Guilt Trips

I received a birthday present in the mail today... which was awesome! I am now in possession of a green shirt that says "keepin it green" sent from my good friend Rakhi who now works for the EPA in DC. I like to think of myself as environmentally conscious (I like the environment and applaud people who work to make it better) but I still feel like wearing the shirt would make me a poser. Why?

Because I live in Houston!

I'm going try not to turn this into a diss on Texas's environmental policies. Because really, we can all make a difference even if it means collecting all your recyclables and driving that 30 minutes to one of the few recycling centers in town. Maybe I'm exaggerating. From where I am, it's 10 minutes to Rice U, where I've dropped off my cardboards, and maybe 20 or so minutes to where I can find a place to take my plastics and cans. The problem is that I don't have time, and making these trips involves a lot of planning and strategy since you can't really let empty milk bottles sit around too long.

Let's solve this problem. Hmm... here's a site that's helpful...

Clean Texas

It tells you exactly where you can go to recycle things... and I think it'll be totally useful once I figure out what "corrugated cardboard," "fiber drums," and "acrylonitrile butadiene styrene" are. But it's encouraging that you can recycle almost everything. For example, if I were to recycle cottin gin hulls, I could just drive to Austin! Awww Austin. :-)

I shall have to figure out how to live in Houston (otherwise surprisingly great) without feeling like I'm slowly killing the earth. Then, maybe I can wear the shirt... unless "keepin it green" means being jealous of people living in cities where recycling and public transportation are the norm.