Today was more difficult than I originally thought.  I first realized that I was going to have trouble with this when I walked out of the grocery store and I had my reusable grocery bag slung over my shoulder.  Without even considering paper or plastic, I had my shopping bag filled with my purchases.  It was comforting to know that I automatically use these reusable bags, but  I realized how difficult it would be for me to not use them.  I also did a few more things today to get the month started.  I reset the trip odometer in my car so I can keep track of how many miles I drive this month.  Throughout the day, I did not try to turn lights off when leaving a room I would soon be going back to.  Normally, I do this religiously.  There are many more things that I did (or didn't do) that go against my habits. For example, when brushing my teeth or rinsing dishes, I always turn the faucet off so I conserve water.  Well, not now!

When I was eating dinner with some friends, I told them how guilty I felt for not being green.  My roommate tried to ease my guilt by noting how much I will be helping the Earth next month. While this eased my "suffering" at the time, it doesn't now.  That being said, here are the things of which I plan to keep track: miles driven, trash, and electricity usage (if possible).  I can't keep track of water usage because my apartment complex pays for the water and usage is likely not broken up by apartments.  I am going to check with the managers to see if there is any possible way to get this information. There is obviously more involved than these few things, and I plan on eventually talking about everything in future posts.  

Soon I hope to get some pictures posted of NLR to make my blog a little more lively.  Also, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to post them here.  I will try to have answers in future posts.  

Fact of the Day: In 2001, Arkansas ranked 70th in the world's top CO2 emitters.  Arkansas emitted 81,700,000 tons of CO2.  In this data, each US state was treated as it's own country. China was first with 3451.6 million tons of CO2, and Texas was sixth with 759.8 million tons of CO2. (Source:Moore, L. Edward. Getting Greener: Progressive Environmental Ideas for the American South. Charleston, SC: Better South Press, 2007.)