Tomorrow is offcially Earth Day and there have been some celebrations or educational programs going on around us. However, we like to think that every day is Earth Day, ever since we saw that infamous anti-litter campaign featuring Iron Eyes Cody. We have some pretty simple tips for being a little bit greener we'll share with you. Yeah, we know, you're going to roll your eyes at some, but, we may impart a new idea upon you (and we would LOVE to hear your suggestions) and perhaps reduce our carbon footprint. We will caveat that statement with the acknowledgement that, while industry has the largest carbon emissions and can make a larger impact to reduce anthropogenic pollution (like carbon), those steps or modifications are not "free" and come back to us by way of various price increases. Every little bit helps, and the first and easiest step is recycling at home and hopefully at work (yep, roll your eyes here). We still talk to people who insist that trash is trash and recycling a waste of time. Galls us, it does. Houstonians, you can drastically reduce your contributions to the local landfill by participating in curb side recycling or making a regularly scheduled trip to a disposal facility or depository. Just recycling your plastics (1 & 2 only), tin cans, aluminum cans and junk mail/magazines/newspapers you can witness a huge reduction in the amount of garbage that hits your curb on trash day. Here is a link to the City of Houston's recycling information. You already do that? Us too!

Next up, composting to further reduce curbside garbage and to make your own bedding soil (black gold - your flowers, fruits and vegetables will flourish and you won't be poisoning the earth and ground water with chemicals). We compost all fruit and vegetable waste that has not been in contact with oils or fats, coffee grinds, egg shells and you can always toss in yard waste (not the weeds,whatever you do) and shredded paper. Leftover coffee you will not ice and drink? Pour it over the compostables. We use a "self-containable" unit that is easy to load, turn and unload and has a container for "compost tea" which we spread using a hose-end fertilizer spreader. This is pretty easy to do (provided you live in a home, we think that most apartments and three story things with maintenance fees frown upon it) and, if you are at the local coffee shop, they will give you their grinds too (give,as in free), provided you ask. Lastly, in the way of recycling and re-using, those plastic container that feta or margarine or cottage cheese come in, they are just like the disposable plastic containers for sale, but, they are free when you buy groceries. Yeah, they are really not so fashionable - but, they are normally not a recyclable grade of plastic and they hold up well in the dishwasher, just saying.

A few other things we can do to reduce our carbon footprints as consumers: Buy a water filter (we heard a rumor that it takes 47 million barrels of oil to produce all the plastic what-nots we use - in technical terms, that's a boatload folks!) if nothing else, refill your bottles several times with filtered water and reduce the number of plastic bottles you use. Houstonist likes beer, but, we have switched to the canned kind so we can recycle the container. Need to buy more beer at the corner store? Walk your drunkass over there if it's close enough - save the gas. Turning off lights and dialing the thermostat a degree or two helps lower your electricity (so does caulking and insulation and such). Buying some groceries? Take cloth bags rather than using the plastic ones (see the above note about oil and think how many of those notsobiodegradable things you throw away, too). If you are in a position to, plant something - even a patio tomato or some flowers - the more plants and trees we surround ourselves with, the more carbon is converted back to oxygen by those plants. We know there are a bunch more things we can do, if you have any suggestions for cleaner, greener living - post a comment!!!

Photo courtesy of flickr user jeffbalke.