First of all, I have finally gotten off my colonial butt to bring tote bags with me to the grocery store. I only have three, but have used those twice now. I will need to get more soon, especially since we've not yet done a full grocery trip in a couple of weeks. Conveniently, Farm Fresh (as well as most grocery stores here) carries a whole stock of relatively inexpensive bags. 

Next step, which I am currently working on, although I might have to speed things up a bit, is getting rid of all plastic bags from the house. These are doggie remains collectors, but I will start purchasing them from Petsmart, those that can actually biodegrade. We run out of these bags quickly, but I may just have to return the rest of what we have to the recycling bin at the grocery store or to the place for them at the recycling center, just to get a jump on this portion. Perhaps buying the bags at the store before I run out is a way to get me moving. We'll see.

Corbett and I have to get another bike, so that I can now also ride to campus instead of always driving. The problem is the cost, of course, and currently I don't drive far to campus, it's just over three miles each way. That's barely a full gallon of gas a week. Really, the gas guzzling part of my life is going to the Lab (down in Newport News) and running other errands. I am being better about trying to arrange my trips down there with Kostas, so we can save on that. 

These are all very little things. I have to start small, because well, it is just too convenient to do things that are not good. Like WalMart, for example (recently mentioned by Drueke). I went constantly in Dallas, then when I moved to St. Louis, it was farther to get to than other places like K-Mart or Target, so I went less. Then I realized that it was not the place I wanted to spend my money, so the last two years of grad school I stopped going (as a side note, I also went on a kick of only spending money at stores in the city limits of St. Louis, not the county, as best I could because it needed all the help it could get). Moving to NY was the best thing to promote this little boycott, as the city refuses to allow one within city limits. 

Now here in the 'burg, the WalMart is completely off limits to me. There is one right near JLab, and one but 10 minutes from here. I have not gone, and refuse to go, but what's the point? For that, it took a lack of convenience to get me to stop going, even though my reasons for not shopping there became more substantial. Now, I am working at making things less convenient but more "right." Whatever that ultimately means.