Going Green?

Living in Germany has certainly taught us a lot about the environment. I can't say it was necessarily by choice, we were forced into it. However, it's not such a bad thing, really. I'm a believer that it's simply a matter of getting used to it. I won't lie, I'm not a full blown "Green" girl. But, I have made a few changes that I think I will keep with when we move back to the States.

Our latest environment improvement is probably one I won't stick with. They have made a believer of me out of buying smaller, more efficient cars. We'll never buy a Smart, but something smaller than what we are used to driving. This past week, though, we have converted to Germany's new law of only using mid grade or higher gasoline. I must admit, I was not a happy camper about this! At least gas prices are lower than they've been in a long time so I can't complain too much right now. I was just getting used to paying a little over $2, we were under $2 for one whole week (on base we get it at the US price). Now, we get to make the jump to the midgrade level. I know it's not that much difference in the grand scheme of things and it will be better for the environment, but I don't have to be happy about it. :-)

Some things that I think I will stick to are recycling (though maybe not to the degree we do it here). I've found it is pretty easy to recycle boxes - cereal boxes alone count for quite a bit of trash. Cans are not hard to do either. Magazines, newspapers, detergent containers... all pretty easy. Another thing I will try to stick to, though I don't know for sure is trying to use some of my "green" bags instead of so many plastic bags. Granted, I don't have enough for a big store run, but when I'm only buying a few bag fulls it's not so bad. The worst part for me is remembering to take them inside with me!

Another interesting tidbit that we learned this week is that it's NOT cheap to hunt around here! Like getting a drivers license (2000+ Euro plus, 25 - 45 hours of professional instruction, and 12 hours of theory!) it cost around 700+ Euro, initially to get a hunting license. This of course, doesn't include if you actually kill something. Nor does it include the 120 hour class you have to take complete with a written and oral exam that must be passed. The grand total gets up around 2000 Euro as well. I'm learning that not much is free in Europe. Though, I guess not much is free in America either, but at least it's a little cheaper!