entertaining blog for a while now. I love it.

Hey, you could always start a compost pile. Ask Francisco (or whoever your new non-butchering gardener is) to leave the grass clippings, etc. in a pile on one side of the backyard. Then pick up a composting bin, toss them in with some enzymes (and worms!), and let Mother Nature work her magic.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are also great, as others have said. And knitting is a green thing, too - you can stay warm during the cool months without having to crank the heat in your house. :)

P.S.: the lovely, nitrogen-rich compost would be an excellent soil amendment for whatever you grow - flowers, square watermelons, you name it!

Ooh! Wait! home Depot is giving away ( = FREE) 1 million CF lightbulbs TOMORROW!! I live in Redlands, CA and Hope depot is like 2 miles away, so we're going there tomorrow - how far away from a home depot are you?

For me, going green is like trying to eat more healthfully: you can't change everything you do, or it will never stick. Instead, you have to try to make one small change, let it become a habit, then make another small change. Those small changes add up.

I'm all for recycling and saving the Earth and everything, but I've got a vision problem (optic neuritis, and the damage from that is probably permanent, but at least it's only in one eye) and those fluorescent bulbs cause me so much problem that I cant use them at all. Even the incandecents bother me, but nowhere near as bad as the fluorescent bulbs do.

When the incandecents and my eye are really causing me problems, I just turn off the lights and use my computer monitor and tv for light.

So, if they ever make it a nationwide law that we cant use incandecents anymore, I'll either be stockpiling up a bunch of incandecents and breaking the law, or I'll be crocheting in the dark.

But, I do a few things to not create a lot of garbage and waste. At Christmas time, instead of going out and buying expensive wrapping paper that's just going to get ripped up and thrown away, I go to the fabric store all thru the year, and buy fabric (usually on clearance or on sale) and I make fabric gift bags. They're reusable, not too expensive to make, and they're just as pretty as that expensive wrapping paper.

I even have a few pieces of fabric that are several yards wide that I've hemmed the raw edges and I can either drape it over big presents, or I can even wrap the fabric around the package like you would the expensive wrapping paper. I have tons of pretty (and reusable) ribbon to tie the presents up with.

It's fun, and people kind of like getting the fabric bags. Some of which are big enough to use as a pillowcase.

I also have some bags that I crocheted. I usually use those to give presents to my nieces and my cousin's daughter. Because the girls love the crocheted bags (they look like purses) that sometimes they'll play with the bags more than with the toys that came in the bags. :)

Here's a link to a picture of my Xmas tree with fabric bags underneath it from a few years ago. The dog in the picture is my (now deceased) Bouvier des Flandres named TinyMonsters. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/ErinLindsey/TinyMonsters/PC242439.jpg

We was Po too but my Mom called it being "Frugal". We didn't throw away much (maybe this is why I can't throw stuff away) and because we had so many kids in the house people would drop off old clothes. We picked out what we liked and shred the rest up for "Rag Rugs" or as we called them "Jergas". Ours were made on a weaving loom though. My Grandma was famous for her weavings. Here is one she made that I was lucky enough to purchase.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_EnqHNGGEHTo/Rfa6o-nDkQI/AAAAAAAAAC4/uZBL0zU6ukI/s1600-h/100_0876.JPG

Ah yes, one stop shopping area shopping, that does fulfill the burn dino/cheap dealie. I forget how "close" things are in LA...I grew up in East LA. (Yep, Born in East LA....) and we drove a whole 17 minutes to the shopping center where food/pet/clothing needs were all met.

I like Stacie's idea as well. Why give up the good bulbs when you move. Perfect solution, yes.

A girl on Oprah said she was "Mint green" cuz she was just starting...I like that...mint green...it's a green! Too funny.

i used to be greener when i lived in the city. now i drive 350 miles a week in my car. in a little car, but still. kind of makes me feel bad.

and last summer, i took all of my old t-shirts and cut them into 1 inch strips then looped them together and made a giant t-shirt yarn ball. one day soon, i'm going to knit them up into a rug.

IKEA! They have cheap compact fluorescents in a variety of sizes and shapes. And they tend to be very green...they've just started charging you for each plastic bag you use.

Ah, great minds think alike! I have a going-green post about shopping bags going up on my blog tonight. I have a love/hate relationship with CF bulbs. They are the right thing to do but the colors, blech. I wish those bulbs made out of eleventy-million LEDs would come down in price already.

