Another week down; another week of success! I have really been trying to be conscious of the impact of everything I do. This week I made sure that any electrical devices that do not need to be plugged into the wall at all times are connect to a power strip with an on/off switch. For example, my TV, DVD player, and Playstation are connected to a strip because these are not turned on all the time. We do not have cable in my apartment, so the TV only needs to have power when we watch a movie. Ghost power (what a TV, for example, draws from an outlet to cut down on "warm-up" time) is eliminated in this case. Small kitchen appliances are easily stored and do not need to constantly be plugged in. I have even started charging my phone, iPod, and Kindle during the day or evening so I can unplug them as soon as they are fully charged. I realized that by charging these things at night when I am asleep, there are several hours of wasted electricity.

So far this month my roommate and I have filled up two large recycling bins and not even one full bag of trash. A lot of our waste is recyclable. We also have a compost container in our freezer. We can't have a compost pile, but we contribute to other people's compost and eliminate food waste in our trash. One great thing about this is that our trash doesn't smell so we don't have to take it out until it gets full - saving plastic trash bags.

I urge you to look at this cover story from last week's Arkansas Times. It is all about the possibility of wind energy in Arkansas. This is a hot topic now because Arkansas is welcoming several wind turbine companies (we already have a LM Glasfiber plant that makes the blades for wind turbines). The St Thomas Episcopal church in Springdale has three wind turbines providing a small portion of the energy for their church. What inspired me about this project is that the church didn't necessarily do it for financial purposes alone. They wanted to show a commitment to sustainablity and the Earth. This a great article, so check it out!