They had a question like this in Backpacker recently and it was really cute to see how people do so many green things and then admit to a couple very non-green things- like letting the faucet run for the cats to drink. LOL we do that. It takes them forever to finish drinking!
As for our green deeds: we bike to work; me once a week and hub 5 days a week. We are cutting way back on meat (saves tons of greenhouse gasses!); me to almost vegan and hub to less poultry. We also use reusable bags for groceries and have reduced our shopping trips.
So what can you toot your horn about and what do you blush about?

Here's the original thread on this topic if people want to refresh their memories:

What are you doing to save the earth?

Our irrigation system still sucks, by the way.

Other cheats: I occasionally throw away nasty plastic bags, like when I find one in the crisper whose original contents are unrecognizable. I should compost the contents and rinse the bag and put it in the recycle later bin, but, eh, mostly I don't.

I'm pretty sure our gardener uses a gas-powered leaf blower when I'm not here.

We live in a house that's larger than two people need. We probably use the same energy as any other two people in any other size house, possibly less since we're conscious, but having this extra space is probably not so politically correct.

And I leave the laptop on all day mostly, I don't unplug the TV and other electronics before bed, and I run the car A/C when it's over 90.

I actually have a blog about this. The URL is in my signature.

I've been riding my dad's bike to work, but as of late, I can't because I work nights now. I'm going to try and ride my bike to my university, which is about 12 miles away from my house.

As a household, we keep and reuse/recycle our plastic and paper bags, recycle anything that can be recycled (I just found out that we can't recycle #5 plastic -- there's no market in the area supposedly), and I try to turn the computers and TV's off at night. But I forget.

As for cheating... My mom wastes water when she washes dishes, we use paper plates in the summer, and I think that I'm the only one that takes less-than-5-minute showers (my best is 3:56 )

Oh my we use paper plates too. I tried the earth shell ones but they peel off on your food. As for going green when it comes to bathroom/personal hygiene, I never will. I also won't pack out that stuff when backpacking. After all the poop you walk over on a trail, it seems ridiculous.

But I am a vegan in training. It is very difficult but I figure it is better to do it a little than not at all.

quote:

But I am a vegan in training. It is very difficult but I figure it is better to do it a little than not at all.

Absolutely. Small dietary changes add up. Our diet accounts for more emissions than our cars!

I just traded in my 12mpg truck for a prius. I reuse grocery bags. I am a bit obsessive about not using the utilities (unplugging any electronics when not in use, never use the air conditioner, etc.) I now work from home 95% of the time. I'm trying to seriously not buy anything I don't absolutely have to buy, esp. food.

But, I love a good shower even tho my showerhead is a very frustrating low-flow type. I also throw away any plastic bags from the fridge crisper that has anything moldy in it. Occasionally someone in my family takes a nice bath that uses about 10times as much water as a shower (we've measured). My old house has single pane leaky windows with no storms.

Suasoria:
That is very true! A big part of greenhouse gasses are food animals and the feed we give them is one of the main reasons for the increasing food prices. Americans consume more meat per capita than anyone else and we like it grain fed instead of grass grazed like nature intended. Our reducing and/or cutting out meat is not just because of diet needs and horrible slaughtering practices but environmental issues too. For me it is mainly the lives and horrendous deaths of the animals though.

Sorry to mention all this but it is such an issue with me. To get as many as possible to reduce their meat intake would do wonders! Try having one meatless night per week for starters and buy grass fed/grazed meat when you do. Please.

Alright here's what I'm guilty of:

I use a dishwasher: I just can't shake the habit do to the high convenience. I do, however, use 100% natural biodegrading soap and do not use the dry/heat cycle.

I still use a gas lawnmower, trimmer and tiller: I plan on switching to battery or electric when they each die, except the tiller. I have tried electric tillers and I don't think they have enough power yet. I expect new models in the next couple of years will.

And I use plastic bags inside my garden cans.

I live in a cave and electricity is provided by my bride using a pedal generator. If I'm feeling gracious I'll let her pedal a couple hours to charge up the computer battery so she can cook over the fire while I'm online. She has to hike to the river to get me a cold XX, again if I'm feeling gracious I'll let her stroll instead of jogging. That is unless I'm unusually thirsty.

Dirt

Very funny, Dirt. I compost a lot of veggie peelings. We use those reusable grocery bags made from recycled materials. I love them because they hold more and stand up nicely in the back of the van instead of rolling over and dropping all the glass jars on the sidewalk when you open the door.

I can't find an easy way to work. It would be 2 hours by subway and to bike I would need to leave at 4 in the morning and would be run over on the highway. I could transfer to the high school two blocks from me, but I just don't think I would enjoy all the gang violence.

I've traded in my Expedition for an Escape hybrid, I've increased the size of my organic garden, started to compost, recycle most of our plastics, glass and paper, switched most of our lightbulbs to florescents (and hold on to the dead ones until the special recycling day or I get a chance to get to Ikea), canvas bags for shopping, I've recently put up a clothesline (waiting to hear complaints from my neighbor), during the heating season we keep the heat at 60 in all of the rooms except for the bathrooms and the ones we are actually in, (we have electric heat, so each room has its own themostat), thermostats are never over 68, I hate paper plates and only use them for kids parties--my china plates don't blow off the patio tables, and my flatware doesn't either, so plastic flatware is only used for food that is going somewhere, like the beach. Bad things we do, eat too much meat (we try to cut back, but the kids are not big on vegies), dh uses a gas lawnmower, I still use my clothes dryer too much, and drive too many places, we leave our computer on at night, and lights are often on in empty rooms.

What I do that I shouldn't is spend to much time on the computer. But at least I do it with all the other lights off in the house.

Major, if you have an LCD screen, then your not using much power.

Gardendmpls, a friend of mine puts his bike in the back of his pickup and drives part way to work and bikes the rest. It is too far to bike all the way. You might be able to do that depending on how far it is. I sometimes drive in the morning with my bike in the back and bike home, bike the next day in and drive home. This way I can cook dinner every other day.
But tomorrow I am not going green (or getting good exercise); a strong headwind is in the forecast and the last time I biked home like that I thought I would die.

I would love to bike part way to work, but there is one problem. The drivers here try to kill you. When I lived in Brooklyn, I biked on a bicycle path, but it made no difference. Drivers here think you are not a vehicle and they are authorized by the state to run you over any time. I was so intimidated, I gave up biking and got rid of my bike. I won't even get my daughter a bike.

On the way to work, I see plenty of drivers treating bike lanes as extra space to swerve around cars moving at the speed limit, which is much too slow for them. They treat traffic lights as stop signs, pulling around three or four cars stopped at a light, which they feel doesn't apply to them. I wish I could give out tickets myself.