Laurie, you ARE pretty green already (more than pastel green!). Reduce Reuse Recycle are the 3 R's, and Recycle is the last because the first two are more important; you did the second when you had your garage sale and reused your flower pots. You did the first when you went on your spending diet and every time you buy unpackaged fresh food. Something you could easily do that I haven't heard you "talk" about would be to have a compost pile or worm bin to make your own rich dirt for your garden. BTW, you could put your new lightbulbs in now and the old ones in a shoe box as emergency spare bulbs. Also, you'll find that there are a few places where the incandescent bulbs work better (especially if you don't have them on for long, e.g. closet or hall) for you that the CFs. Trial and error will reveal where. Plus, if you get chicks, you'll need one to keep them warm!

you know about scrapple? have you had it with maple syrup?

i'm kelly :)
i didn't ask for my own shade of green, thats just the way it is. if they had asked me, i would have said make it kelly pink. oh well.

Exchange those bulbs now! The reason you're replacing them is because they're inefficient. They'll go in the landfill anyway, whether it's tomorrow or 2 months from now. In that time, you will be using less energy more efficiently with the new bulbs, thereby becoming 'greener'.

Just my two cents.

We replace all of our light bulbs with the energy efficient ones and just kept the old ones. I'm 3rd generation frugal (and pack rat, but that's a different therapist) so I couldn't throw them out either. Maybe I'm keeping them in case of a light bulb shortage or something.
I use light bulbs when I duplicate stitch worn heels on hand knit socks. (Like a darning egg only free) I can only use one at a time & generally use an old (blown) bulb, but now I have all sorts!

My mom used to/still does cut up old nylons (panty hose) and crocheted/crochets those strips into rugs. Can you say "indestructible"?

You're right, darlin' - knitting every stitch is called garter - when you are knitting flat. That way both sides look the same, one row of V's, one row of bumps. But when you're knitting in the round, you get all V's on one side, all bumps on the other. And that is stockinette. :)

keep on truckin!

Hey, just wanted to add a comment about the new more efficient lighbulbs. Make sure you check the packaging for how to dispose of them. I'm fairly certain they contain MERCURY so you cannot just throw them in the trash or recycling bin. Check out this PDF about it.
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/2elryb

Looks like it got cut off. :D

Hey ya! Yeah, like others have said, be sure to dispose of your CFLs with other hazardous waste (which, by the way, you should also be soing with batteries -- most people throw them in the trash but they are hazardous waste too) even though that won't be for some time. Also, I've found that cheaper is definately not better with CFLs -- the cheaper ones tend to flicker and hum and take longer to 'warm up' then the more expensive kinds. The ones from Home Depot are particularly bad. It took me two years to slowly replace all my bulbs with CFLs as the incandescents burnt out, I don't see any reason not to get them all at once if you can afford it! You'll be saving more energy right away!

Sounds like you're doing great with being green -- not everyone can just buy a hybrid whenever they feel like it (cough cough Leo DiCaprio cough cough)!!!

You are pretty green already:-)Weird thing- or coincidence: Al Gore's movie was on our channel 2 tonight, I came down to the computer just after watching it. He does have a strong point.

I haven't knit a rag rug, but I've woven one - and one of the really neat things was the knots. (I'd misunderstood the instructions in class the week before. We were supposed to *sew* the strips together. I ended up weaving along while our teacher sat by my floor loom, knotting my strips as fast as she could to keep up. Imagine about 20 adults giggling at you like maniacs while you're weaving. [g]) The thing about knots is that if you make your rug twice as long as you want for your finished dimension, then double it and sew together - or knit it in the round and just seam the ends - the result makes a *wonderful* bath mat! (Or kitchen rug, bedside rug...anywhere you'll stand after a long day.) The double layer cushions the knots enough that they don't hurt your bare feet, and you get a fantastic massaging effect when you walk on it barefoot.

My woven rug wasn't recycled from T-shirts, but regular fabric. The knots in a rug made from woven fabric are likely 'harder' than knots in strips from T-shirt fabric, but you should still get the massaging effect. I'd think for traffic areas where you'd be wearing heels, knots might cause a bit of a tripping problem, but there's always joining the strips with a good, flexible fabric glue for solving that. If you're like me and avoid sewing even a few stitches like the plague, that is. ;)

Dang; I either need to drag out my loom and set it up, or start cutting up old T-shirts. I miss that bathmat!

