Letter: Have a happy and green new year

Thank you for posting Jenny Whidden's article on going green in the New Year on Jan. 2. I follow all her articles, as a local "greeniac," and I try to bug people into doing more. We all can. Pass the word. It will help all of us, and even more for the poor people first - they will feel the pains of global weirding before those of us in the middle class.

The secret is that it is all mostly very easy. It just takes practice and time. My own story of using tote bags starts at about the "late age" of 60-65. At one time I was so mad at myself for forgetting them that I even put one around the steering wheel. I even forgot again, so I put all my groceries in my cart and pushed them to the car to put into the bags. It finally worked.

When the City of Elgin passes the single use bag fee (hopefully), we will all save by using tote bags.

One of the best things Whidden mentioned - and it's No. 4 on the top 10 list of Green Solutions - is to stop wasting food. We find a way to eat almost all we buy. My mom was a the daughter of a small farmer in Michigan, so I learned a lot about cleaning my plate.

Don't teach kids to waste either. Like the story said, we can save 30-40% of greenhouse gas emissions by just not wasting food. This one is my favorite "solution" to climate weirding.

The first step may be the hardest, then it gets easier by the day. Gotta Go Greener in the New Year. Green, greener, greenest. Happy New Year, too.

Sandy Kaptain

Elgin