New Year's Resolutions

Last year I made four New Year's resolutions. I did a reasonable job of keeping the resolution to eat at least one potato every day. I ended up modifying that resolution to include pumpkins or any other vegetables I could buy locally without packaging. I also did a good job of planning elevator trips wisely and writing more letters. (Most letters aren't posted here, because they were written under my legal name.) I'm afraid I did an abysmal job of keeping the resolution to wake up earlier.

For this year, I resolve to:

Continue with last year's resolutions, focusing especially on waking up earlier.

Discuss local issues with other environmentalists in my city. Local environmentalists still face the insanity of stores with bulk bins insisting that we use plastic bags to package our bulk items. We are also facing cutbacks in public transit. Furthermore, there's little enforcement of safe driving regulations, which discourages walking and bicycling. Individuals aren't able to fix these problems, but a group of dedicated environmentalists, banded together, might be able to achieve something.

Be more open about picking up other people's litter. I have allowed embarrassment to deter me from picking up stinky beer cans on many occasions. I resolve to go ahead and pick up whatever needs picking up, and explain why I am doing it to anyone who looks disgustedly at me. As an interim step, I resolve to look for soundbites on the benefits of recycling. It would help if I could tell people that recycling ___ aluminum cans prevented ___ square feet of land from being strip mined for bauxite, or that the energy saved was enough to power a CFL for ___ minutes.