So I am plugging along (or rather, unplugging along) quite well through Low Impact Week. I have not watched any more TV and everything else is going smoothly as well. I have made some transgressions, mostly forgetting reusable bags and yesterday I left a light on for hours — something I never do.

Also, yesterday I came across this amazing site which I found through Lighter Footstep, which I found through No Impact Man. This site is incredible! Not only do the recipes look mouthwatering, but grocery lists are included. How awesome! Thank you, Veggie Meal Plans!

Yesterday I did nothing out of the ordinary in terms of low impact-ness: just walked, worked, took the stairs, ate leftovers for lunch and joined my friends for our weekly Monday night dinner. I am getting used to the quietness of the unplugged TV and to eating dinner at the dinner table instead of hunched over the coffee table, watching Seinfeld reruns for the nineteen millionth time. I told Albert he could plug the TV back in to watch The Daily Show if he wanted, but we were doing other things at eleven so we didn't bother. I didn't feel like anything was missing, so I guess I'm not a TV addict after all. See, I thought so: I can quit anytime I want!

Once again, I woke up late. I had two slices of toasted local bread and a huge cup of non-local, but fairly traded coffee. I read the newspaper much more slowly than usual, probably because I didn't have the television on in the background. I walked to a nearby restaurant to meet a friend for lunch (and I forgot my dorky pedometer - damn!). I was trying to avoid restaurants this week, but my friend is moving to the West Coast on Tuesday and we wanted to celebrate. When I returned, Albert and I borrowed a Prius from Philly Car Share to run some errands. Since we were out, we stopped at Trader Joe's for to stock up on some goods. Although the stuff we got was not quite low impact, we thought it would be better than taking the car out again at a later date. One of the items we bought was Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. We have gone from conventional liquid soap to J.A.S.O.N. liquid in a large plastic bottle to Whole Foods bar soap wrapped in plastic and now we have reached fairly traded organic soap wrapped in recycled paper. Will we ever make our own soap? I kind of doubt it, but who knows.

When we returned, we made a truly fantastic meal: Caesar salad made with locally grown romaine lettuce, cheesy garlic bread made with Claudio's local mozzarella and Sarcone's local bread, and pasta in a sauce made from local tomatoes and mushrooms (and onions and peppers of unknown origin).

I decided to plug the TV back in to watch the Democratic presidential debates and I didn't feel guilty about it because it seems like a good way to watch TV. I read about the debates in the morning paper and decided it would be worth my while. (It wasn't — no one said anything interesting.) When the debates were over, I unplugged the TV again. I am going to try to keep up this TV routine all summer. Not because I think there is anything wrong with TV, but because I am uncomfortable living in a quiet space, and I'd like to give that a try.

Yesterday I slept late-ish. Albert had to work in the morning and stopped by the farmer's market. He returned with bread from a different local bread person, and a bag of awesome sugar cookies. He then made us egg sandwiches with the new bread and the local eggs. We normally buy cage-free eggs for $2, and these eggs cost $3.25. People swear there is a huge taste difference between fresh, local eggs and eggs raised a million miles away, but I really can't tell. I can, however, tell a huge difference with fresh bread versus store-bought bread (which just so happen to cost about the same amount).

I took the train to my friends' baby's birthday party and on the way back, stopped at Sue's Produce. I got local mozzarella and local mushrooms. I also grabbed a few peppers which were not specifically marked as imported, but I am guessing were not local since I have not seen any peppers at any local farmers' markets. (No, I don't know what's in season when. I don't know how anyone who doesn't garden keeps it all straight since our grocery stores provide the illusion that everything is fresh and available, all the time.)

We ended up walking to our friend's house (about 5,000 steps — pedometers are dorky but addictive!) where we consumed a delicious and mostly local meal: veggie burgers on Metropolitan Bakery bread; farmers' market tomatoes in a delicious tomato salad with home-grown basil; local goat cheese from Sue's produce; and farmers' market strawberries and rhubarb in a strawberry-rhubarb crumble. We took the El back home, did some more reading and fell asleep.

Thursday night, we unplugged all the appliances and the TV. We didn't watch any TV before the unplugging, but that was mostly because Keith Olbermann had a substitute and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were both in reruns.

Friday morning, I didn't use my diffuser to dry my hair. The humidity is so out of control that my hair is going to look like I just got electrocuted no matter what — especially now that I ran out of my expensive Aveda hair products. (I snipped the tubes to make sure I got every last drop — frugal and less wasteful!) I also didn't turn on The Weather Channel or watch the first fifteen minutes of The Golden Girls before my walk to work. I wanted to get an iced coffee but remembered the plastic packaging and made myself a free coffee in a mug at work.

