Fair Share

In America we pride ourselves on being industrious, innovative and in debt. Our houses and martinis have tripled in size in the past fifty years and won't be paid for for another fifty -- assuming we don't re-mortgage, which, of course, we will, so that we can obtain all the glorious toys that make us who we are -- TV watching, SUV driving work-a-holics who don't know the meaning of environmentally sound. I'd like to think I'm above all this, but I love my all-wheel drive vehicle and big screen television. It's not as if I'm completely oblivious to the problems of the world. I do a fair share of recycling and use ethanol gas (it's cheaper), but I'm hardly a saint.

As of late, these issues have been keeping me up at night, so I've restructured my existence to shrink my carbon footprint on the earth to some effect, but even at my best, I'm still among the worst. How can one maintain a comfortable lifestyle and remain carbon neutral? Must one be destitute or dead to be of use to the environment? What industrious innovations can be used in our daily lives to make us happy in our hearts, our homes and our habitat?