littering makes me crazy as well licia. i can't count how many times i've walked or skated past someone as they just drop their garbage on the ground. i'll stop and ask them if they were planning on having someone pick that up for them. you'd be surprised at the startled and embarrassed looks i've gotten, because they know it's wrong, and it's just being lazy.
every time i go backpacking, i always bring a few extra garbage bags that are full by the time i carry them out. i must look like a gypsy caravan with all of the bags tied to my pack as i get back to my truck after a trip.
anyway, getting back to recycling. i don't understand why, but every 2 weeks, when our town alternately picks up recyclable plastic and glass, or paper products, we have 2 to 3 times as much ready to go than our neighbors. i mean, we also produce more regular garbage than them it seems, with the pets and the baby, but i make sure to constantly seperate any aluminum, plastic, glass, newspapers, and cardboard that can be recycled.
so, when they're putting out 1 container of bottles and cans or a small tied bunch of papers, we have 3 full containers, and a giant pile of papers and boxes.
it's really not difficult to go the extra step to recycle as much as possible.
when it comes to saving energy, though, i have become my father. i walk around the house, constantly turning off tv sets and lights in empty rooms, and adjusting the temprature of the heat or a.c., grumbling all the while.
and the final killer for new parents: the age old trick of going for a ride in the car to help a child take a nap is over with gas prices going up. my wife does this often, so one recently i calculated that she drove enough to have burned about 2 gallons, or over $6 in gas, just to get the baby to sleep.
oh, btw, the reason mudbug's daughter is rebellious is from years of having to wash her face with ice cold water, so it wasn't wasted... (lol, hee hee. tiptoeing away...)