It isn't easy bein' Green...

In honor of Earth Day, a lot of my friends have been talking about Green living, the Ecological Footprint test and whatnot. I took the test and found my lifestyle to be very taxing on the environment.

CATEGORY ACRES FOOD 6.9 MOBILITY 6.4 SHELTER 4.7 GOODS/SERVICES 10.1 TOTAL FOOTPRINT 28

	IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
	IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 6.3 PLANETS.

While I find this to be more than alarming, I do have to accept the fact that there are things I can not change... right now. I live in a townhouse where the association does not recycle. This infuriates me. But I know it is a money game with them and that they are not interested in change, unless it brings them more of a profit. Again, because of the fact that it is a rental property and not something that we own, there are things that we are not able to do, like replacing the windows and appliances and whatnot. This would help in terms of efficiency, but they are not changes for a non-owner to make. So I have to let them go.
My car likes gas. This is sad, but I cannot afford a new car, especially since I just paid off this one. So I will keep it running as efficiently as I can and look at something more eco-friendly when the time comes.
My new job causes me to travel considerably more miles to get to work, but again, I can't obsess over that. Hopefully when I move, I will be able to find something that is perhaps a better distance from work. Taking public transportation to my job is next to impossible, considering my job has me in different locations every day, including two days a week in which I am traveling from place to place during the day. In terms of local errands, I am happy to use my bike or walk if it is possible, but I do have to factor in distances, of course.
I do keep bags in my car for the supermarket. This confuses the cashiers at the market I go to, but that's just part of the fun. If I had my own place, I would love to try gardening as a source for veggies. I am certainly not opposed to learning how to prepare more vegetarian dishes, and in terms of "meat," I eat beef very rarely - but that is really more for health reasons. I eat at home and bring my lunch to work more often than not, so that helps reduce waste and garbage associated with eating out/fast food.
I like energy efficient lightbulbs (Ikea has a lot of them!), and we try to remember to turn as many lights off as possible when we can. We use a water economical shower head, which is pretty darn cool, especially since it came with a bunch of energy-saving ideas and a few other helpful things. Unfortunately, our home is poorly insulated so we tend to freeze in the winter, even with the heat on. But I am a fan of lots of blankets and heating blankets/bags, with the microwavable bags being a favorite in that they are infinitely reusable, (both as hot and cold packs) and retain their heat over a fairly long period of time.
So, I am not as environmentally friendly as I want to be. But I would like to know what I can do in my current situation, and then do things as I am able and as my life changes. I have met people who power their home completely by solar power and I think it is amazing - they actually sell power back to the power company! If I am ever able to afford to build a house, I would totally pursue the opportunity of doing things like that.