I took the elevator up to the 12th floor, which I do every morning since I am always running late. When I go to lunch, I walk down the stairs and back up them and I walk down on my way home as well. How much energy is saved by three fewer elevator trips, I don't know. But I do know I feel better when I take the stairs, especially since I used to only be able to make it up a few flights before huffing and puffing. At lunch, I took an empty cartridge from our laser printer back to Staples to be recycled. I had to pick up some binders there and I realized I forgot to take a canvas bag with me. So now I have two plastic bags to be reused. Damn. I forgot to make my lunch last night so I had to buy. I decided to go with a half sandwich and a soup from a local bakery, largely because I know they only use paper for wrapping. I ordered a chilled soup and totally forgot it would be served in a plastic container. Damn again! I rinsed it out to take home. I am also taking my paper wrappings home to recycle because the building I work in doesn't recycle at all. They don't even make any pretense of recycling. No bins, no recycling pick up. Welcome to Philadelphia.

For dinner, Albert made us some delicious omelettes from eggs from a local farm and Amish pepper jack cheese. We had bread from the farmers' market bread guy. We made a salad out of local romaine lettuce and a super ripe local tomato, but I accidentally spilled dressing on it and it was kind of a disaster. We had after dinner plans and decided to walk the 30 or so blocks in the light rain. Our plans ended up not going through, so we turned around and walked right back. It was a nice walk, but we were both so tired when we arrived home we just did a little reading and went to sleep. Because I am a dork, I wore a pedometer all day and I went 25,000 steps. I don't know how many miles that is, but it seems like a lot.

I recently decided that I will be participating in Low Impact Week starting tomorrow. Over the past few years, Albert and I have made a mllion changes in the way we live, and we could probably stand to make a gazillion more. I think the only way to do it is to go one step at a time. I don't know exactly when we started making changes — it was probably about the same time we moved here. Albert insisted on buying only recycled paper products. When he started, I was opposed to paying the extra 25¢. Now I am pretty much opposed to paper products in general. I still use them, but I am cautious about it and I'm about to make the jump to cloth napkins.

I have always been opposed to companies that tell women we must cover ourselves with toxic chemicals to be beautiful. I am opposed to toxic chemicals in general. So I spearheaded our household changing to kinder, gentler personal and household products. We started taking reusable bags to stores, which is no big deal and also earns you a small refund which helps offset the higher cost of natural products. Then, at some point, Albert noticed our electric bill was getting out of control. We had always been conscious of turning off lights and unplugging chargers, but we were pretty liberal with our central heat and central air. Last summer, we cut out the A.C. and reduced our bill by almost one third. We also saved a ton of money when we gave up our car. I have no problem walking everywhere and using SEPTA (okay, I have a million problems with SEPTA but I have no problems with the idea of public transportation) and we rent a Prius from Philly Car Share when we're going a long distance.

At some point, we both started getting into the idea of fresh, local food. I love the idea of picking up some ripe vegetables at the farmers' market and eating them that very day, but, in actuality. . . I don't love vegetables. I grew up on largely processed food and I am sure I am addicted to the chemicals in boxed mac and cheese and mayonnaise and Hostess cupcakes. When you are used to sucking down high fructose corn syrup all day, it's hard for a nectarine to compete. So I am slowly retraining myself. We did recently have some noticeably tastier strawberries from a local farmers' market, and Albert found a guy who makes delicious (and cheap) bread and an Amish family that makes awesome cheese. Every day we find something new to replace the old addictive stuff.

Another thing we did was get our names off those credit card offer mailing lists. We get credit card offers and insurance mailing lists almost every day. It only took five seconds to opt out.

This is an ongoing process, and we are far from environmental role models. We rent an old, environmentally unfriendly apartment which we are not allowed to modify. But we feel better about our smaller daily choices, and for anyone who says one person or two people can't make a difference, well . . . maybe you're right. Maybe we haven't made that much difference in the world. But we've made a ton of difference in our own world, and we get more exercise, eat better, help our local economy, save money and create less waste. Those can't be bad things.

So what will be different about Low Impact Week? Well, first of all, I'm unplugging the TV. It's rerun season anyway. I love TV and I will never ever be one of those high horse anti-TV evangelists, but I think I could stand a week without getting sucked into every dumbass reality show that airs. Secondly, we are going to attempt to buy only local food. Lastly, we are not going to eat any take-out lunches unless they come in recyclable packaging. We already eat vegetarian meals, walk everywhere, use reusable bags and avoid A.C. We are prohibited from modifying our apartment or planting anything outdoors. We live in a city with a crap-ass idea of recycling. So, we'll see how it goes.

