Tuesday, April 22, 2008

How Green Is My Wedding?

In honor of Earth Day I thought I would examine how environmentally damaging my wedding will be.
I found this calculator on TerraPass.So my wedding will produce over 10,000 lbs of CO2. I'm undecided on the whole buying carbon offsets. I think I rather just try to make other details as "green" as I can. I'm totally guessing on the number of people flying. Most of our guests are local but they will have to drive a distance to get to the site. I'm encouraging carpooling and people staying at the site rather than hotels. I think it's better that we are having the ceremony and the reception at the same place. I think some people might not come since it is far from them. Gas prices being what they are.
But personally, I produce 9.62 metric tons of CO2 (I assume annually). I found this calculator on Carbon Calculator. That's a lot of CO2. I've been trying to think of ways to reduce our carbon output. Right now we have one car. No we're not that green; Just poor. I know Tai would rather have two cars so we don't have to carpool everywhere. During the week, it's pretty easy to conserve. I take the car to the bus, then take the bus the rest of the way to work. On the way home I try to make big trips rather than a ton of small trips. I try to stop at the library and the grocery store at one place rather than driving all over the place. Tai takes the bus to work, but I do pick him up at night.
I'm always recycling stuff. I found out Dad was throwing away his yogurt cups rather than recycling them. I've cut down my magazine consumption. I used to read 8-12 different magazines. I don't read that many anymore and I recycle all the ones I read. I utilize the library to it's fullest potential rather than buying books. I try to take my grocery bags with me to more than the grocery store. I reuse plastic bags for the trash and recyclable items.
The worst thing I do is use too much water and paper towels. I let the water run while I brush my teeth. Tai always tells me to turn it off. Or when I boil eggs, I cool them by running cold water over them. Tai always asks why is the water running? I wish I could break that habit. Any tips?
So on this Earth Day how are you improving the environment? Or confess your green sins.

1 comment:

  1. You're doing WAAAY better than I am, so I wouldn't beat yourself up too much. Nobody can be perfect! I think if you work on turning the water off as you brush your teeth, and maybe try letting the eggs cool by air (or in the fridge, which is what I do - not sure if that's 'GREEN' or not...) you'll be doing better.

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