Going Paperless

My latest article is up at Green Diva Mom. The focus of this particular article was a brief introduction into what it means to "go paperless". The follow-up article will be focused on the terminology "carbon footprint" and what that really means, and how you can effectively combat your own footprint on this planet.

To put it into perspective, I was not a "green" thinker until about 2 years ago. It took Evy really pushing me to get me to believe in it. I didn't actively look into things like global warming, the melting of the polar ice caps, the deforestation issues, and the wastefulness of humanity. I was very much your typical American, only focused on consumerism and consumption, never worried about the potential side effects of my wasteful lifestyle.

Now, I get the urge to growl at people when I see them just dumping their trash without bothering to sort it out and recycle it. Especially in Bulgaria, where the city provides recycling containers along the street every 100 meters or so, it's impossible to *not* recycle unless you are a complete and utter douche-bag. Nothing gets my goat up more than some imbecile who dumps his beer bottle into the paper bin, for example, or someone who will bring their all-in-one trashbag and dump it into one of the cardboard or plastic bins.

A really big problem in Bulgaria is littering. A *really* big problem. You cannot walk down the sidewalk without seeing someone flick a cigarette butt, drop a coffee stir-stick, a candy wrapper, burger wrapper, or some other piece of offensive materiel onto the sidewalk. It's almost as if these certain individuals just don't care about their own living environment. It's also incredibly lazy because there are literally trash receptacles every 15-20 feet, with the recycling ones spread out a little further. I cannot tell you how many hundreds of people I've seen who are literally one step away from a trash can but rather than put their cigarette butt/trash into it, they simply let it fall to the sidewalk.

My wife commented that when she went to Paris last year, the city was spotless. I look forward to the day when Sofia can be the same way, but it takes the people *wanting* to better themselves before you can get to that point. There is still a very big problem here in that most people just don't care. They don't care about the environment, they don't care about their city, their living conditions, or the effects their laziness are having on the environment. In America it was the extreme wastefulness that galled me; here, it is the extreme laziness and lack of character that most people seem to have.

Still, it's getting better. I've noticed that in the last few months the glass container is always close to full when I go to throw out my wine bottles or beer bottles. That means people are actively using it. I'm actually starting to see people come out of their house with three separate bags rather than one, and putting them into the proper containers. There are people out there who care, and that number is growing, thankfully. Evy called it the domino effect, and I have to agree. When one person sees someone doing something, they go "ok, sure", and they follow suite. Then, another person. And another. And hopefully, eventually, everyone will be actively recycling. Now all we need to do is get people to stop littering and actually give a shit about what their city looks like, and the effect their littering has on the environment.

In any case, enjoy the article! I'll keep writing :)