I’m not an extremely environmentally conscious person, but I do hate to see hypocrisy in environmental issues. I was at Eddie Bauer the other day and noticed a stack of pamphlets next to the register. They were foldout pamphlets describing their GLOBAL RELEAF® TREE PROJECT. I was really miffed at how much paper they used to print out the pamphlets and said to the woman at the register “They could have conveyed the same information on one card and saved more of these trees they’re talking about!” She replied, in her own miffed tone of voice “But it’s printed on recycled paper!” Which prompted me to go off into my often used rant: “REDUCE! Reduce is the first edict! You reduce, reuse and THEN you recycle!!!” She didn’t seem to get it, and I calmed myself down and said “Never mind. I’ll send corporate an email. Thank you.” Argh. So I’ll stay on my soapbox for a minute and remind any of you who like to remember these things that when you are purchasing products, if you can’t decide what brand to buy, pick the one that has used the least amount of packaging. Notice that some products include boxes around their bottles and others leave off the box. Choose accordingly. (Yes, I realize “soapbox” has suddenly become a bit punny.)