I just watched a new episode of Oprah that challenged two American families to use less for 7 days.  The whole idea of the show was exposing what a typical family wastes in a given week.  Things like leaving the lights on, food, gasoline, paper plates, and the most wasteful of all:  bottled water bottles.  The reason Oprah got this one right is because hopefully it will inspire families to take a hard look at what they waste in their households.  Oprah even set up a hidden camera in her own company to see why they go through so many paper cups in months time.  The hidden camera revealed that several people where using up to four paper cups a day and where even double cupping.  Shame on them!  Oprah has now banned paper cups for her full-time employees and they have to bring their own washable coffee mugs.  Excellent idea! 

As a self proclaimed tree-hugger I just loved this episode.  Everyday I try to find ways not to be wasteful.  Just last week I had the battery in my cordless power drill rebuilt by a battery speciality store instead of just buying a new one.  I really take pride in not wasting all the resources we have at our disposal.  Now if I could just save a little more and perfect my weight loss strategy that would be fantastic!