Your no-buying time was very green! Not only no unneeded stuff, but no bags to take home the unneeded stuff in... And green plants are good for the earth. Even Victor, I bet.

I say put in the new lightbulbs now and save the "pre-owned" bulbs for emergencies, therefore making an immediate eco-change in your home environment, but not wasting the old ones which can be used as backups.

I am green-ish too. Don't use public transportation, but recycle, reuse and whatnot whenever we can.
I have about a million tshirts I could send ya!

Don't go buy those cool lightbulbs! Let Home Depot GIVE THEM TO YOU FOR FREE!!!! That's right, they're GIVIN' THEM AWAY on SUNDAY!!

Go to Home Depot in the lower 48 of the U.S. on Sunday to get your free compact florescents. Limited quantities, as you'd expect.

Here's the scoop:
http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html

Who can argue with FREE!! (They should pay me for this shameless plugging.)

I've never met a green I didn't like (color, that is). I am trying to be green, and totally get your Lightbulb/CFL thing. I have a box of CFLs ready and waiting for that next burn out (or do I save the old ones for backups?).

I've begged my trash pick up to give me a recycle bin, but somehow I just know they throw it out anyway. I am trying to be greener than I've been the last couple of years. I was so good about recycling and such in CA, but TN no one seems to care. Once in awhile I will pack up the car with all the beer bottles and aluminum cans and take them to the ONLY recycling center I could find in Memphis (gasp) ... I don't get any money, and really hope that they do the right thing. I've actually sent my aluminum cans home with my parents when they visited because they can get the money and give it to a charity (in No Cal) I am trying....

An easy way to add fabric strips together that leaves no tails is to cut a small gash in the end of all the strips (about a 1/2 in from the end of the strip). Now when you get to the end of a strip, place the next strip undernieth so the holes match up, now pull the end of the new strip down through the top hole and through the bottom hole. It should anchor the new strip to the old nicely, and no ends to weave in or nasty knots! Make sense? I'm trying to remember the directions and write it down in a semi-understandable way. The book with the directions is home in CA.

Have fun!

Sorry but I can't do the fluorescent bulbs. They give me killer headaches.

Just wanted to second the comment by allelejean; remember that you have to take the burnt out compact lightbulbs to a hazardous disposal site to get rid of them...they do have mercury.

Glendale has a great hazardous waste disposal program, and I found an LA one that is Glendale adjacent. You can take all your burnt out batteries there too!

My BIL has a PhD in recycling from Harvard (really! he is in charge of their recycling program now) and I always go to him for these kinds of questions. About batteries, he said they should be put in the regular trash (where not illegal, of course) because the companies that 'recycle' them just bury them in mass landfills in third-world countries where there are no environmental laws and they poison the inhabitants. Better to not use batteries at all.
Which just goes to show, you often don't know the ultimate reaction of your actions--makes it very hard to know what the 'right' thing to do is.
And I think you're doing really well, dear CAP!

Thanks for the info on Home Depot -- Jen and I are ging to go there in the a.m. and see if we can get FREE lightbulbs!!

But ya'll I am so sad. I went through my whole house and I have "pared down" to such a degree that I have no bad T-shirts lying around. I found ONE T-shirt. On the one hand, yay me with less clutter! On the other hand, so sad. LOL.

I just called Jen and she's going to bring me some old T-shirts of hers and her BF's. hee.

Here's a link to GE's website. They have coupons for the CFL lightbulbs.
http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/coupons_offers/

WalMart has a pack of 6 for $9. Not bad.

The lightbulbs should not be used in the bathroom. The humidity damages them. Also, the bulbs are most effective when the lights are used for more than an hour at a time. I replaced my bulbs and stored away my other bulbs for replacements for the bathroom and certain infrequently used lights.

Another helpful hint - don't get the "daylight" version of the bulbs. They do a weird white light that makes you look like a zombie. The normal bulbs are slightly brighter than normal incandescent bulbs, but are virtually unnoticeable.

Happy Earth Day!

I think one of the biggest things we can do is think about what we buy and what we throw away. When you buy a new sofa, don't buy a cheap crap disposable one. The other will cost more, but last forever. If you can't buy a good one, buy a used one and re-upholster it. OUr habit of throwing away instead of fixing things. I do realize that not everyone (including me) can afford a $2-3000 sofa, but buy the best you can. We buy $10 toasters and throw them away, when they inevitably break. We just throw too much crap away.
But I also think that most of us are aware of our actions. Making smart choices.

