April 1

Today I was not being an eco-friendly citizen.

The sun was shining, 80 degree temps, and the newly green tips of the trees promised that spring is on the horizon. It was a good day, but I was careless. Three different drink containers, all mine, all within three hours of each other. When summer weather, strikes so does my desire for icy beverages. Between iced coffee, iced tea, and iced chai, I might as well glue the cup to my hand just to feel that delicious, summer sensation of sugar and caffeine, freezing cold in my overheating palms.

So, that's what I got this morning: an iced chai. But eventually decided I needed a LOT more energy for the days activities and switched to coffee, rounding out the day with a very stupid purchase of a plastic water bottle.

In the winter i've been pretty good about bringing my own mug for hot drinks, but somehow this idea has not carried through to summer just yet. The amount of trash I had to throw away at the end of today seemed wasteful: it made me feel pretty bad. I should have at least reused one of the cups, and entirely done without the bottle of water (I have PLENTY of water bottles, I mean seriously!).

So....my proposition. No more to-go iced drink containers. Stay tuned for what I think about the current reusable iced drink containers.... And DEFINITELY no more plastic water bottles.

Mainly, I want to both prove to myself that much of what I buy comes with unecessary packaging, and that by making smarter decisions and working to use more reusable products, I will feel like I am making less wasteful daily decisions. I hope to eliminate all "one time use" packaging, and look into options such as buying snack foods in bulk, bringing my own silverware (instead of using disposable), and most importantly, completely eliminating my habit of buying iced drinks in plastic cups.

If I don't bring my cup with me, i'm not getting a drink! Sounds like a fair compromise.