I would like to alert everyone's attention to Greater Philadelphia Cares. It's a really great organization for busy people like myself who feel guilty about not being able to commit to volunteering. The only commitment involved is attending a short orientation (ours took about 20 minutes). After that, you receive a monthly calendar of volunteer opportunities, and you can sign up for whatever suits your schedule. I'm excited!

I have been waiting to write about Spike Lee's documentary about Hurricane Katrina because I thought I would have something prolific to say about it. I don't. The documentary says it all. It's four hours long, but after sitting through the four hours, I felt like there were still so many other stories to hear. What stuck with me the most about the film was when someone — I forget who — is talking about the lack of governmental response and all the red tape that prevented people from getting help, etc. He says something like, "When the government wants to do something, we find a way to pay for it. We want to put a man on the moon, we find the money. We want to start a war in Iraq, we find the money." So true. I think this is true on an individual level as well. I never really have any extra money. I would never, for example, make plans to visit my best friend or my sister in San Francisco, because I can't afford it. But if either of them got in an accident or really needed me in some way, I would put the flight on a credit card and figure out how to pay for it later. Because people that I love are that important. The people that I don't know are important, too, and I have not prioritized them very highly. Like many people, I give small charitible donations every month (I sponsor a child in Chile), and I make sure to kick in larger donations after a major disaster. Then, I keep living my life. This month, I took a bunch of cash that I would normally spend on things that are not necessities and donating it to causes that benefit residents of the Gulf Coast. It still seems rather trivial, but it is a start.

The first thing I did was throw in a couple of extra books for The Dewey Donation System while I was buying my school books. This is an absolutely great way to help Gulf Coast libraries rebuild their collections. Just browse their Amazon wishlists and send a few books their way. For every book that's ordered this way, a small donation is sent to the Dewey Donation System. It's a cool way to know exactly what you're sending.

Say what you will about Oprah (and I have a lot to say about her) she really put her money where her mouth is this time. Her online registry has lots of fun choices for the houses her Angel Network is building.

I never heard of global green.org until I saw Brad Pitt talking about it on TV the other night, so I guess there is something to say about star power. I thought it was worth $50 to join and try to bring sustainable development to the Gulf Coast.

I didn't give to Habitat for Humanity this time, but I would strongly recommend other people to do so. I worked with Habitat in the past building houses in Hartford, CT, and the experience really taught me that everyone can do something. I have no carpentry experience (and questionable motor skills in every sense) yet I was able to help with all kinds of tasks, like sanding, dusting, and serving food to other volunteers. I know faith-based charities turn a lot of people off, but I have had first hand experience with Habitat as a non-organized religion person and it's an organization that I recommend supporting.

It's taken me a few days to wrap my head around The War Tapes. Here's what I can say about it: Every American needs to go see it. I will admit, like many other people, I don't like to think about the war. I think, back in 2003, when I saw so many people of different stripes shut down the streets of New York City to protest the war, I thought that it really wasn't going to happen. When the bombs started "shocking and aweing" I was in San Francisco. There was a huge protest there but I didn't attend because I couldn't see the point anymore. I felt like I shouldn't be on vacation anymore — that I should to get back to New York as fast as I could — and I arranged a flight home for the next day. In the beginning, I watched the news reports. Then I just started to feel so helpless that I forced myself to think of other things. On the way to the movie, I thought about how I was probably going to see dead bodies and I would rather watch something fun. Then I thought, I don't have to fight the war, the least I can do is watch a freaking film about it.

I don't think I've ever really thought of what it must be like to be a soldier. I don't understand why people join the military: I don't like fighting, I don't like weapons, and I'm so unathletic that I am cringing now at the memory of gym class. However, if anyone asked me if I support the troops, I would say yes, of course I support the troops. But what have I done to support them? Absolutely nothing. Everyone says they support the troops. Some people even stick little yellow stickers on their cars — BFD. One of the ways to actually support the troops is to join Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to keep informed. This page lists several charities that help American troops, their families and Iraqi civilians. Regardless of how you feel about the war, or about the military in general, there are thousands and thousands of people coming back to the States now with real problems, and they are not getting the help they need and deserve.

Sergeant Zach Bazzi said the other night, "Soldiers don't pick their wars." I think this is the most important thing for those of us who are lucky to be somewhat removed from the war to remember.

I encourage everyone to get a Working Assets phone. It doesn't cost anymore than a regular phone, and 1% of what you pay is donated to progressive causes. I just got the cell phone, and it is a nice phone and a cheap plan ($29.99/month). Unfortunately, the reception in my house is pretty spotty (I believe Working Assets uses Sprint's towers, although I am not positive). Working Assets also offers a land line and a credit card. It's a great way to give money to good causes just by doing what you'd do anyway.