Ellington

This year, my New Year's resolutions are a bit different than before. Rather than an endless, open-ended laundry list of all of my perceived personal flaws that I need to change in 2008—but probably won't get around to—I made a list of 12 specific actions I will take next year, one per month, in the name of helping to preserve the environment.

Hopefully, at least half of them will stick better than my perpetual resolution not to bite my nails.

January
Buy nothing new, with the exception of necessities such as food, soap, stamps and kitty litter. (Although, I could probably stand to avoid buying post-Christmas cookies, too.) But this resolution means no new shoes, envelopes, birthday gifts.
Who needs more stuff right after the holidays, anyway?

February
Buy nothing processed. I can eat processed foods that are already in my cabinets (and I promise not to stock up on my favorite cheesy salsa in a jar), but after that, I must make food from scratch using basic, non-processed ingredients. There is a reason why I put this resolution in the shortest month.

March
Take the time to get my maiden name and my married name off junk mail and catalog lists. This has been on my to-do list for a long time. And now I need to get online, fill in a few forms, print them out and mail them in. It is easy and free at newdream.org/junkmail.

April
Pay bills online to reduce gas usage and paper waste. I have been so resistant to this basic eco-friendly step, partially because I like writing checks and stamping envelopes. Maybe this will open the door to e-birthday cards and e-gift certificates, too. But I have to draw the line somewhere … I will not read books online to save paper.

May
Green my stock portfolio. Buying green is not enough. I'd like to put 10 percent of my investments to work for trend-setting eco-companies that are making solar panels, organic food and other sustainable products.

June
Learn how to use my new programmable thermostat to reduce temperature control when nobody is at home—or at least continue to nag my husband to do so. Then I will take him out to dinner with the money we save on our air-conditioning bill.

July
Eat two meals made from entirely Mississippi-grown foods each week. With a plentiful summer's harvest for sale at the Belhaven and Mississippi Farmers Markets, this shouldn't be too hard. I'll make exceptions for necessities such as olive oil; olives must be grown in Mediterranean climates.

August
Write some letters. I read somewhere that the impact of a hand-written complaint letter is much more powerful than a complaint e-mail. My policy for "getting-screwed-by-airline" complaints is to do both. This month, I will send at least one letter and one e-mail each week to increase environmental awareness. "Dear CEO of Chain Store X: Why don't you carry any toilet paper that isn't made from virgin forests?"

September
Carpool once a week. Yes, it is a pain to wake up early and try to drag my husband out of bed 20 minutes early in order to leave the house on time. But technically, his work is on the way to mine, so I think I can make the sacrifice of a small amount of sleep to save a gallon of gas each month. Every little bit helps.

October
Talk to folks about my favorite green candidates and the environmental issues that matter in the upcoming election. I really don't like to talk politics, especially because each year I become more convinced that all politicians are slime balls. However, I strongly believe that if we don't get a president who will take serious action to alleviate global warming this term, a drive to the beach from Jackson will be much shorter for my great-grandkids.

November
Get outside to enjoy the great outdoors at least once a week. I love walking and getting fresh air. But with everything going on in my life, sometimes weeks go by when the most time I spend outdoors is the 30 seconds to walk from my house to my car and back.

December
Make my own Christmas gifts. On any given day, I have creative ideas coming out of my ears. So next year, I resolve to act on them, make meaningful gifts for my friends and family, reduce Christmas excess and save some of my hard-earned cash.