Q is for questions

We’ve probably all heard that there is no bad question, except for the one not asked…and there are many  famous quotes about questions.  Here are a few of my favorites...

The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.  ~Thomas Berger

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.   ~Albert Einstein

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?   
~Henry David Thoreau

Better to ask a question than to remain ignorant.  ~Proverb

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever
~ Chinese Proverbs

So what are some questions we can ask about our human footprint?  And what green baby steps can we take to alleviate our human footprint? Here are a few questions related to our human footprint.  

1.  How much energy is conserved by switching to CFLs?               
2.  How much water does the average person use?
3.  How much food does the average person eat?
4.  How many diapers did you wear as a baby?
5.  Won’t going green cost more?                      
6.  How much water does the average shower use? 
7.  How much food is wasted in the US each year?
8.  Why should I buy locally grown and produced foods?
9.  If milk is good for me, how can it be bad for the planet?      
10. About how much packaging does an average American toss each year?                                              

If you are curious like me, tune in tomorrow to learn the answers to these green conundrums!  Some of the answers may shock you. And remember what Einstein said, "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.  The important thing is not to stop questioning."

Packaging pet Peeve

Ok, I guess I'm peeved about packaging overall!  

There is sooo much waste involved in packaging, and honestly I think other consumers are annoyed with the excessive packaging as well.  Most of the packaging is plastic, and that comes from oil, which is of course a non-renewable resource and our oil dependence is ridiculous as is.  I wonder how many pounds per person per year is wasted on packaging...and I'm willing to bet a majority of that packaging is overfilling the landfills and eventually leaching all kinds of toxic nasties into the groundwater and soil.  

I will admit that I am anal about recycling the plastic and cardboard bits, but honestly some of the plastic packaging doesn't have a symbol on it, and I put it in the the recycle bin anyway since our recycling company takes plastics 1-7.  I've begun making a bit of a pest of myself contacting the company when I'm uncertain about things such as the inner cereal box bags....can I recycle it without clogging up the system?  If not, then perhaps my next step will be to contact the cereal companies to tell them my concerns.  And why not?  In the last month or so, I've researching sustainable packaging and sustainable packaging coalitions.  I've also been contacting other companies to let them know if their product has too much unnecessary packaging, and to let them know about alternatives that are less toxic (eco foam), and the benefits of less packaging such as less shipping costs.  Who knows, maybe my pet peeve about packaging will somehow make a difference?