Everybody knows it’s hip to be green and San Francisco almost leads the pack (we were edged out by Portland, OR) , but what’s a city without its people, right?
We want to try to do a little thing here on theFrontSteps (by getting your comments) and it goes something like this:
My name is _____ and I’m greener than thou because… recently my wife and I began throwing all of our food waste, paper towels, egg cartons, milk cartons, and pet fish in the green bin and damnit if it doesn’t feel good! We’ve reduced our black bin waste by at least 50% each week, and our breezeway stinks to high heaven (could be the diapers we save for the landfill). We still drive mediocre gas consuming vehicles (Subaru and Volkswagen), but we’re considering a hybrid or something else “green” (although a Porsche GT sure would be nice, and a helluva lot faster than a Prius.) We send our boy to school with reusable containers rather than Zip Lock bags, and try to use “green” detergents and soaps when possible. We no longer shave our legs, face, armpits or privates, and toilet paper is a thing of the past, (Just kidding! Jesus H Christ…did you honestly think….?) and that is what makes me green.
And that’s how it goes. Share with us just how green you are (especially any green things you might have done or are doing to your San Francisco home) and let’s prove to Portland they ain’t got nothing on San Francisco!
p.s. For those of you that are ready to pounce on us for making fun of hippies, or tree-huggers, or Oregon, or whatever…save it. We’re sarcastic. Should you decide to delete the sarcasm, we are actually doing all of those things in an effort to be greener. (It’s the demons within that want the Porsche GT, not us.)
[We’ll go ahead and tag this a Battle Royale should you care to forward to your Oregon friends.]
Update: We just noticed Curbed uses the title “Greener than thou” for many of their posts and has done so for quite a while. Some things slip by…sorry Curbed!
Bottom line for cars, buy second hand, not some new Prius that just adds to emmissions.
i’m greener than you because i sprung for the dealer-installed “george bush is evil” bumper-sticker package on my new prius!
oh, wait. that doesn’t mean i’m greener than you , just better.
I am not greener than thou. I am just catching up…
I bought a kitchen compost container (a small green compost container with a carbon filter on top so it filters the foul smell). It’s about 3 gallons big and fits in the cabinet under the sink. I put all the food scrap there, and then once it’s full I take it to the green compost garbage bin in the garage and dump it there.
I have to say my black garbage bin output has been reduced dramaticly and it does feel pretty good.
In a way, sorting out foodscraps into the compost bin is not much of a ‘savings’ for the environment because the foodscraps will decompose well in garbage dumps anyway. But oh well… :)
What I have noticed is that there is no good kitchen-sized compost holder available in the market. Most of them are either too small (like 1 gallon size), or too ugly (not shiny stainless enough for you to put it outside against the wall). Somebody should design a stainless compost holder that’s about 5-7 gallon capacity and looks good enough to go with the stainless garbage can.
Same for recycles…
As far as the prius is concerned, I did look into it. But concluded that the total cost of ownership for 5 years, for my driving distances, will be more (by about $3-$4k) even if I added the gas savings (assuming a $4.5-$5 gas/gallon) because of the premiums people are asking on the car. Also, the uncertainty of replacing teh battery or disposing of it, etc… makes feel it’s not yet the solution for me.
One thing about those hybrids…I am not yet persuaded that they save the environment. The most ugly and poluting garbage is the battery, and the hybrids have HUGE batteries.
Yes, it saves gas, but wait for 10 years and the clean-up for the batteries will be a big mess.
Does anyone have any info on that?
I have no info on the hybrids but do the same as anon8mizer and whoever wrote the original post, alex maybe? That’s in regards to food scraps.
That battery issue for the hybrids sounds like a headache. have any of you experienced some of these ultra efficient diesels they drive around europe. We rented a ford focus wagon not too long ago in Europe and I swear the thing got 90 miles to the gallon. We thought the needle was broken on the gauge.
oh, I am greener than thou because my uncle owns a farm in Vermont and lives completely off the land, recycles, composts the whole bit. So when I go there, I get a lesson in the true “greening” of America.
I am green than thou because:
1. I removed almost 1200 square feet of ugly sidewalk at my house and replaced it with drought tolerant, native California plantings and 7 trees. the rainwater drains thru naturally and the landscape enhances the environment.
2. I’ve ordered a Smart car.
3. Rocky isn’t allowed to drive.
Rocky doesn’t need to drive. He is a flying squirrel.
he may think he’s a flying squirrel, but he’s very much a rambunctious young boy.
although he does have a tail.
who cares about Curbed. Do whatever you want. They do!
i was kidding about the prius.
car & driver says smart cars only get 32 mpg. what gives? my old corolla got 38, but you had to roll the windows down yourself.
i am greener than you because i never shower.