Opinion
 
While navigating through PBS, I found P.O.V.'s Borders | Env. and it is really nice to read the comments people sent and your advice. It's good to see what Americans are doing for the environment, but what is the government doing? Not enough. The U.S. did not sign the Kyoto treaty, that's shameful. Let's be realistic, this world is going down and who can stop that? You tell me.

sod busters
 
Caution: Bermuda Grass! Star of a science fiction novel, Greener Than You Think, wherein the last surviving humans are engulfed by a mutant strain. If your lawn is Bermuda, stacking sod will just get you a Bermuda Mountain. There are labor-intensive, longterm ways to kill and remove Bermuda, or possibly the option to solarize, and there is shorter-term, pre-emergent herbicide Bermuda removal — but you will forever live in dread of a chance seed bringing a return of the life and death struggle against it.

no such thing as garbage
 
Anything we "throw away" as garbage is a wasted resource. Calling it waste disposal is exactly right!

running water while brushing teeth
 
I run a small stream of water while brushing my teeth and hold them under the water.

recycling plastic bags
 
As a recycling coordinator, I have a few comments to add: The paper bags that I receive ( when I've forgotten my cloth bag ) are used to hold my tossed recyclable items in my kitchen, and are then thrown into the recycling container as well. Plastic bags are often not accepted in residential curbside commingled recycling programs, as the mill that purchases them requires a very clean product. The plastic bags are in demand for recycling ( to be mixed with sawdust and used for house siding ), but must be collected as a segregated commodity.

Also, if you are going to be throwing out your bag, blowing plastic bags are a big problem at landfills.

Thanks for the great site.

the habit of ethics
 
I generally agree with Umbra's point that it's worthwhile for each of us to think about ways we can use less stuff--water, electricity, etc. But it's difficult for me to argue with someone who doesn't see things that way, because to me, conserving water falls short of being a moral obligation. Is it enough to just say that it's good to get in the habit of conserving?

to conserve or not to conserve
 
On the question of Why Conserve? We need to reorient ourselves and instead of asking why we should bother conserving, ask instead, why would we not? Why has waste and over-consumption become the norm instead of "compassionate consumption" as you call it.

If I'm finished reading a newspaper and keep it with me to take home and recycle instead of throwing it away in the garbage, some friends will marvel at the lunacy of my actions. Instead of asking how I could bother carrying the paper around all day until I see a recycle bin, I ask, how could I *not*? I've got to put the paper somewhere when I'm finished, so why would I not want to put it in a recycle bin instead of the trash?

The same goes for water: When we think about it, wasting water is as much of a decision as converving it, and when we get used to the idea, just as easy.