Why are you changing to compact fluoro lights? To save energy? Then how many compact fluoros use the same amount of energy as one incandescent light?
My feeling is that if you are doing this to save energy, replace your incandescent lights with compact fluoros, but remember that you can't dim a compact fluoro so if you have dimmer switches you need to keep the old lights...
They are banning incandescent lights in Australia soon.
I think I am a bright limey sort of green - not too blue green, though aquamarine is a fave colour of mine...

IKEA has 3 compact fluorescent lightbulbs for $4 (only in 60 watt equivalent so far though). At most grocery stores if you bring your own reusable bags you get a few cents off for each one.

also, in re the above comment, they just came out with dimming CFLs but they might not be readily available for a while. they are also changing the color of the light to be warmer, more like an incendescent, and making ones with glass bulbs over the coils to look more like an incandescent too. there are new options coming out all the time! and yes, you can't throw them away in the regular trash but since they last 5-7 years apiece, you won't have to worry about that for a while.

i'm a big greenie and on a college budget so if you ever want cheap green tips let me know! i calculated that i am saving $7-10 a month on my elec. bill thanks to switching all my bulbs to CFLs.

oh and about using up your old lightbulbs...i disagree! CFLs have about a 75% energy savings and if you don't have to pay much for them, you should just go ahead and switch asap. if the incandescents will end up trashed/recycled at the end of it's life anyway, might as well start reaping the savings right away, you know?

oh laurie - you're coming to woodland hills tomorrow and I'll be away for an earth day wedding in diamond bar. don't forget, we have home goods right across the street, too, in the albertson's/petsmart area!

i've got those lightbulbs, but i'm waiting for the old ones to burn out. midwesterners hate waste too!

i recycle cans. this city does not make it easy recycle, so i take pop & beer cans to the can place near mykids' school, and i get paid for it.

i can't do mass transit, italso is not easy here.

however, i'm the light nazi. did you turn that light off as you left the room?

You know what I really HATE is all the non-recycable packaging crap that comes around toys these days! It takes a good 15 minutes to separate a toy from its packaging, makes me nuts, and all that stuff is totally non-recyclable and non-reusable. Someone oughtta make a LAW that about it ... !!

I was going to wait until the old ones burned out; I am also not a waster (or try not to be). But then I've watched my electric bill shrink and shrink since I started replacing them, and I'm about ready to go ahead and replace them all, even if they aren't burned out. I think it will even out in the end.

And now, thanks to your comments, I know that I have to recycle them in a safe place. Altho I am bummed to hear about the false battery recycling.

Looking forward to heading to Home Depot with you tomorrow!

I'm always trying to be greener. I recently started making my own clothes or buying them in thrift shops (I've never looked so good, sadly but also happily), and I've got one of those rugs on the needles from a long time ago. I add on to it from time to time. I find it fun.

A tip about the light bulbs...

Take a look at the new LED lights out there. They're even MORE efficient than the funky shaped ones that have been around for the past 10 or 15 years. I'm thinking I could pass them down to my kids when I die, that's how long they're supposed to last. They cost a little more to buy, of course, and they look a little funky, but oh, the savings in electricity! No more blackouts??

I'll second Kristin. I read an article the other day about a woman who was changing to CF bulbs. She dropped one in her daughter's room and has to hire a special team to get the mercury cleaned up. Her daughter's room is toxic and sealed in plastic until she can raise $2,000 to pay them. Not cost efficient. I'm systematically removing chemicals from my home. Until they come up with something efficient and non-toxic, I'll stick with Mr. Edison's bulbs.

Ooooh! I'm crocheting rag rugs out of old sheets. Easy as pie... just make a circle or a square! Or even a heart [I have a pattern I got FREE off the Internets for that one!]

I'm not as green as I could be... but let me have a couple more vodka and cokes and we'll talk again...

About CFL bulbs...you have to bag them in a ziploc baggie and take them to your city's hazardous waste recycling day (you know, when they take back old toasters or antifreeze or paint, etc.) CFL's have trace amounts of mercury, so you can't throw them directly in the trash. Here's the lowdown on recycling them:

http://ohio.earth911.org/usa/master.asp?s=ls&lid=155672

Use the postal code thingie in the upper left corner and you can find out where to recycle tons of stuff!

