First let me tell you who I am. My name is Robert (I try to use Bob these days) and I am a 44 year old happily married man with two grown children (18 & 27) and a grandson. Oh yeah, let me say that my eldest will be getting married in March. My wife and I have lived in Tucson Arizona for the past eight years while my sons live just a couple of hours to the north. Anyway, I have many hobbies: writing (a book will be finished one day), practicing guitar (notice I didn’t say playing guitar) riding my bike and tossing around a Frisbee. Being indoors is not my thing, I prefer being outside, in the sun, doing something. Wait there’s more. I write another blog (I’ll tell you the name later) and I plan to have a spring garden this upcoming year.

Okay, that’s enough about who I am, on with the interesting stuff!

A few years ago the company I work for took an interest in sustainability and finding ways to reduce waste, recycle more and better the workplace environment. I helped in a few ways by authoring the now defunct “GREEN Newsletter” for the employees’, I purchased soy based utensils and compostable cups for the break room and began to recycle the cardboard boxes we get from our suppliers. I should have taken it further, at work and in my own life but I didn’t. That is until recently…

In 2012 my life changed. My youngest son left for school so the wife and I decided to leave our 2100 square foot home with four acres and move to the University area in Tucson. What a change! 2,100 square feet to less than 1,000 square feet of living space. That adjustment took some doing. We had to get rid of a lot of material things that were once deemed as necessary. In the end we made a few bucks having a yard sale and donated enough stuff to fill a 17 foot U-haul truck. That was in August, it’s now December and I have made some good GREEN changes in how I live.

More next week.