The Green Book

After reading the Green Book I must say that some these steps are simple, but nevertheless incredibly hard to commit to. It is so convenient and comfortable to simply leave the water running while brushing our teeth that most of us would not close it even considering its simplicity. Thus, I think part of the problem is that parents are not raising their kids appropriately. We need to start instilling good habits in the youth, especially here in the United Sates, where resources are so readily available. For instance, I see the carelessness that my brother has for everything that surrounds him. In part I blame my parents for the situation. But I also think that because my older sister and I grew up in a different country where water and electricity are not taken for granted; we have a different outlook on wastefulness.

While reading the foreword of The Green Book, I almost immediately related to William McDonough. He mentioned how during his childhood in Hong Kong his family only got water access every four days. The same was the case for me while growing up in the Dominican Republic. Not only did we not get water all the time but we did not have electricity all the time. As was also true for McDonough we had to learn how to save water and in my case how to not rely so heavily on electricity.

But, my brother did not grow up in the Dominican Republic and did not experience bathing with a bucket of water; he does not know what 8 hours of electricity a day feels like. In fact I don’t even think he can envision being away from his computer for eight hours. Here is the problem with America. Because in the United States you can get things relatively easy, Americans fail to see that they get all these privileges at the expense of other countries.

Anyhow, here are my steps in order of difficulty:

Closing the faucet while brushing my teeth: I think this is something I can do relatively easily since I did it very much while growing up in the Dominican Republic.
Using high Speed Internet: This is also an easy thing to do. But does anybody actually still use dial-up?

Closing faucet while shaving: Well this one is a little trickier because it is just way to comfortable to leave it running. I know this might seem particularly odd since I do it while brushing my teeth. I do not know why it is so difficult for me to even remember to close the faucet while shaving.

Reusing plastic bags: This could vary in difficulty depending on the circumstances. I find it very hard to actually carry used bags for the supermarket or for shopping for anything else. However, in my house we do save bags and reuse them for garbage as well as other things.

Using porcelain or glass containers: I simply cannot imagine a world without plastic. For example, it would be very difficult to carry around your lunch in a heavy glass or porcelain container. But, I think the real problem is not that we are using plastic, but that we are not recycling it. Whenever I order food I save the plastic containers and use them to store food in the fridge.

Not Flushing the toilet as much: This I find incredibly hard to do and impractical. It is not particularly pleasant to leave the toilet unflushed. Additionally, I do not see how we can control going to the bathroom. Should we take Pepto-Bismol and limit the amount of liquids we intake? I do not think that is the answer. Maybe this is something we cannot do much about.

Blue ray discs: Well, yes this is easy to do. However, not everyone can afford to buy blue rays. If the prices of these discs were to go down then it would be a possibility.

I want to publicly commit to close the faucet while shaving and to reuse plastic bags. I will also try as much as possible to refuse bags when buying at the grocery store or deli.