Since starting to work at Blast, Lyle has instilled in me some sense of “sustainability”. Basically, I have become more aware of things that I do that might not be the most efficient use of natural resources, namely petrochemicals, and I have made an effort to reduce my consumption. Now many zealots seem to have zero tolerance for any perceived waste (“never use an air conditioner!”, “always ride a bike!”, etc.) and I just ignore them. I figure if everyone would start reducing what they use just a little bit, the cumulative affect would be great. And the first step is to become aware of it.

For example: this week I ate at Tanos, a little Italian pizza shop I visit when in San Antonio. For the first time I noticed all of the styrofoam: plates, bowls and cups, that are destined for the landfill.

I stay in hotels a lot, and I noticed a huge push to get guests to reuse towels and sheets. There are nice little signs with pastoral or mountain scenes and phrases like “Save the Earth” on them. If you hang your towel instead of throwing it on the floor, they will leave it for you to use again. If you place the little sign on the bed, they’ll just make it instead of changing the sheets.

First off, I really hate “Save the Earth”. The Earth will be fine, until that last day when she gets swallowed up by the Sun, some 5 billion years hence. We really need to focus on “Save the Humans”. Second, hotels couldn’t care one wit about the environment. Less towels and sheets to wash mean less expenses. Less expenses mean more profit.

Now if they offered me something for reusing my linens I’d probably do it all the time. Heck, a dollar would be sufficient. I always want to know “what’s in it for me?” However, it would be so hard to keep track of who was and wasn’t participating that it wouldn’t be worth the effort, so I can understand the business reason for it.

But one of my guilty pleasures in exchange for sleeping in a strange bed is crisp linens. So I only put the little card down about every other day. Again the zealots would think I was evil for it, but hey, it’s a start.

Something else that has been bothering me, though, is the soap/shampoo situation. I travel light, which means I use the hotel’s soap and shampoo. Last week at Amerisuites, I dutifully unwrapped my bar of soap and opened the little bottle of shampoo, and the next day there was a new bar and bottle waiting on the side of the shower.

I placed them on the back of the toilet and used the ones I had opened the day before. The next day I had another set, which I added to the pair on the toilet. The third day this repeated once again.

It was starting to remind me of a
funny soap story I read on the Internet. Had it lasted for the full week, I would have a picture up. However, on the fourth day the maid simply removed one set from the back of the toilet instead of adding another.

Which brings me to this week. I realize that a little shampoo goes a long way. A small dab will actually suds up quite a bit if your hair is sufficiently wet, so a tiny hotel bottle could last me a month or more. Therefore, I was a little upset when the shampoo I opened on Monday had been thrown away, and a new one put in its place.

That is not sustainable.

I have taken to hiding my shampoo, and so far they have just left the one unopened bottle on the sink. Every bit counts.