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My mornings are spent with a mirror in one hand and watching TV as I put on my makeup for work. I tend to alternate between the Today Show and LOGO, depending on which is less depressing. One morning recently, LOGO was showing some ridiculous movie from the 80s, so it was on to the President Bush Show, er, I mean the Today Show. They were in the middle of a segment on global warming, which is causing the ice caps to melt and polar bears are drowning because they can't cross the ice fast enough (featured here in a Wall Street Journal article, although you have to subscribe to read the full story). I'm all for any cute animals, so the idea of drowning polar bears made me want to cry. Instead of quitting my job to move to their habitat and build them little piers for them on during their grueling swims, I decided it was time to do my part and make a more conscious effort to recycle. And even if you think global warming is a liberal conspiracy, what is recycling really going to hurt?

There are a couple stumbling blocks I have to deal with, though. Most obvious, I live in an apartment. So I don't get one of those handy dandy green bins to throw everything in and have someone retrieve. Plus, getting my neighbors to recycle would take an act of god. So I'm 100% responsible for my polar bear saving efforts, and it's not going to be easy.

My lack of space inside is also an issue. Since separating recyclables is required, I'm still trying to find the best place to put bins around the apartment for paper, plastic, glass and metal. But I really am attempting to formulate a plan. And there are a slew of publications available that are making some recycling suggestions (not local mags, but national pubs such as Real Simple, Domino and Blueprint to name a few).

At the office, our resident environmentalist, Marissa Frayer, started up a recycling program to collect all of our scrap paper. As my devotion to sad, drowning animals, I help her collect everything from everyone's individual paper bag and tote it down to the basement, where it eventually is brought to a paper recycling plant on Choctaw. And they give you money. Yep, just like the summer you and I decided to collect cans to pay for that Atari game, some places still pay you to recycle. Woo hoo! There might not be much money involved, but I can tell you that the incredible amount of paper we are collecting on a weekly basis is overwhelming. And if I can't find a place in the apartment to do the same, I could always bring the paper to work. It's all going to the same place anyway.

We started out at home several months ago with plastic water bottles. My boyfriend drinks a lot of water (seriously, he could be a fish) so we have a giant garbage can in the middle of the "dining area" full of plastic bottles. It takes up a little space, and takes a little reminding yourself to wash out the bottles and save them instead of just tossing. His mom takes them every so often to some place in Gonzales that collects everything at once, although they don’t pay for the returned bottles there. Now I just need to figure out an easy way for me to recycle everything else.

My next project, since I have bags and bags of clothes sitting under my kitchen table that need to be given away, is to recycle some of the non-typical things. Things like clothing, furniture and old cell phones can be taken to local charities that could really use the help, like the Battered Women's Program. By doing this, you're not only helping the environment, you're helping the community by giving someone a chance for a new start.

Now what should we do with all that money now that Atari is obsolete? Well, starting in April, Entergy is working on a pilot program called Geaux Green where you can pay a minimal amount (my bill says this and they haven't responded to my e-mail, so I'm technically not sure if their "minimal" is equivalent to my minimal) to purchase green power. You can read more about all of that at the link above; I won't pretend to be an expert and explain it all to you. And since you have no choice but to pay the Entergy bill every month anyway, use your paper and plastic money to pay the extra few bucks. I know I can't be like Ed Begley Jr. and live a totally green life, but this is a good start.

I'm also starting to choose purchases from places that encourage recycling. I'm a lip gloss freak, and when purchasing a tube of M.A.C. lip glass a while back, the cashier told me that I should save the containers. Once I have six from any product, I can turn them in for a FREE lipstick. Just the excuse I need. You can shop at the mecca of all things organic and earthy, Whole Foods. You can even go to places like Earthly Concerns, who sell recycled goods.

If you want more information about recycling tips in the capital city and drop-off locations, you can click here for the City Parish recycling site.

Now you and I have absolutely no excuses. If I can do it in a 700-square foot apartment, you can too. And if you need a polar bear photo on your refrigerator to motivate you, here you go.