I just started posting this auto-disclaimer with my signature at the bottom of my e-mails: "Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail." What do we think? Cliché? Trendy?

I must disagree. As you all know, I am certainly not a “green” as it were – I can’t imagine myself ever supporting initiatives or laws that force companies, people, or municipalities to handle their waste and their energy in ways that the people do not support. What I DO support, however, is smart conservation that we can each do every day to have less waste in our own lives.

The thing that actually made me start thinking about this was my trip to Europe last fall. The subway in Copenhagen has doors that only open when you touch them – so each time the train stops, the doors only open when they need to. This cuts down on two things: the cold air that comes in and subsequently the hot air that needs to be manufactured inside the train, and second the energy it takes to open and close the doors. Also many of their stations – and other places in the city – have escalators that only start moving when you step on them.

In my opinion, this is smart conservation. Now, right, I do NOT want to be forced or legislated to do any of this. Maybe that’s unfair of me, but I want to do my part.

So, will you join me? I don’t use grocery bags anymore (okay, unless I forget my reusable ones!), I use only energy-saving light bulbs and less-impacting cleaning products, and I’m not going to be an e-mail-printing-maniac like I have been in the past – and I’m going to ask others to consider the impact on the environment before printing mine.

Smart conservation. I endorse it!