And if you want to recycle your old tennis shoes, here you go:

http://sowhatcanido.blogspot.com/2004/10/recycle-your-tennis-shoes.html

Cool, huh?

I even wash out my slightly used ziploc baggies to reuse...as long as they didn't hold meat or anything icky. I mean, why not reuse the bag you pack your kid's lunch stuff in? Instead of 5 - 10 bags a week, you can use just 2 (or maybe 3). My parents think I'm crazy, but I can't even remember the last time I bought baggies!

I am uber-crunchy, you know?

If you make a rag rug, post a "pattern!" I'd like to make one, too!

I've been wanting to make a rag run for my bathroom for a long time. But what I want is to make is so that the rug fits the bathroom, like wall to wall bathroom rug. I think the t-shirt thing will allow me to do that and be light enough so that I won't break my wash machine during cleaning.

Happy Earth Day!

You are green Miss Laurie. By taken the bus to work makes a big ole huge green footprint on the earth. An recycling definitely helps. My thought is if everyone did just one green thing to help the earth it would make a big impact.

I've been sneakily replacing all of our lights with the CF lights. Funny how the husband doesn't notice the change in light unless he knows I'm doing it!

You're a doll! My daughter and I both love to read your blog. Will you come up to Northern CA and hang out with us???? Pleeeeease?

Ok... I remember reading about using plastic grocery bags to knit with. And if you cut them so that you ended up with loops of plastic, you could join them with out having to tie them. You just loop the end of the new strip around the old strip and feed it through itself and pull snug. (Ok, harder to explain than I thought it would be) This gives you a double thickness of the material though. Anyway, t-shirts could be cut in the same fashion, at least up to the arms.

Going to WalMart on Earth Day? My goodness. Surely there's an indie store somewhere?

EJ, that story of the broken light bulb and the hazmat team is a fast-growing urban legend -- it probably originated with a very, very OCD person who freaked out when she broke a bulb, and called a hazmat team to clean it up.

Either that or an incandescent light bulb company started the rumour.

Mercury is dangerous to children and fetuses, so if there was an amount in the bulb large enough to be of concern, the companies would not sell them. Not because they are nice people, but because they would be out of business very quickly from all the lawsuits from broken light bulbs.

The amount of mercury in a CF bulb is negligible, however, any amount of mercury needs to avoid entering the soil, water etc. Which is why it is recommended that the bulbs are recycled (in some areas it is required, check your local law).

We were required to recycle all flourescent bulbs, both the regular ones and the CFs, at my last job, and these were the instructions given to us by Risk Management: If you break a bulb you should sweep up the shards, clean the area thoroughly with something disposable (paper towels, not your mop) and air out the room. Also wash your hands carefully afterward. That's all.

Floursecent lighting contains rare gases (expensive) and they are recycled both to recapture the gases they contain and also to recover the mercury.

When I rented I replaced all my old bulbs with energy saaving ones and kept the old ones in the loft. Then when I moved out I put them all back in so I could use the energy saving ones in my new house!

Anyone with a conscience should do what they can but not feel guilty if that's not 100% of the time.

I am guessing I am celery green. I conserve on water and electric. This month my natural gas bill was free as I had saved so much in the cold winter months over last year. I re cycle papers, plastic and alum. I try to not drive my car 2 days a week. I am wanting to knit t-shirts what a great idea. Happy Earth Day!!!!

Hi Laurie, my local IKEA (Canton, MI) has recycling bins that take various materials including old lightbulbs. You could drop your regular lightbulbs in that bin if your local IKEA also has them, whether you decide to let them burn out first or not.

Oh and also (if you haven't already gone out to Wal-Mart) the local Home Depots around here are giving away CFL bulbs for free today. Free is even cheaper than the Wal-Mart price!

I just have to laugh at myself. When I read the blog entry title I read: "I guess we don't send out green cards to celebrate Earth Day, right?" That would be a funny question to pose, after all!

Holy crap, I am famous. On Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. Man oh man. Thanks, Laurie! (And thanks, Stephanie for the blog link.)

For all who are interested, details about what I'm doing with the T-shirt rug can be found here (comment if you have any questions):

http://jessicool.blogspot.com/2007/04/want-to-know-how-to-knit-rug-out-of-t.html

My neighbors actually DID send an Earth Day card - a picture of their children standing under a huge tree, in an envelope! My roommates and I thought it was very bizarre, and also very un-green. Plus, we don't know them at all! I suppose they could turn out to be nice like your new Korean friend... Anyway, we promptly recycled the card.

