I got my electricity bill for last month. It was about 50 dollars (700 kWh). Our apartment is fairly small so there is not much that uses electricity. I am anxious to see what this month's bill will be. Even though I don't get a bill for my water usage (apartment complex pays water), I have been doing some things to eliminate water waste. I filled a half gallon milk container with enough water to keep it on the bottom of a toilet tank. This displaces about a half gallon of water. The toilet still flushes fine, it just uses less water. This is in addition to what I was already doing: "navy showers," using a cup of water while shaving, turning off the water while brushing my teeth, and only running the dishwasher and washing machine when I have full loads.

This weekend I am going to take a small trip with a friend and his family. I plan on keeping track of the mileage and then purchasing a carbon offset for the trip. I found a great website for this after reading Ed Begley's "Living Like Ed." He recommends terrapass.com. You can do several different things on this website. You can calculate your carbon footprint, purchase carbon offsets, read about various environmental projects, and also purchase devices to help you measure and control your energy usage. Check it out because I was surprised how affordable it was to purchase these offsets.

I recently watched a few episodes of "Eco-Trip" with David de Rothschild. In each episode (on the Sundance Channel), de Rothschild follows a product from start to finish to see the environmental impact. One episode I watched was about the creation of a white cotton T-shirt. I had no idea how damaging a non-organic cotton crop is on the environment. This show seems to help making people aware of their environmental and global impact. I am not sure when the show comes on, but I am able to watch it throughNetflix instant viewing. I hope to watch more because it was very enlightening.