September 13

Today I threw out: this piece of paper. It was wrapped around some fudge that for some reason I have been working on for at least three weeks.

Could this trash have been avoided? Not unless I wanted to not buy and eat fudge, which I do not (want to not do that).

I also threw out: this paper towel.

We don't use a lot of paper towels—we usually use rags or dishtowels for cleaning—but when you're frying, I think paper towels are really the way to go. And you can't recycle paper products that are all greased up like this.

Not thrown out: so much compost. Ever since I found out that you can compost basically any non-meat food, I've been diligent about composting a lot of stuff I would usually throw out. One motivating factor is that organic matter ends up in the landfills, it's not like it decomposes into rich soil and plants start growing in the dump. It decomposes anaerobically, which creates methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times worse than carbon dioxide. I usually don't compost in the winter (it's hard enough to get my ass downstairs and outside when all I have to do is slip on flip-flops), but I figure even sometimes is better than never. Is half-assed environmentalism still worthwhile? Let me know what you think.