Laurie--

I think it is best to wait until your bulbs burn out. You already paid for them!! BUT... I think it's wonderful that you got energy-saver bulbs!! I find that the light they give off is a little dim at first, but it gets brighter as they stay on....

Lately I've been knitting "bag bags." As in, bags made from plastic bags. If you cut around in a spiral, it's super-easy to make the yarn.... and selling them is a cinch, too! I've also tried caution tape and tape of various colors (i.e., orange and pink).

Thanks for being as earthy as you can!

I inevitably have some lights with standard bulbs (where I don't want CF, or can't use CF), so I save the working bulbs for those when I replace regular bulbs with compact flourescents.

I celebrated Earth Day by inadvertantly bitch-slapping Mother Nature: http://bloomkitty.blogspot.com/2007/04/bitch-slapping-mother-nature-on-earth.html

Kudos for you for celebrating Earth Day! I've been knitting myself string bags for shopping (I have some shopping totes, but string bags are more portable.) I've replaced the bulbs in the fixtures I use the most with CFs and am gradually replacing the other bulbs with CFs as they go. I figure it is a happy compromise. BTW, Walmart treats their workers horribly, better not to shop there at all. (You can read a good summary here: http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=306) Target is much better on this account, though, of course, not ideal.

JELLY BEAN??

I do not even have to tell you how hick '80's that sounds....

but thats the way you roll...'yo

Just remember that all of those new light bulbs contain mercury.

since i appear to be #95 on the comments, i'm not gonna read them all to see if someone else already suggested this. save all those regular light bulbs when you replace them. if/when you move out, take your energy effecient ones w/you & replace them w/the old regular bulbs! LOL!!

Haven't read the other comments, so I don't know if you know this already, but Sam's Club was selling the compact fluorescent lightbulbs at 8 for $10 and some change. SCORE.

Of course, if you're not a member, that's maybe not so helpful to you. But you can e-mail me and I can buy some to send to you. :-)

If the Wal-Mart is further away than Target, your savings on bulbs will probably be cancelled out by how much you're spending on gas to get there -- I know here in AZ we're at $3 a gallon, so you must be higher than that. You might be better off staying with the more expensive Target. And also? Wal-Mart can run all the organic clothing commercials they want, but they are one of the worst big box environmental offenders out there. Booo.

The fact that you take the bus instead of driving most days makes a HUGE impact. To shamelessly plug myself a bit, I just wrote an article on recycling that you can find here that might give you some more ideas:

http://sheknows.com/about/look/8019.htm

(I write on teh internets, too!)
HUGE congrats on the book! I can't wait to read it!

How green are we? Hmmm. Well, we hang laundry. In the winter, we hang it on wood racks over the "forced air heat" floor registers (and in Upstate NY, you need to generate a whole lot of "forced air heat" to cancel out the minus-20 degrees outside your windows, believe me) and in the summer, we hang it either in the basement or outside in (gasp) the sun. Now, at work, I get ragged all the time because we don't have a dryer. All the time. We also don't have TV, so I've been threatened with being reported to social services because we don't have TV and we don't have a dryer. When my kids were small, people actually thought we were abusing them because their clothes did not smell like dryer sheets and they did not sit around watching the tube. Go figure. Now, we're considered green.

It was a GOOD day the day scrapple was discovered! THANK YOU for scrapple.

YAY!!! I'm the last person to post!!! LOL

I didn't plan on celebrating Earth Day, but I had to run to the grocery store before work. On my way, I dropped off a bag of clothes at the thrift store (and didn't BUY anything!!!). I remembered to bring the bag of plastic bags to drop off at said grocery store. I only had 3 items and when asked, paper or plastic, I said I didn't need a bag.

I guess I did celebrate Earth Day just by doing the things I do every day.

I'm Kelly! And I get my own green cause I'm just that spiffy.

Congrats on the book, it looks hilarious.

Nooooo. Don't throw the old lightbulbs away, too wasteful. What you could do is replace the lights that you use the most with incadescents and save the regular bulbs to replace less used bulbs when they burn out. Good for you!

Taking mass transit is way green. One of the best things you could do for Ms. Earth.