Similar to most kids, I liked new things. Especially when they were shiny. I remember how quickly I lost interest in playing with my C-3PO figurine after it started to dull. So you can imagine that I was a little put off by the fact that Paw Paw, my paternal grandfather, would always wash and reuse aluminum foil. Why would we use a scraggly wrinkled sheet when there was a damn-near-full roll of crisp and clean foil available? In addition to foil, Paw Paw reused anything that could be reused until it was on its last leg. Why? "Because it's wasteful to throw it away," as he used to tell me.

If you need to purchase aluminum foil, buy it recycled since up to 95% less energy is used to produce recycled foil than foil made from virgin aluminum. After using it, you can wash it, dry it, fold it, and reuse it at a later date. And when you're tired of looking at a scraggly wrinkled sheet, put it in your blue bin to be recycled again. 'Cause it's wasteful to throw it away. If your city doesn't recycle aluminum yet, first clown them, then raise some hell and take matters into your own hands until they do.

Recognizing that people of color have been protectors of the earth for millennia, a few of my brilliant friends and I took matters into our own hands and started the Black and Green Blog. This blog provides readers with practical tips and tools (like the one above) for living in a way that honors the earth and leaves it intact for our children and grandchildren. Check us out.

And speaking of foil. . .

Here I use foil to facilitate a quick and easy meal. After you come home from a long day, you can pop one of these neat "Good Green Fish Packets" into your oven for 18 minutes and BAM! You're eating good (yes I meant good). I use U.S. farmed tilapia since the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Food Guide determines that it is good for consumers and the ocean.

Happy Earth Year.

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