Good and thoughful questions, mary.

I didn't use paper towels for a long, long time,at least 15-20 yrs. With geriatric cats, though, in the past three years, I've bought ones made from recyled paper for the ocassional messes one of them makes. I don't want to clean up cat pee or poop with a cloth towel then count on the wash to sanitise it well enough.

I rarely drive during the week and only short trips around town on a Sat. morning. We've conserved water since about 1979, actually Rog did before, since living where we had to haul our own. Still take showers together to conserve. :-)

I do get tired of the waste in packaging, too. I just started eating a cereal which I get at the health food store. It comes in a standard sized cereal box, but when I take the waxed paper liner/bag out with the cereal in it, it takes up a third of the space as the box. So why do they need a box that big, or even a box at all? Seems so wasteful!

But, that is nothing compared to the waste of AOL. I hate that company for the endless CD's in horrible plastic cases they send out to every POB and street addy trying to get people to sign on with them.