WIN ZE MODIFIED TOTE BAG FROM BLOOOMIES!

Madame's entrail:

Ze otter day I was sashayin' down ze streeet und some dude, hee come out heeez front dooor und throw ze ciggie on ze ground und get in ze waiting cab. Afore I knew it I was yelllin' "Hey budddy, ya droppped some ping!" und pointing at heeez butt. Hee said "I know" und I replied, "Yeah bubba? Welllll. So do I" as I noddled mein head toweirds heeez home.

Heh.

As hee sped away in ze cab, I pickled up heeez butt fur heeem und pooot it eeen heez foyer through ze convenient mail slot. Since zen, I have beeen collecting ze butts tou decorate heez foyer as I walk by each day. It's mein leetl way tou return ze favor tou heem on behalf ov Mother Nature.

I ham jest thoughtfulll lyke zat.

Please add heem tou ze list ov citizens tou question should I disapppear.

Donkey.

Hmm....

Well I hug trees quite often and find myself asking permission before pulling any fruit from a tree.

Umm...

I also like to wish SUV drivers a resurrection as a tree about to be deforested so they can feel the wrath of thier own ignorance to the environment. I call it my "hippie threat".

I try and recycle clothes when I can and often give out clothes I am not using to others that are more poor than I. It is my effort to recycle the clothes rather than have them end up in a landfill.

I drive a car that runs on vegetable oil and I make each tank last for 6 weeks.

I grow some of my own food. I compost in my kitchen. I recycle like religion. I get no newspapers or magazines, not even my credit card bill, car insurance, and bank statements electronically only, no paper. I cancelled my netflix because of the paper waste. I give my glass and aluminum to the nice asian lady that comes by so she can redeem them. I have a set of plate/bowl/cup/saucepan and cutlery that I bring to work and eat off of and then wash every day. I eat only organic produce so I am saving the planet by not giving my money to companies that dump pesticides into groundwater. I dont flush the cat poop because it give the sea otters toxoplasmosis. We mulch the rabbit shit back into the dirt to fertilize the passionflower vine in the yard. We have canvas sacks to get our groceries with instead of using paper or plastic sacks.

Do I win?

I recycle my paper and my bottles and cans. I buy used clothing a lot and then donate what I am not wearing anymore, I reuse the plastic silverware at work after washing it.

I used to even recycle when I lived in Loserana where in the small town they only had one recycling bin in the whole town. And no garbage service that picked up your recycling. I would collect my newspapers or bottle or cans and cart them to the bin which was a mile away from my house. I also used to collect and recycle my walmart baggies from shopping. They had a place where you could bring the bags back to in the front of the store.

I do my best to pay attention to things when I am out in nature, I leave it the way it was when I got there. I have a habit of picking up trash where I go because it is a pet peeve of mine to see it all over the place.

I'm an annoying uber-recycler.......I have a compost bin in my kitchen, I even tolerate the flies that come along with it, I must be mad! I also made this thing out of recycled materials:

people.tribe.net/yabadabad...9943ea6270

I bring tote bags to grocery stores, I even bring my own tupperware to restaurants for takeout. yeah, I'm a total recycling geek. I hate waste.....really f*ckin' hate it......

When I smoke I empty out the cigarette butt and then throw away the filter (ash and tabaccoo are bio-degradable). When smoking in my car I empty out the ash and tabaccoo out the window and put the empty filter in my ash tray (it keeps the car from smelling like an ash tray, and keeps the ashtray clean). If I smoke out in the wilderness or somewhere where there isn't a trash can nearby - yup - I empty the butt and put the empty filter back in my pack. I have been known to absent-mindedly pick up cigarette butts friends throw on the ground when we're out for a smoke.... HELLO! fiberglass filters are not bio-degradable.... then again - maybe I should just quit smoking... NAW.

When I'm snorkeling I take the trash out of the water and put it the garbage cans--except the tampons and condoms.

I try to avoid littering as much as possible. I also make it a point to pick up at least one piece of trash that wasn't mine once per day and put it in a bin or recycle it. It is surprising what that little effort would do if most of us did it. However, I can't win. Although I care about recycling I'm sloppier about it than I really should be.

What else? I mostly bike or walk, rarely drive. My very first car was a gas guzzler. My next two cars got 40-45 mpg. My current car (which I try to avoid driving) gets 28mpg but is way more comfortable and handy than any car I've owned before...I just don't use it as much because of the expense and the fact that walking and biking is way better for my health...and, frankly, the health and safety of my community in general. One thing I did use the car for this year was to pick up all my neighbors old, busted or dusty TVs and take them down to Alameda County Computer Recycling Center here in Berkeley. So, I got those old TVs--full of lead and other nasty stuff off the street, out of the dumpster, and into the recycling stream where they properly belong. I also recycle/recondition old computer components and other electronic stuff that folks give me or that I see laying around on the street...some of it I give away for free on craigslist if it is usable but not of any use to me.

I recycle bacon grease to better fry pancakes. Mmm...it's sooo good! Light and fluffy! Just like you, Madame G.